What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[alfred russel]

Dear Lord.

The most generous explanation is that he was simply antagonizing Priebus, who he had some bad blood with regarding the campaign. Sequence of events:

-harbor a grudge/resentment against the guy
-win the election, have him join your team (which he does out of a sense of obligation)
-harass him constantly has chief of staff with questions about badgers and silly nicknames, while assigning most of his job to others
-fire him after 6 months

Trump got him out as RNC chair, spent 6 months belittling him, and then fired him -- Priebus gets the taint of serving in the Trump administration to go along with everything.

[Syt]

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/trump-claims-new-york-investigating-him-is-undermining-americas-national-security/

Trump claims New York investigating him is undermining America's national security

In a Thursday afternoon tweet, Trump announced that he was about to meet with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and demand that they stop suing the Trump Organization and the Trump Foundation.

According to Trump, suing him is now a national security issue.

"I'm seeing Governor Cuomo today at The White House. He must understand that National Security far exceeds politics. New York must stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment, start cleaning itself up, and lowering taxes," Trump tweeted.

He then went on to attack Cuomo's brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, often known for destroying Trump allies on his show using their own words against them.

"Build relationships, but don't bring Fredo!" Trump tweeted.

New York Attorney General Letitia James began an investigation into "Trump's own finances, sending subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, which has made loans to the president's businesses. The investigation was prompted by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony that Trump falsely inflated his assets while seeking loans," The Guardian reported last year.

"James is also pursuing legislation to change the state's double jeopardy laws, so that any Trump associates pardoned by the president for federal crimes could be charged on the state level," the report continued.

In the lawsuit for the Trump Foundation, he was forced to pay a $2 million fine and close the non-profit.

"Trump's inaugural committee is under the most scrutiny from investigators, facing five probes," Politico reported. "There are investigations going on in both the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as in the Central District of California. Additionally, the attorneys general in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., are examining the inauguration. The investigations are mostly examining whether foreign donors illegally contributed money to the inaugural committee, and whether the organization misspent any funds."

[Oexmelin]

Who would have thought?!?

[Sheilbh]

The most generous explanation is that he was simply antagonizing Priebus, who he had some bad blood with regarding the campaign.

I don't know. I think trying to work out how badgers work and if they're charismatic is a very relatable thing.

[Admiral Yi]

Remember the discussion of the all gorilla channel from early in his presidency?

[Sheilbh]

Also his pathological hatred of sharks and watching shark week a lot.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjYoPFbaj9M

Bill Barr is pissed about Trump's tweeting.

[Razgovory]

Who would have thought?!?

I know!  Who is that ignorant of Badgers?

[The Minsky Moment]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjYoPFbaj9M

Bill Barr is pissed about Trump's tweeting.

Barr seems to have forgotten what his job is about.  It's not about running a First World justice system under the rule of law.  It's about taking a well earned good reputation over a lifetime of work in the law and completely ruining it for eternity to satisfy the whims of the modern day mentally challenged Henry VIII. 

He's shocked, shocked to learn that President tweets when he should STFU?  Really?  That fact was unknown to him when he took the job?

[Admiral Yi]

You're spazzing out Joan.

[crazy canuck]

You're spazzing out Joan.

Yeah, how dare he insult Henry VIII like that! 

[DGuller]

I don't buy the sincerity of Barr's indignation.  He probably feels like he needs to put up an appearance of independence in order to not lose the DOJ rank and file, but he's all in on Trump.

[The Minsky Moment]

You're spazzing out Joan.

A decade ago I was 100% certain that Alberto Gonzales represented the absolute nadir of what was possible with the post-John Mitchell AGs.  How naïve.

WTF is it with Republicans and that office.  From Fall to Mitchell to Meese to Gonzales to Sessions to Barr. 

[Grey Fox]

Grifters, they are grifters.

[Admiral Yi]

You don't understand. If I impose a $50/pound garbage fee on myself, I slash down the garbage I produce and the world has less garbage going into landfills.

If Canada imposes a $50/barrel of oil fee on itself, it will use less oil. The global price of oil will fall as demand falls. Lets say it moves from $50 / barrel to $49.50 / barrel. That of course won't keep us from using up the major oil fields in the world that produce for a lot less than that. What happens is that instead of selling to Canadian, oil producers sell to customers that were previously priced out of the market. Some fossil fuel producers at the margins may cease production, but for the most part use will just shift out of Canada, and instead of the state oil company of Saudi Arabia turning a $110 billion profit next year it will turn a $105 billion profit.

What would be an effective policy is if Canada announced that the fossil fuels currently in its territory would not be extracted and the captured carbon permanently sequestered below ground--that of course isn't realistic. It isn't realistic because there is far too much money to be made in fossil fuel production, which is precisely because it is such a cheap form of energy (allowing outsized profits). But that cheaper production cost is ultimately why unilateral action on the demand side of fossil fuels is doomed to fail--there is going to be demand for energy that is cheaper than alternative sources.

I was assuming that Canada would assess the carbon tax on exports as well, since that would make sense, but it turns out I'm wrong.

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/concerns-remain-as-federal-carbon-tax-takes-effect

Many economists argue for a border carbon-adjustment system so imports would face a carbon tax and exports to countries without comparable carbon-pricing would be exempt from a carbon tax. Canada has not done this.