How Much Is That Puppy In The Window?

Or in Trump’s case, how much is it to exempt my company? The selling of America!

We have seen it in “Trump’s International Hotel” in Washington DC… where rooms went for outrageous prices and the rooms were left empty.

A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms
The House is investigating whether groups tried to curry favor with Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never using them.
Politico
By Anita Kumar
October 2, 2019

House investigators are looking into an allegation that groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to ingratiate themselves to President Donald Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never staying in them.

It’s a previously unreported part of a broad examination by the House Oversight Committee, included in Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties.

And that leads us to now his future stay at the White House.

'Crony capitalism’ just around the corner, coming to America
By Paul Krugman The New York Times

It’s late 2025, and Donald Trump has done what he said he would do: impose high tariffs — taxes on imports — on goods coming from abroad, with extremely high tariffs on imports from China. These tariffs have had exactly the effect many economists predicted, although Trump insisted otherwise: higher prices for American buyers.

Let’s say you have a business that relies on imported parts — maybe from China, maybe from Mexico, maybe from somewhere else. What do you do?

Well, U.S. trade law gives the executive branch broad discretion in tariff-setting, including the ability to grant exemptions in special cases. So you apply for one of those exemptions. Will your request be granted?

In principle, the answer should depend on whether having to pay those tariffs imposes real hardship and threatens American jobs. In practice, you can safely guess that other criteria will play a role. How much money have you contributed to Republicans? When you hold business retreats, are they at Trump golf courses and resorts?

Hmm… where have we seen this before? Tammity Hall maybe?

I’m not engaging in idle speculation here. Trump imposed significant tariffs during his first term, and many businesses applied for exemptions. Who got them? A recently published statistical analysis found that companies with Republican ties, as measured by their 2016 campaign contributions, were significantly more likely (and those with Democratic ties less likely) to have their applications approved.

This is exactly what was happening in New York City in the 1890s, in the era of the Robber Barons!

Will tariffs be the only major potential engine of crony capitalism under the incoming administration? It’s doubtful. If you think about it, Trump’s deportation plans will also offer many opportunities for favoritism.

Some of Trump’s advisers, notably Stephen Miller, seem to imagine that they can quickly purge America of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, rounding up millions of people and putting them in “vast holding facilities.” Even if you set aside legal issues, however, this is probably logistically impossible. What we’re much more likely to see are years of scattershot enforcement attempts, with raids on various businesses suspected of employing such immigrants.

And we see other opportunities for graft… you want to hire illegal immigrants for you business, well that can be arranged! Trump see a golden opportunity with no limits thanks to the Supreme Court.

 

In the Nation they write...

 

Blue States Will Not Be Safe in Our Corrupt, Clownish, Authoritarian Future
The Trump administration will seek vengeance against any state that tries to resist the spread of crony capitalism.
BySasha Abramsky

December 3, 2024

 

Last week, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman warned of the encroachment of crony capitalism into every corner of Trumpified America. It’s easy to imagine companies cozying up to Trump and the GOP to curry favor and be exempted from tariffs, economic powerhouses indulging in pay-to-play agreements (organizing conferences in Trump resorts and so on), and corporations asking immigration detention squads to turn a blind eye to their particular group of undocumented workers.

[…]

The same day as Krugman’s column was published, the news broke that one of Trump’s close aides, Boris Epshteyn, was being investigated for a shakedown scheme in which he demanded hefty “consultancy fees” from would-be administration nominees in exchange for pushing their candidacies with Trump. It would almost be comical if it weren’t so utterly depressing.

There is a For Sale sign on the White House!

No part of the country will be immune from the destructive impact of these policies. While it’s tempting, living in California, to look at this train wreck and assume that the worst impacts won’t be felt deep in blue country, I’m not so sure that’s the case. Yes, California’s social safety net is strong, its environmental policies are second to none, its expanded healthcare system is approaching universal coverage, its public health investments, while still too little, are better than those of many states, and its well-resourced Department of Justice is willing to go toe to toe with the feds over the coming years. But the state is also in Trump’s sights. He wants to bring California’s independent politics to heel. He is determined to eviscerate the state’s waivers that allow it to craft its own environmental standards. And he is set on using the federal government’s fiscal levers to punish California and its cities if and when they don’t cooperate with his extreme agenda, especially around mass immigration sweeps and deportations.

As if this weren’t already clear enough, late last month Marjorie Taylor Greene—who come January will, gulp, be in charge of the House Oversight Committee for the Department of Government Efficiency—went on Fox News and said that she wants to use congressional powers to bottle up federal money owed to states and cities that embrace sanctuary policies.

Under Trump’s vengeance is mine saith Trump policies Blue state will bear the blunt of Trump’s retribution!

Donald Trump’s Extremely Long List of Second-Term Revenge Targets
Everyone from Democratic lawmakers to retired generals and major news networks appear to be in the crosshairs.
Vanity Fair
By Bess Levin
November 11, 2024


Something you may have picked up on in the last eight years or so is that Donald Trump is obsessed with revenge against the people, places, and things he believes have wronged him. During his first run for office, for example, he spent ample amounts of time musing about imprisoning Hillary Clinton, and in his most recent run for the White House, he vowed, on several occasions, to crush the “enemy within.”

[…]

“He’s erratic and has the attention span of a seven-year-old,” Harry Litman, a former Clinton DOJ official, told the Times of Trump. “But his thirst for revenge against those he views as his current antagonists is very real, and there’s no reason to think he would be deterred by legal niceties.” (Trump’s office did not respond to the Times’ request for comment concerning whether he would make good on campaign revenge threats.)

Blue states beware!

Remember what he did to Puerto Rico? Delayed aid to the island from hurricane, delayed $20 billion in aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and without any evidence he cited concerns about corruption and financial mismanagement. So if a hurricane hits a Blue state… good luck! If an earthquake hits California… good luck! If forest fires hit Washington state… good luck!

Hey mister Zelenskyy we would like to help you with your war with Putin but… Oh by the Way I have a couple of hotels and golf courses… maybe we can work something out...

 

There will be a "For Sale" sign in front of the White House... for sale to the highest bidder!