"I'm gonna' make him an offer he can't refuse."
Mafia Don Vito Corleone, in "The Godfather", 1972
Trump has power and leverage. He is ruthless. He is squeezing money and tribute out of his enemies.
Republicans are OK with that. He was targeting Democrats and left-coded institutions.
Heads up to Republicans. Trump has wider ambitions.
I have sympathy for Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. He owns The Washington Post and he is dismantling it. Journalists and pundits and concerned citizens are piling on, expressing disapproval. What is the use of having $200 billion if you care about losing $100 million a year by owning an essential public good in a democracy?
He is under duress. Trump made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
In his first term Trump threatened to raise Amazon's postal rates for package delivery. He warned that he would double, triple, even quadruple those rates, to punish him for owning The Post. Trump directed a $10 billion dollar defense contract for computer services away from Amazon as punishment. Trump is open about it. He will use the power of the federal government to destroy Amazon as leverage against the troublesome newspaper. In October of 2024 Bezos could see that Trump might return to office vowing "retribution." Bezos chose to be smart rather than noble. He pulled the planned Post editorial endorsing Harris.
Bezos is thinking about Amazon. Bezos is doing what every owner of a big enterprise is doing. He is obeying.
Trump doesn't hide his extortion. Extortion works best if everyone sees it so they can fear it. Crucifixion and public hangings serve the same purpose.
Friday's headlines:
 |
| CNN |
Trump blocked congressionally-approved funding for work on a tunnel under the Hudson River. Crews are standing by. Trump insists two conditions be met: Dulles International Airport must be renamed the Donald J. Trump International Airport, and Penn Station must be renamed the Donald J. Trump Station.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal avoided a blunt headline but its news story reports the same extortion:
“Whatever DOT’s shifting official reasons, statements by the President and other officials tell the true story,” New York and New Jersey said in court papers. “DOT suspended project funding to punish New York officials for opposing unrelated Presidential demands.”
Trump administration officials told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) in January that the funds would be released if he helped name New York’s Pennsylvania Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after President Trump. . . .
At some point Trump becomes an indefensible embarrassment to Republicans. U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R, NJ) and Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) both said that funding should not be conditional on this renaming. However, some Republicans are on board with Trump, filing legislation to approve the name changes. Others want his face carved onto Mt. Rushmore.
Trump is inviting trouble with Republicans. He has gone further afield in his retribution. ABC, Disney, and CBS are "mainstream media" and therefore "in the arena." Maybe they are fair game. This summer he sued The Wall Street Journal for $10 billion for reporting on the famous birthday card Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. There is a message there: You need to be fully aboard the Trump team.
This week he sued JPMorgan Chase for $5 billion for "reputational harm" to Trump when the bank cut business ties to the Trump organization in the aftermath of the January 6 coup attempt. JPMorgan is the country's largest bank; its CEO, Jamie Dimon, is the country's leading spokesperson for the financial industry. Dimon has taken care to present himself and the bank as outside and above politics, concerned about financial stability and economic prosperity, neither for nor against Trump. Dimon spoke generally favoring Fed independence, a consensus, anodyne position. But not to Trump.
This is a warning for Republicans. He isn't going after solely left-coded institutions like Harvard or law firms with the temerity to hire Democrats. Neutral is not good enough.
Independent voters tell pollsters that Trump is "going too far." Maybe suing JPMorgan is too far, coming on top of the Trump crypto grift, Trump putting his name to precede Kennedy's on the performing arts center, ICE's military-style policing, the proposed federal takeover of elections, and the raid on election offices in Georgia, a state run by Republicans. Maybe the speech at Davos and then the one at the National Prayer Breakfast went too far. He sounded "off." Something is wrong.
I can sense some Republicans who enable Trump doing a mental calculation. Maybe Trump is a liability. Maybe Vice President JD Vance would be a better president. Maybe Trump should go, sooner rather than later.
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I believe that the US Postal Service was losing big money on their shipping deal with Amazon.com. Taxpayers were subsidizing Jeff Bezos.
ReplyDeleteYes, Trump is a bully, and a miserable, egotistical human being. So, what are you going to do about it? A lot of Republicans know that already. Joe Biden wasn't a choir boy either.
If Democrats were smart, then they'd publicize every mis-step by Trump, and embarrass him. His reputation means a lot to him, so destroy it. Trump can't sue you successfully if you tell the truth. Make him look like the cad he is. If Biden was Sleepy Joe, then Trump is Don the Con.
Every hole that Trump digs hurts JD Vance more than Trump, because Trump is a lame-duck, while Vance hopes to have a political future. Vance is proving to be Trump's lackey, and that will hurt him in 2028.
Every day it's less about Trump and more about the enablers.
ReplyDeleteGiving him rope...?
Name everything Trump and later enjoy taking his name off everything, saying it was a mistake. That would be kind of fun, and Fox News can be outraged. Trump going too far is just inevitable, and the Republican Party needs a severe spanking to learn that cheating on elections, being openly racist, stealing from the American people is not a winning formula. It may win the south, but the majority of Americans are better than that.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, GO HAWKS!
Trump had bet that real popular sentiment about him wouldn’t matter once he controlled the political machine that would solidify his power. He’s shredded the constitution, reduced SCOTUS to a rubber stamp, sent Congress into hiding, and has private executives cowering as you say. And of course he wants to nationalize elections which removes all state and regional controls ensuring he doesn’t have people like that troublesome meddler Raffensperger.
ReplyDeleteHis desperate attempt for immortal glory is so pathetic yet not surprising. The parallel to the biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel is eerily close. Obsession like that has no limits… except of course his own mortality.
Interviews and conversations with people who formerly supported him say how they feel like they have been deceived; maybe betrayed. Too late. As he said during one of his 2024 campaign speeches to Christians- if he gets in, “you’ll never have to vote again”. He should have added “even if you want to”. It’s one campaign promise he’s committed to keeping.
Who won by the end of The Godfather?
ReplyDeleteKing Nebuchadnezzar is eerily close to, but how about the Antichrist?
ReplyDeleteSupposedly Americans were upset about the “globalist elites” and wanted something different, so they elected Trump, a globalist elite who promptly filled his administration with other globalist elites. Other than the oligarchs, his support comes from the white supremacist whackos that he panders to with his war on affirmative action and racist toots on “Truth” Social, such as the one depicting the Obamas as apes. What we have here is the same mentality that created the Confederacy, and hopefully it won’t last any longer. It’s a Confederacy of Dunces.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the November 2026 congressional and senatorial elections will be too late. The goon squad is already assembled and ready to be unleashed. Republicans have only a few months left to act by asserting their Article I powers under the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteStep One: Remove Mike Johnson.
Step Two: Issue articles of impeachment.
Step Three: Conduct a trial in the Senate.
Step Four: Swear in J.D. Vance.
Step Five: Hold the November 2026 elections.
Step Six: Claw back the funds allocated to ICE.
Step Seven: Pass a comprehensive immigration policy.
Step Eight: Hold Cabinet Chairs accountable.
Step Nine: Reenter global alliances.
Step Ten: Reestablish the constitutional guardrails.