Tag: President Trump

The DOGE Is All Wrong

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

W.J. Astore

You can’t do a wrong thing the right way

During World War II, the Nazi system of extermination camps was fairly efficient. Relatively small death camps like Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killed an astonishing number of people, more than 1.6 million and nearly all Jews, quickly and efficiently. If there were a Nazi DOGE, I suppose these death camps may have won “efficiency” awards from it. They stripped the incoming victims of all their valuables and then killed virtually all of them. The loot stolen by the SS was then distributed, again fairly efficiently.

The DOGE Is All Wrong

Zeteo’s Newest Contributors

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Zeteo’s Newest Contributors – Thanks to You!

JASON STANLEY
New column: Fascism Watch

Jason is an award-winning author and currently a professor of philosophy at Yale. An expert in authoritarian governments, Jason recently decided to move to Canada, calling the Trump administration ​“a fascist regime​.” He will begin teaching at the University of Toronto​ in the fall. Jason is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them and Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future.

In his new Zeteo column, Fascism Watch, Jason will write about the growth of authoritarianism under Trump and the threats of fascism around the world. Stay tuned for his new column, coming soon! For now, check out Jason’s piece from last year, Political Violence Makes The Task Of Stopping Trump And Fascism Much Harder.

Previously:

Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada +

On Tariffs, It’s Good to Be “Tim Apple”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.

On Tariffs, It’s Good to Be Tim Cook

Related:

Tim Cook gifted Donald Trump a $6,000 Mac Pro after he lowered tariffs on parts Apple needed from China

At the time Apple and Cook were applying a charm offensive to persuade then-President Trump to remove tariffs on certain components that came from China. Cook asked Trump if he could meet him in person to make Apple’s case, a gesture the former president found “impressive,” he told Bloomberg. Trump was particularly pleased at the time that Cook reached out, especially considering his acrimonious relationship with other tech CEOs. 

[2019] Apple dodges iPhone tariff after Trump confirms trade deal agreement with China

Although the trade deal affects billions of dollars worth of goods, it’s a particular victory for Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has personally worked to keep communication open with the Trump administration. Cook’s charm offensive culminated last month when he gave Trump a tour of a Mac Pro assembly plant in Texas. That computer is assembled in the United States, and Apple was granted tariff waivers for several of its components.

Tariffs, Economic War, and the Emerging Post-American Order

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Tariffs, Economic War, and the Emerging Post-American Order

My commentary: The tariffs imposed under the Trump administration are not genuinely aimed at revitalizing American industry. Rather, they function as a tool to destabilize China’s economic growth and position the U.S. to provoke a potential military confrontation. These punitive measures are designed to persist unless nations acquiesce to the administration’s demands, effectively coercing them into aligning with its confrontational economic agenda against China. 

Disclosure: Van Jackson used to work for Center for American Century (CNAS). 

CNAS’ supporters