The Fox Is In Charge Of The Hen House

You know how Musk bought Twitter and changed its name to X and now hate is all over the platform! You know how much Trump denied knowing anything about Project 2025… it that is true then how come Trump is appointing the guy who wrote the chapter on the FCC?

Trump's FCC pick, Brendan Carr, wrote Project 2025's chapter on the agency. Here's what he wants.
CBS News
By Aimee Picchi
November 19, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will oversee the agency that regulates U.S. internet access and communications networks such as TV and radio. Carr believes it's an institution ripe for change,  according to the chapter he wrote in Project 2025 about the FCC.

Carr will be stepping into the role of FCC Chair after serving as one of its five commissioners since 2017, when Trump nominated him to the role during his first administration. Prior to that, Carr served as the agency's general counsel.

[…]

In Project 2025, Carr highlighted what he believes is a need for a new approach to dealing with tech giants such as Google, Meta and others.

"Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop," Carr wrote in the document. "These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power, they are abusing dominant positions."

So what does Musk have to do with all of this?

Carr has built an alliance with billionaire Musk, the world's wealthiest person who backed Trump's campaign and whose Starlink satellite internet service could benefit from access to federal cash.

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Carr pointed to Musk as an example of how the federal government doesn't treat people fairly, noting that a grant of almost $900 million to Musk's Starlink was "revoked unlawfully." Last year, the FCC said it rejected the grant because of lack of proof that Starlink would be able to provide service to hundreds of thousands of rural properties.

"It is time for the American government to not give people different treatment based on their last name," Carr told Fox News. "Everybody will get a fair shake from the government going forward."

Carr said he is going after NBC!

Carr has taken aim at some broadcasters, including CBS News, echoing Trump's claims that they engage in political bias. For instance, Carr singled out NBC for including Trump's Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, in a "Saturday Night Live" skit before the election. 

"This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule," Carr wrote on X on November 2. "The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election."

After Trump announced Carr's pick, Carr said on X that he will ensure the FCC "will enforce" laws that call on broadcasters "to operate in the public interest."

Of course all the lies that Fox News spreads are okay!

"While styling himself as a free-speech champion, Carr refused to stand up when Trump threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations for daring to fact check him during the campaign," Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement. "This alone should be disqualifying."

Free Press and Fight for the Future, an advocacy group focused on digital rights, both have cited concerns about net neutrality, a policy that ensures internet service providers treat all websites and online content equally. Net neutrality was overturned during the first Trump administration, but was restored during Biden's term.

The truth will take a back seat in Trump's administration!

Trump got up and swore that he knew nothing about Project 2025 but he is hiring all the authors of the different chapters. Two other appointees are from Project 2025, Russ Vought and Gene Hamilton!

The New Republic writes…

Donald Trump repeatedly told America he had “nothing to do” with Project 2025. But now, he’s welcoming its architect into his Cabinet with open arms.

Russ Vought, who was deeply involved in the creation of Project 2025 and wrote an entire chapter in the right-wing playbook, is being strongly considered for an upcoming Cabinet position, according to several sources who spoke with ABC News. Vought has already begun the vetting process and has been seen at Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump’s team.

Vought—a former lobbyist, self-described Christian nationalist, and director of the Office of Management and Budget in Trump’s first term—authored a chapter in the 922-page MAGA extremist master plan titled “Executive Office of the President” for Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” section. The chapter serves as “a comprehensive policy guide for the next conservative U.S. president.”

[…]

On the campaign trail, Trump had tried to distance himself from Project 2025, particularly after it became a focus point for Democrats. “This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas, I guess some good, some bad, but it makes no difference. I have nothing to do [with it],” Trump stated during his nationally televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. His loyal transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick described the project as an “absolute zero” and “radioactive.”

Trump… the Liar-in-Chief will say anything that is for his benefit, not for the country’s benefit, and not for the Republican party’s benefit… but for his own personal benefit. Trump cannot be trusted!

This is so true!

Credit: R.J. Matson, CQ Roll Call

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Paul Krugman a columnist for The New York Times writes...

The good news: I don’t think Donald Trump will cause a global trade war.

The bad news: The reason I say that is I believe that a trade war would be coming even if Trump had lost the election, largely because China is refusing to act like a responsible economic superpower. Unfortunately, Trump may be the worst possible person to guide U.S. policy through the turmoil that’s probably ahead.

He won’t be the reason we have a trade war, but he may well be the reason we lose it.

China is the greatest economic success story in history. It used to be very poor; there are still many people alive who remember the great famine of 1959-61. But after the reforms that began in 1978, its economy soared. Even now, China is only a middle-income country, with GDP per capita substantially lower than ours or in Western Europe.

[...]

So the trade war is coming; in some ways it has already started. What will Trump add to the story?

Ignorance, lack of focus and potential cronyism. Oh, and gullibility.

[...]

Cronyism: The president has great discretion in granting tariff exemptions to selected companies. During Trump’s first term, such exemptions went disproportionately to companies with Republican political connections. It’s naive to think this isn’t likely to happen again, and on a much larger scale.

Gullibility: During his first term, Trump eventually stopped raising tariffs after signing what he called a “historic trade deal” in which China agreed to buy $200 billion in American goods. How much of that total did China actually buy? None.

The fox is in charge of the hen house!