Today in Trump

[TIC]

more great marketing optics with donald talking about no tax on tips & bringing up the period when there was no income tax

[Master]

Trump loves tariffs which is a tax on other countries but they will do it back and is inflationary. He is using it as a bargaining tool but I am sure he is making things up as he goes along with no real strategy.

[Kirkland Laing]

The mass exodus of America’s biggest banks from the UN climate alliance will make no measurable difference to the global energy landscape or to the level of carbon emissions, and nor will Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
One can only laugh at the spectacle of Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs hastily swapping the mask of Left-wing cultural wokeism for the mirror-image mask of Right-wing cultural wokeism, just in time to deflect Trumpian retribution. They are largely brown-washing in aligning with Trump’s fossil revivalism.
In the intervening years – above all since Paris in 2015 – clean technology has performed a market miracle. More than $2 trillion (£1.6 trillion) a year now goes into renewable capex, and just $1 trillion into the last hurrah of the hydrocarbon industry. That has little to do with climate policy. The money is chasing profit.




Renewable costs have fallen faster than ultra-optimists dared to think possible. They already undercut coal and gas plants on pure price and a 24/7 basis in areas holding 80pc of mankind, even in the fracking fiefdom of Texas.
“We’re seeing a stampede into solar plus batteries. Together they are the killer app of the clean energy age,” said Lord Turner, head of Energy Transitions Commission, which includes China, India and the global South, as well as the West.
The US energy department published a “Moon shot” paper in 2010 arguing that it was theoretically possible to cut solar costs to $1 a watt, and if achieved this would amount to fossil parity without subsidy. Sceptics said it was delusional. That target has since been beaten ten times over.
The price of Chinese solar panels has dropped to nine cents a watt, which is why the ill-run electricity grid in Pakistan is now shrinking at a double-digit annual rate. Every village and every neighbourhood in Lahore or Karachi is erecting off-grid solar panels in a dash for cheap power and energy freedom, lifting solar capacity by 22 gigawatts (GW) in a single year. The government had nothing to do with it. The free market speaks Urdu.
This is happening everywhere, to varying degrees, in latitudes from 40 degrees North to 40 degrees South, so long as regimes do not actively stand in the way, as they often do to favour cabals of vested interests. It is why Trump’s plan to flood the world with US liquefied natural gas at $6 MMBtu is make-believe. The International Energy Agency predicts an LNG glut by the late 2020s.




“Nobody is going to build coal or gas plants in Africa. Solar with storage is cheaper everywhere. The vast majority of the world’s population live in tropical climes where the sun shines almost every day. I don’t think we have woken up to how absolutely transformational this is going to be,” said Lord Turner.
Battery cell costs have been plummeting along the same vertiginous cost curve. They were $1,100 kWh in 2010. The US energy department said then that the holy grail was $100, the take-off point for mass adoption. Lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) batteries in China are today selling at $50 kWh, and sodium batteries for solar back-up will come in below $25 with scale.
These LFP batteries do not require cobalt from child labour in Africa or nickel from Indonesia rain forests. “One challenge after another is disappearing in front of our eyes. Remember all that talk about running out of critical minerals? It was rubbish,” said Lord Turner.
Lithium carbonate prices have crashed by 87pc from the peak of the bubble, and cobalt prices by three quarters, even as global sales of electric vehicles rose a further 24pc last year.
Pakistan’s solar story is an apt analogy of what will happen as Chinese EVs flood Asia at prices near $10,000, with Indian EVs undercutting even that: the Indian-made MG Comet starts at $7,000, and the Tata Tiago at $9,000. Once cheap EVs meet cheap rooftop solar across the developing world, the direction of travel is only one way.
This ought to be some comfort for those in despair about rising global CO2 levels, rising temperatures, and rising levels of Luddite reactionary wokeism in the liberal democracies. The instant snapshot of where we are today is misleading. The “second derivative” tells us where we are going, and that points to a short-term plateau, followed by a cascading collapse of the old fossil order.
The world as a whole is quietly weaning itself off carbon fuels with remarkable success, contrary to the impression one might have from political noise in the Anglo sphere, in turn amplified by enemy cyber-manipulation urging us to commit self-harm.
Unfortunately, it is China that is running away with the prize, while America tries to turn back the technology clock, or if you prefer, commands the waves to retreat.




Trump can certainly slow things down with his blizzard of executive orders – some beyond his constitutional authority – whether by halting offshore wind, freezing permits for onshore wind on federal land, stopping the rollout of EV charging stations or suspending $300bn of funding for the Inflation Reduction Act. But there is much theatre in his daily provocations, and he has so far spared solar, calling himself a “big fan”.
At the end of day, America’s energy economy is driven by private contracts on private land under local state laws. It is the customer who buys, not the White House, said Joe Kaiser, from Siemens. What he has seen from Trump so far “doesn’t move the needle”.
If Trump goes further and actively suppresses the free market or violates state rights, he will clash with his own Republican base. Wind made up 59pc of Iowa’s electricity last year, yet the governor is Republican and so are two thirds of the state legislature.
Trumpian Texas is America’s renewable capital, with more installed wind power than Britain, and for good reason: off-take contracts in the Texas Panhandle can be as low as $20 MWh. Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation said royalties from renewables make up half the income of some counties, funding school gyms and the town pool.
Farmers can make $30m in rents from a 100 MW solar array on their arid empty land, and the panels shade livestock from extreme heat. A firm called Freedom Solar is rolling out panels across the state, proclaiming a war of liberation against big government and the utility mafia. Try telling Texans they can’t have it.
Trump cannot save his beautiful fossilised world, however hard he tries. It is too late, even in America. The “green scam” has already beaten him.







What Trump is up to in reality:





I'm sure this is all above board, like the twenty five million stop hitting me payment from Facebook and the similar ABC payment and the forthcoming please allow our merger payment from Paramount. That's getting on for fifty million dollars just with three settlements of bullshit lawsuits. Then there are the Trump memecoins which are a straight up payment system for unlimited amounts and all perfectly legal. It was a perfect payment.

[TitoFan]

There were deadly fires in Los Angeles... and Donald Trump's initial reaction was to blame the Democrats and criticize the firefighters.

There was a tragic airline-helicopter crash in Washington D.C.... and Donald Trump's reaction was to blame the Democrats and criticize diversity in FAA hiring.



At least we know where the priorities of the President of the United States lie.

[TIC]

the plane v helicopter collision seems very strange

[Master]

There were deadly fires in Los Angeles... and Donald Trump's initial reaction was to blame the Democrats and criticize the firefighters.

There was a tragic airline-helicopter crash in Washington D.C.... and Donald Trump's reaction was to blame the Democrats and criticize diversity in FAA hiring.



At least we know where the priorities of the President of the United States lie.

Trump has no evidence to back his theory that diversity policies caused the crash. His common sense is warped and should not politicise tragic events. Trump is a low life.

[Kirkland Laing]

A scorecard so far of the Trump revenge presidency

Author Kevin DrumPublished on January 31, 2025 – 9:36 pm57 Comments on A scorecard so far of the Trump revenge presidency
Being the revenge president goes two ways. First, you have to screw your enemies. Second, you have to make sure your friends have impunity to break the law. After two weeks, here is Donald Trump's scorecard:

1. Dropped prosecution of former Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry for lying to the FBI.
2. Dropped charges against his pals in crime, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, Trump aides who helped him cover up his theft of classified documents.
3. Ordered the firing of all DOJ prosecutors associated with the documents case.
4. Pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who founded an organization for large-scale drug trafficking and spent nearly a million dollars paying for the murder of five enemies.
5. Dropped the investigation of Republican Rep. Andy Ogles over campaign fraud.
6. Placed dozens of USAID workers on immediate leave over unspecified "insubordination" issues.
7. Ordered DOJ to fire prosecutors involved in January 6 cases and ordered the FBI to "scrutinize" hundreds of agents who were involved in the prosecutions, in preparation for a possible purge.
8. Demanded "details" about FBI employees involved in a case against a Hamas terrorist involved in taking Americans hostage on October 7.
9. Pardoned or commuted the sentences of everyone involved in the January 6 insurrection, including rioters convicted of assaulting police officers.
10. Pardoned two DC police officers convicted of covering up their role in the death of a man they chased at high speeds because he was driving a moped without a helmet.

All your personal information is now in the hands of a second-tier private company CEO who hasn’t been senate confirmed, isn’t following any ethics rules, etc etc

https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/18...194539030?mx=2

[Master]

Trump seems very obsessed with tariffs and fentanyl. I think he wants to start his own trade in the US and make millions from the turmoil it will cause whilst claiming victory at every turn.

[mrbig1]

Trump has lost his damn mind. The way tariffs are supposed to work. Let's say workers in China make a dollar per hour. People in America makes 20 per hour. If tariffs are high enough it makes the China worker 15 dollars per hour. that makes sense. But Canada workers make more than we do. 25% tariffs on Canada but only 10% on China. now he wants Gaza. this is a very bad look for America.

[Kirkland Laing]

Trump has lost his damn mind. The way tariffs are supposed to work. Let's say workers in China make a dollar per hour. People in America makes 20 per hour. If tariffs are high enough it makes the China worker 15 dollars per hour. that makes sense. But Canada workers make more than we do. 25% tariffs on Canada but only 10% on China. now he wants Gaza. this is a very bad look for America.

He isn't doing tariffs on Canada or Mexico or very likely on China. And I knew this as soon as he started talking about them. How was this possible? This will amaze you but here it is...... he already did this before.

Amazingly, Donald Trump has already been president. For four years! And he already threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada twice before. Once they gave him bullshit concessions over things they'd already agreed to do before he became president and he claimed victory and backed down. The second time they renegotiated a trade deal that left them and America no better or worse off than before. This time they gave him bullshit concessions again. Mexico agreed to put ten thousand troops on the border but they've been there since 2021. Canada agreed to do something they publicly announced they were going to do last December. Trump claimed victory and backed down. Same thing happened with China four years ago too.



Interestingly some people who had made previous bets on stock market indexes in the past who clearly had advance knowledge did so again. But they did it in such a ham fisted way that they tipped the market off to who they were. They were clearly a. people who had had inside knowledge of previous Trump stunts over tariff threats and b. utter morons. Yeah. This time they were trying to bet that markets would crash then recover in just over a day so everybody knew Trump was not going to impose tariffs and nobody would take the other side of their trades.



Oh and Gaza. Nobody could have predicted that eh.

[Kirkland Laing]

Trump is basically full of shit on everything. Tough talk on immigration but he's deporting less people than Biden did. And releasing a lot of people he's catching too:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...-us-rcna186360

A bit of theatre with Guantanamo and whatnot but no real change.



FBI turns over details of 5,000 employees who worked on January 6 cases to Trump Justice Department, as agents sue

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/p...ay?cid=ios_app


And his nominee for FBI head has taken the fifth amendment multiple times at his confirmation hearing. Really boundary breaking I have to say:

https://bsky.app/profile/macfarlanen.../3lhjjzcxsh22t



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclu...l?guccounter=2


Bank regulators are going to be run by banking lobbyists. The last time the GOP eased regulation it took seven years before we got the 2007 economic meltdown/financial crash. I bet Trump can do it in four years. I'm not even going to write down what's happening in the financial industry for various reasons. Quite bad though.


Ignore all the theatre and the cruelty. Watch the money. Watch the pooting and the criminality and corruption and the collapse of the rule of law and democratic indtitutions. That's the story of the next four years. The money.

[Spicoli]

Local grocery stores have started labeling produce "product of Mexico" here. Wonder why . He's rapid flooding the field and coverage with shiny distracting objects for his chimps while actually expanding and flooding the "swamp". The Gaza land grab talk is absolutely insanity. The DOJ has been immediately turned into a politicized machine to purge those not kneeling for the loyalty test. Autocracy moves.

[TitoFan]

Hey let's look at the bright side.

There's only 1,369 days, 1 hour, and 47 minutes left until the next Election Day.

[Kirkland Laing]

Hey let's look at the bright side.

There's only 1,369 days, 1 hour, and 47 minutes left until the next Election Day.

You hope.

[Kirkland Laing]

The halfwits with the inside knowledge are still trying. They can't work out why nobody will do business with them and haven't spotted the market prices their position in as soon as they try and make trades. They're tipping their pitches and have no idea everybody knows. Epically stupid and corrupt.

Nice easy explainer on how stupid the aluminium tariffs are. Keep scrolling:

https://x.com/JGodiasMurphy/status/1889327978972058021



The financial industry have been after shuttering this for years. It's saved Americans hundreds of billions of dollars in rip offs of various kinds:

https://x.com/jonfavs/status/1887994950195028138



Fox News guy who was earning millions a year needs a government provided house:

Pete Hegseth is spending $49,900 of public funds on an “emergency” paint job he needs for the house that he needs provided for him at taxpayer expense.

https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/1888017612657016966


The paint job is just part of a hefty six figure renovation.



So, no, I don’t get excited when DOGE cancels $1 billion in govt contracts. Or saves $3 billion in federal workforce reductions out of a $7,000 billion budget. Not when Trump and Congress are also preparing to add $800 billion more annually in proposed new tax cuts and spending. And no, the huge savings are not coming. Even (unrealistically) eliminating 20% of the federal workforce would save $60 billion, and overhauling federal systems to sharply reduce payment errors may save perhaps $80 billion (and is probably unlikely too). For all of DOGE’s bluster, administrative and executive reforms would at best save 1-2% of federal spending and offset only a small fraction of Trump’s red ink agenda. That leaves trying to unilaterally impound spending such as USAID—which is wildly illegal—or actually going to Congress to pare back spending the constitutional way. But Trump has already taken Social Security, Medicare, defense, veterans, border (and interest) off the table, which is 2/3 of all spending and is driving deficits. And the GOP Congress seems ready to give up on cutting the remaining one-third of spending. Want to cut spending and the deficit? How about they stop passing budget-busting bills......

https://x.com/JessicaBRiedl/status/1886926358279864674

More at the link. Short concise overview of the budget situation from a conservative think tank person.



Jan. 6 defendant also wants pardon for 2022 plot to kill FBI agents

https://x.com/joshtpm/status/1888030020313956829



Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI

Elon Musk is in a battle with Sam Altman over the company behind ChatGPT. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
A consortium of investors led by Elon Musk is offering $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, raising the stakes in his battle with Sam Altman over the company behind ChatGPT.
Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted a bid for all the nonprofit’s assets to OpenAI’s board of directors Monday.
The unsolicited offer adds a complication to Altman’s carefully laid plans for OpenAI’s future, including converting it to a for-profit company and spending up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure through a joint venture called Stargate. He and Musk are already fighting in court over the direction of OpenAI.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement provided by Toberoff. “We will make sure that happens.”

https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-o...hare_permalink

See Elon's game? He's going to use his position in the regime to take over businesses that are kicking his businesses' arse. He's going to do the same with self driving cars too. He's got lots more plans coming.