DocMack's Politics Thread

[DocMack]

Former President Donald Trump failed to impress everyone in a room full of top CEOs Thursday at the Business Roundtable’s quarterly meeting, multiple attendees told CNBC.

“Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said one CEO who was in the room, according to a person who heard the executive speaking. The CEO also said Trump did not explain how he planned to accomplish any of his policy proposals, that person said.

Several CEOs “said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,” CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin reported Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Among the topics on which Trump offered scant details were how he would reduce taxes and cut back on business regulations, according to two other people in the room who spoke to CNBC.

Meeting attendees and people who spoke with them were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the private event.

The same CEOs who were struck by Trump’s lack of focus “walked into the meeting being Trump supporter-ish or thinking that they might be leaning that direction,” Sorkin reported.

“These were people who I think might have been actually predisposed to [Trump but] actually walked out of the room less predisposed” to him, Sorkin said.

“President Trump was warmly received by everyone in the room and was commended for his policy proposals on deregulation and tax cuts,” said Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump presidential campaign.

Trump’s energy in the meeting was also noticeably subdued, according to two people who were in the room. At no time during his remarks was there any noticeable applause for Trump, two attendees told CNBC.

This was in contrast to Trump’s meeting earlier in the day with House Republicans on Capitol Hill. Attendees at that meeting told CNBC that the former president was animated and engaged and that Trump received several rounds of applause in separate meetings Thursday with both House and Senate Republicans.

Cheung said there was applause for Trump during the Q-and-A section of the meeting, “where participants commended President Trump for his deregulatory and tax cut agenda.”

Trump’s low-key energy at the Business Roundtable event could have been deliberate, one attendee told CNBC. Trump had wanted the CEO meeting to be “more like a business meeting than a speech,” the person said.

“At one point, he discussed his plan to bring the corporate tax rate down from 21% to 20% … and was asked about why he had chosen 20%,” Sorkin said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And he said, ‘Well, it’s a round number.’”

“That unto itself had a number of CEOs shaking their heads,” Sorkin reported.

In 2023, corporate income taxes contributed approximately $420 billion to federal revenues, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Wall Street has bristled over the past three years under President Joe Biden’s aggressive antitrust enforcement, pharmaceutical price caps and progressive tax policy.


https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/14/ceos-at-...essed.html

[DocMack]

Billionaire megadonors are warming to former President Donald Trump, helping him catch up with President Joe Biden’s early fundraising lead by donating large sums to support his candidacy after many of them backed Trump’s primary opponents or disavowed him when he left office.


Harold Hamm: The Continental Resources founder and longtime Trump friend—who donated to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ primary bids—was among the attendees at the now-infamous April Mar-A-Lago dinner with oil executives where Trump reportedly pitched industry-friendly policies while soliciting a $1 billion donation, and in May, Hamm co-hosted a Houston fundraiser for Trump, Reuters reported. (We estimate Hamm is worth $18.5 billion)

Timothy Mellon: A longtime Republican mega-donor and top contributor to Trump’s 2020 campaign, Mellon is the most prolific donor of the 2024 election cycle, USA Today reported, citing OpenSecrets data that shows Mellon donated $25 million each to super PACs backing both Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (We estimate the Mellon family is worth $14.1 billion)

Bernie Marcus: The Home depot co-founder gave $1 million to Trump’s main super PAC, MAGA Inc., in the second half of 2023, according to Politico, and he co-hosted an Atlanta fundraiser for Trump in April. (We estimate Marcus is worth $9.6 billion)

Kelcy Warren: After donating to DeSantis’ primary bid, marking a reversal from his support for Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, the Energy Transfer pipeline company founder gave upwards of $800,000 to Trump’s campaign apparatus, the Trump 47 committee, in the first quarter, according to FEC filings, and he and co-hosted the May fundraiser with Hamm. (We estimate Warren is worth $6 billion)

Isaac Perlmutter: Former chairman and CEO of Marvel Entertainment and a longtime Trump associate who advised him on Veterans Affairs policies during his first term, Perlmutter and his wife, Laura, made the largest donation, $10.1 million, to a new pro-Trump super PAC, Right for America, in the first quarter. (We estimate Perlmutter is worth $4.3 billion)

J. Joe Ricketts: Chairman of TD Ameritrade, Ricketts gave the maximum amount, $824,600, to the Trump 47 Committee. (We estimate Ricketts is worth $4 billion)

John Paulson: The hedge fund billionaire—who is reportedly on Trump’s shortlist for treasury secretary if he wins a second term—hosted a $50 million fundraiser for Trump at his Palm Beach home in April, and co-hosted a Manhattan fundraiser in May with billionaires Woody Johnson and John Catsimatidis. (We estimate Paulson is worth $3.5 billion)

Steve Wynn: Wynn—former casino mogul and Republican National Committee finance chair who was sued by the Justice Department last year for allegedly lobbying Trump on behalf of the Chinese government—was listed as a co-host at Paulson’s Palm Beach fundraiser and donated more than $800,000 to Trump 47 during the first quarter of this year. (We estimate Wynn is worth $3.4 billion)

Geoffrey Palmer: One of Trump’s biggest backers in 2016, the Los Angeles real estate magnate donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in the second half of 2023, Politico reported, and more than $80,000 to Trump 47 in the first quarter of 2024. (We estimate Palmer is worth $3.1 billion)

Linda McMahon: Donating $11 million to support Trump this election cycle, making her his second-largest donor after Mellon, McMahon is the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), alongside her husband, Vince McMahon; she served as the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration under Trump and chairs the America First Policy Institute that promotes Trump’s agenda. (We estimate Vincent McMahon is worth $2.9 billion)

Phil Ruffin: The casino magnate, who co-owns with Trump the Trump International Las Vegas hotel and is said to be one of Trump’s closest friends, also donated more than $800,000 to Trump 47 in the first three months of the year, after helping bankroll his 2020 campaign. (We estimate Ruffin is worth $2.6 billion)

Timothy Dunn: The Texas oil businessman contributed $5 million to MAGA Inc. in the second half of 2023, according to Politico. (We estimate Dunn is worth $2.2 billion)


Several billionaires have indicated plans to donate to Trump, but have yet to make contributions.

After calling for a “new generation of leaders” and sitting out the primary race, Blackstone CEO and co-founder Steve Schwarzman (Forbes valuation: $37.7 billion) said last month he plans to donate to Trump, due in part to “the dramatic rise of antisemitism.”

Citadel hedge fund founder Ken Griffin (Forbes valuation: $37.1 billion), said he’s waiting to see who Trump picks as his vice president before he decides whether to donate.

Casino mogul and longtime Trump backer Miriam Adelson (Forbes valuation: $29.2 billion), is expected to make a sizeable donation to the pro-Trump Preserve American super PAC, which received a $90 million donation from her and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, during the 2020 campaign, according to multiple reports.

Pershing Square Capital Management founder Bill Ackman (Forbes valuation: $9.3 billion), is widely expected to endorse Trump after previously backing Kennedy’s and Haley’s primary campaigns.

Liz Uihlein, who co-founded Uline shipping and packaging company with her husband Dick Uihlein, told the Financial Times in March they would support Trump, after donating to DeSantis’ primary campaign (Forbes valuation: $6.7 billion each).

After apologizing for supporting Trump’s 2020 campaign in the wake of Jan. 6, billionaire investor Nelson Peltz (Forbes valuation: $1.6 billion) indicated he would reluctantly support him again in 2024, citing concerns about immigration and Biden’s age, telling the Financial Times in March “it will probably be Trump, and I’m not happy about that.”


https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/20...-campaign/





Trump Promises More Israeli Apartheid/Genocide Due to Influence of Billionaire Backer Miriam Adelson

[DocMack]

Huckster Pastor Hank Kunneman Rolls Out Another Bogus Prophecy on Behalf of Trump

June 2, 2024

[DocMack]

CNBC: “Campaign finance experts say a unique combination of fundraising tactics and legal maneuvers have helped the Trump campaign climb out of a financial sinkhole that raised questions about his ability to compete in the race.”

“Since he left the White House in 2020, Trump has taken advantage of a little-known loophole in campaign finance law to pay for his mounting legal costs, which Federal Election Commission filings show amount to around $90,000 per day over the past three years.”

“Campaign disclosures show Trump has used a web of political action committees, or PACs, to funnel donor money to a leadership PAC he founded called Save America, which is primarily paying his legal bills. These groups are separate from his official campaign and not subject to the same restrictions by the FEC.”


https://politicalwire.com/2024/06/13/how...gal-bills/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/13/trump-cr...bills.html

[DocMack]

Donald Trump is no stranger to a quid pro quo — he was impeached for one, after all. But while campaigning for a second term in the White House, he has gone further than perhaps any other candidate in recent history to shape his policies in return for cash.

Trump is not making these bargains behind closed doors or in smoky back rooms, but at fundraisers and events attended by dozens of influential and extremely wealthy people.

On several occasions he has made explicit offers to reward donors by enacting or dismantling policy on their behalf should he win in November, often reversing his own previously held positions.

Democrat Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House committee on oversight and accountability, accused Trump of treating the presidency “as a for-profit business enterprise and money-making venture”.

He told The Independent that the former president was “brazenly offering to sell out US policy to any corporate and billionaire campaign donors ready to make a deal, including telling Big Oil he will sign their executive orders in exchange for a cool one billion dollars”.

“Donald Trump will literally sell out the future of humanity for another billion dollars,” he added.

The Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit watchdog that focuses on campaign finance laws, called Trump’s actions “brazen, quid pro quo corruption”.

"It is deeply concerning and problematic to see a presidential candidate solicit millions of dollars from wealthy donors in exchange for promised policies or actions that cater to the donors’ wishes,” said Saurav Ghosh, the group’s director of federal campaign finance reform.

Ghosh told The Independent that “years of deregulatory court decisions” have fostered a culture of big money in US elections that allows Trump “to act with impunity, pushing legal boundaries or even breaking them outright”.

Trump’s bargaining began almost the moment he left office, and has continued to this day.

Here are the policies he is selling to donors.


$1bn from oil companies

At a lavish dinner at Mar-a-Lago in April, the former president gathered with around two dozen executives from the biggest oil companies in the country. His campaign was facing a sizeable cash shortfall against his opponent, President Joe Biden, and he was desperate to make up the difference.

As the executives complained about how the Biden administration’s environmental regulations were hurting their business, Trump made a starkly transactional pitch: raise $1bn to send me back to the White House.

If he won, he said he would immediately reverse dozens of Biden’s environmental rules and policies. The $1bn would be a “deal” for the companies, he added, because of the money they would save from deregulation.

The account of the meeting, first reported by the Washington Post, came from several people who attended. Among them were 20 executives from  ExxonMobil, EQT Corporation and the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil industry. It was reportedly organized by oil billionaire Harold Hamm.

Specifically, Trump vowed to undo a Biden administration freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “on the first day” of entering office, one attendee told the Post.

The meeting prompted a furious response from Democrats in the House and Senate.

Representative Raskin wrote to the CEOs of nine of the oil companies that attended the meeting to demand answers, calling it an “unvarnished quid pro quo”.

He said that reports that oil companies are working on potential executive orders for Trump “suggest that certain oil and gas companies, which have a track record of using deceitful tactics to undermine effective climate policy, may have already accepted or facilitated Mr Trump’s explicit corrupt bargain”.


The crypto president

Trump once called Bitcoin “a scam" and argued that it threatened the supremacy of the US dollar. A few years later, in desperate need of campaign cash, he is pitching himself to Silicon Valley as “the crypto president”.

Trump used the term to describe himself at a fundraiser hosted by tech investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya at the former’s home in San Francisco this month.

Both Sacks and Palihapitiya have spoken publicly about their investments in crypto, and the event was attended by a number of other notable crypto investors, including executives from Coinbase and twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who own the crypto company Gemini.

Trump has not always been popular in Silicon Valley. In 2020, the tech industry spent big to make him a one-term president. But this time around, there has been a slight yet notable shift among a certain set of crypto-loving tech billionaires.

The crypto industry has spent tens of millions of dollars in an effort to influence the 2024 elections, funneling money to help elect lawmakers who will undo regulatory moves by the Biden administration. The industry hopes that deregulation will lead to huge profits for crypto investors.

Trump’s message appeared to land: He came away with $12m in donations from that fundraiser in San Francisco, and the promise of much more.


TikTok flip-flop

As president, Trump spearheaded efforts to ban TikTok.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” the then-president declared to reporters aboard Air Force One in July 2020.

Indeed, he signed an executive order in his last year in office that would have effectively prohibited the video app, which is majority-owned by a Chinese company. But just this month he joined TikTok himself. And more recently he has spoken out against efforts from both the Biden administration and his own party to regulate it.

On March 7, a House committee advanced a bill that would ban the app if it didn’t divest, even as TikTok users flooded congressional lines with thousands of calls urging lawmakers to back off.

That same day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “if you get rid of TikTok, (then) Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last election, doing better,” wrote Trump, echoing a baseless conspiracy theory that social media platforms rigged elections against him. “They are a true Enemy of the People!”

What prompted this dramatic change?

Some clues may be derived from the fact that his words came swiftly after a very public rapprochement with Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass. Yass has a $20bn stake in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and is the largest donor in this election campaign cycle.

At the request of Yass, Trump spoke at a conference of the influential right-wing Club for Growth, which the former president previously blasted as “Club for No Growth”.

Yass has given $61m to the group since 2010 but it backed Florida’s Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary against Trump.

At the conference, Trump told donors that he and the organization’s president, David McIntosh, are now “back in love”.


West Bank-rolling

Perhaps the most brazen quid pro quo of Trump’s first term came with a giant donation from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the Republican Party’s biggest funder over the past decade.

According to New York Times writer Maggie Haberman in her book ‘Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,’ Adelson made a $20m donation to a political action committee to pressure then-president Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

For his second term, Trump may be poised to sell another controversial policy to the Adelson family.

Sheldon died in 2021, but his wife Miriam has continued his cause and may even surpass Yass to become Trump’s biggest patron in this election cycle.

A New York Magazine profile of Miriam, published last month, suggested that Trump’s support for the Israeli annexation of the West Bank was top of her wish list for a second term.

The West Bank is considered Palestinian territory and would form the basis of a future Palestinian state. Annexing it would be against international law.

By March, Mrs Adelson had not yet opened her checkbook to fund Trump’s campaign. That month, after he won the Republican primary, he invited her to a Shabbat dinner at Mar-a-Lago, according to the magazine, during which his courting of the donor appears to have begun in earnest. He gave an interview to the Adelson-owned newspaper Israel Hayom in which he described himself as “a very loyal person”.

“I’ve been the best president in history to Israel by a factor of ten because of all the things I do. The embassy, Jerusalem being the capital. Then you have Golan Heights … Nobody even thought that was going to be possible. I did that,” he said.

Ten days after the publication of the New York Magazine profile, Politico reported that Adelson would fund a massive political action committee for Trump’s re-election.


Trickle-up tax cuts

During his presidency, Trump implemented sweeping tax cuts for the top 1 per cent of earners and cut the maximum corporation tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent. His cuts were “one factor helping the fortunes of US billionaires grow by a collective $1 trillion during the pandemic, from March 18 to December 7, 2020,” according to the non-partisan group, Americans for Tax Fairness.

The group said that an analysis of donations to Trump found that he was “enabled with a total of almost a quarter billion dollars in campaign contributions from 134 of America’s billionaires during his short, violent political career”.

Trump is looking to replicate that windfall by promising even more tax cuts for the wealthy, should he win a second term. Several billionaire donors backed off following the riot on January 6, 2021 — they are now finding their way back to Trump, largely thanks to that promise.

Speaking at a donor event at the luxury Pierre Hotel in New York last month, Trump warned the wealthy attendees that taxes would go up unless he wins in November because Biden has vowed to let his tax cuts expire at the end of 2025.

“You’re going to have the biggest tax increase in history,” he said. “So whatever you guys can do, I appreciate it.”

The comments are part of a pattern of offers to wealthy donors from Trump. Donate to me, he says, and I’ll make you richer.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago in December last year, Trump drew laughs as he described the audience as “rich as hell” before declaring: “We’re gonna give you tax cuts!”

Money has always played a role in presidential campaigns, but the scale and brazenness of Trump’s policy firesale could have a dramatic impact on future elections. If it works, the US government could become even more in thrall to the billionaire class.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...62195.html

[DocMack]

With a close head-to-head battle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, key election issues and the recent guilty verdict against Trump could be weighing on voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

A new poll shows the impact the guilty verdict could have on voters, including the key Independent voter demographic.

What Happened: Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal trial and awaits sentencing on July 11.

A new poll from Ipsos and Politico shows the impact the ruling had on voters and what they believe the punishment should be.

The poll found that overall 52% of voters polled believed Trump was guilty based on the evidence, with 25% believed he was not guilty and 21% unsure. Among Independent voters, 53% said Trump was guilty with 17% believing he was not guilty and 28% unsure.

For voters polled, 17% said they were more likely to support Trump after the verdict with 33% saying they were less likely to support Trump. While Republicans were more likely to support Trump after the verdict at 42%, Independent voters were ready to shy away.

Only 12% of Independent voters said they were more likely to support Trump after the verdict, with 32% saying they were less likely to support Trump after the verdict and 40% saying they had no change.

Among Independent voters, 23% said the conviction was very important in how they will vote in the 2024 election. Seven percent said the conviction was somewhat important to how they will vote in the 2024 election.

When asked what punishment Trump should get for his guilty verdict, 42% of Independent voters said imprisonment, with 21% saying probation and 17% saying financial penalty. Fifteen percent of those polled said Trump should face no penalty.

Why It's Important: Many 2024 election polls point to a close race between Biden and Trump, which could make Independent voters and key swing states among the top areas that will decide the 2024 presidential election.

Trump's guilty verdict maybe troublesome in the battle for Independent voters as many may now have second thoughts about voting for the former president.

A near majority (42%) of Independent voters want to see Trump get imprisonment as a punishment. While Trump can still run if he is sentenced to prison or even if he serves time, voters may be uneasy voting for such a scenario.


https://www.benzinga.com/general/politic...support-fo

[DocMack]

A mysterious company has collected more than $3 million from former President Donald Trump's campaign for reasons neither party will own, according to a new report.

The Delaware limited liability company Launchpad Strategies has received $3.1 million since incorporating in November from the Trump campaign and a pro-Trump fundraising committee, NBC reported Monday.

"Little is known about Launchpad Strategies LLC beyond its existence and the millions of dollars it has taken in from a presidential campaign," reporter Matt Dixon writes.

"It has never done other political work for state-level or federal candidates, according to federal and state campaign finance disclosures."

The company website shows a black sky rising above grey clouds — the crosshairs cursor shows its location along the x and y axes. The only words that appear are the company's name and a contact form.

NBC reached out to the company through the form but did not receive a reply.

Launchpad Strategies is not registered in North Carolina, the state whose address appears in federal campaign finance reports, NBC notes.

Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes told NBC all legal obligations had been met in a brief statement describing the company as "a digital advertising company that is primarily focused on our fundraising."

But several campaign finance watchdog organizations told Dixon that, as he put it, "the quasi-anonymous relationship between the company and the campaign raises red flags."

“It’s concerning to see a company formed just six months ago suddenly receive over $3.1 million from Donald Trump’s network," Saurav Ghosh, the Campaign Legal Center's director of federal campaign finance reform, told NBC.

“Who works there, what services they offer or have provided, and whether Trump’s payments to ‘Launchpad Strategies, LLC’ are for bona fide services or are, instead, actually payments to other vendors funneled through a mere corporate shell.”


https://www.rawstory.com/trump-campaign-...668537696/

https://launchpad-strategies.com/

[DocMack]

Donald Trump has lost some $267,367,500 million this weekend from the declining value of shares in his social media company.

Shares in the former president's social media platform, Truth Social, declined in value by 6.29 percent on Monday, wiping millions from the Republican's portfolio.

Truth Social launched in February 2022, about a year after the former president was banned from X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook for posts about the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. While he has since been reinstated to the platforms, he opts to use Truth Social.

Since shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., an existing shell company, agreed to merge with Truth Social's parent company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) earlier this year—clearing the way for the former president's company to go public—its stock value has fluctuated and has now declined.

According to Google Finance data, as of June 18, the price of a share, traded under the ticket "DJT", plunged to $34.72 per share, down by over 6 percent.

Last week, the stock dipped to under $40 at $39.31 per share, marking the first time the stock had declined to that level since April 25 when it was $38.49. However, the price of a share is still higher than on April 17 when it dipped to $22.84, the lowest the share price had been since January 16, when it was at $22.35, before Digital World merged with Trump's Truth Social.

The former president has a close to 65 percent stake in TMTG. The company offered him 36 million additional shares earlier this month which brought his total stock in the company to 114.75 million shares, according to filings from the firm to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

With the number of shares he owns and the decline in the share value, Trump is down by over $267 million, Matthew Tuttle, founder and CEO of Tuttle Capital Management, told Newsweek.

A TMTG spokesperson told Newsweek: "From stories like this, which have the depth of a third-grade book report, to your bizarre tendency to steal your material from tabloid publications like RawStory, Newsweek constantly demonstrates the reason why it has no readers."

Speaking to Newsweek, Todd Landman, a professor of political science at Nottingham University in the U.K. said the shares were "highly volatile and erratic" making them a "great risk to investors."

He said: "The share price trends have been highly volatile and erratic. The 52-week high for the stock is $79.38, while the 52-week low is $22.55. Such swings in value present great risk to investors, who prefer, by and large, to see steady gains over time. A longer-term view suggests that investors may see a gain in the future, which may cause them to keep the stock. However, a 50-point swing in value appears on the face of it quite risky."

"If Truth Social can increase its number of users and offer new content and services, then there may be a return on investment in the future. The value will also be affected by the results of the election, which comes two months after the deadline when Trump has the option to sell his shares," Landman said.

Meanwhile, TMTG has had wider financial problems. It reported a net loss of $327.6 million for the first quarter of 2024. This loss was primarily attributed to non-cash expenses related to the company's merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. TMTG posted a net loss of $210,300 the year before.

After Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records in his hush-money trial last month, Truth Social stock plunged and experts told Newsweek the former president's conviction may have impacted the stock's performance.


https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tr...ce-1914138

[DocMack]

Janet Yellen and Larry Summers haven't always agreed on everything, but a new tax proposal from the Trump campaign earned a strong rebuttal from both the current secretary of the Treasury and the former one.

The idea, floated by former President Donald Trump to Republicans last week, would slash income taxes by raising tariffs on imports. While the proposal is said to have gained quick support from those present at the meeting, it has since been blasted as a surefire way to worsen inflation and dent US competitiveness.

"This is a prescription for the mother of all stagflations," Summers told Bloomberg TV on Friday, calling it the worst policy proposed in US history.

The chief concern is that tariff revenue provides nowhere near as much income to the government as taxes do, with income tax responsible for close to half of US revenue last year. To eliminate individual taxes, tariffs would need to climb well over 100%, Yellen, the current Treasury secretary, told ABC News.

When import levies rise, that typically causes foreign traders to raise prices or pull their products. When that happens, supply falls, and domestic products appreciate, according to the nonpartisan think tank Tax Foundation.

"The impact would be to make life unaffordable for working-class Americans," Yellen said. "That would harm American businesses."

But to Summers, that's the least of it. He compared the moment to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, an infamous 1930s bill that's blamed for worsening the Great Depression.

"If you replaced half of income-tax revenues with tariffs, those would be tariffs six times Smoot-Hawley levels," he said, adding that Trump had proposed replacing the entire system.

This could cause enormous damage to US exporters and consumers and send the world spiraling into "economic warfare" as countries responded, Summers added.

But to the GOP donor and billionaire investor Kyle Bass, Trump's idea is probably hyperbole, as it's just not feasible. Talking on CNBC, he pointed out that last year's import volume amounted to $3.8 trillion, while tax revenue is estimated to reach $5.4 trillion this year.

"There is just no way to run an import-tariff scheme to get you to $5.4 trillion," the Hayman Capital chief investment officer said.

Still, chances are high that a Trump White House would unleash tariffs in one form or another. The former president has made import duties a fundamental component of his trade policy, and not only to relieve income tax.

He's additionally discussed applying a universal 10% tariff rate on all US imports and raising it up to 60% for Chinese goods. Trump has argued that this will end the exploitation of US trade and give domestic producers an edge.


https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ta...war-2024-6

[DocMack]

The author of a new Donald Trump book who has spoken out about the former president’s “severe memory issues” offered some alarming examples on Tuesday.

Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Trump six times after he left office in 2021, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that there were points during those sessions when Trump seemed to think he still had some presidential powers.

“There was one day where he told me he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan, even though he clearly didn’t,” he said.

Collins appeared stunned.

“He told you that, while you were interviewing him at Trump Tower, he told you he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan?” she asked.

“With the, quote, ‘the Afghanistan,’ is how he referred to it,” Setoodeh said.

In another instance, he said Trump told an easily debunked story about his first run for office.

“He confidently told me, and declared, that Joan Rivers voted for him when he ran for president,” Setoodeh said. “And Joan Rivers died in 2014.”

Trump did not appear on a ballot until 2016.

Setoodeh also confirmed that Trump was “meandering and confusing” during interviews, and did not remember being interviewed by Setoodeh previously despite their multiple conversations.

“He goes from one story to the next. He struggles with the chronology of events. He seems very upset that he wasn’t respected by certain celebrities in the White House. And then he’d go to a story about ‘The Apprentice,’” he said, adding that these issues make it “very challenging” to interview the former president.

Setoodeh’s book, “Apprentice in Wonderland,” is out this week.

The Trump campaign has denied the allegations of cognitive issues, and said Trump didn’t remember Setoodeh because he is “a nobody and insignificant” and “never made an impression.”


https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-tr...89dbe60d67