TRUMP REGIME

David Corn - Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Navy has no experience in the military or national security. But he did host a private fundraiser for Trump at his home in Aspen in August. 

 CNN -  Here are some of the top consumer goods Americans buy from their neighbors to the north and south that could get more expensive if Trump follows through with his tariff plan:

Crude oil, which is refined to produce gasoline and heating oil, is one of the top imports to the US from Canada. In July it reached a record of 4.3 million barrels per day following the expansion of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

The expansion has helped deliver more oil to be refined to much of the West Coast in addition to the Midwest, where it previously served most prominently....

The 25% tariff Trump floated Monday would have “huge impacts” on gas prices, amounting to an increase of between 25 cents to 75 cents per gallon, De Haan said. That would most directly impact Americans located around the Great Lakes, Midwest and Rockies.

In 2022, the US imported $44.1 billion worth of agricultural products from Mexico, amounting to a fifth of all US agricultural products, according to Commerce Department data. For example, 90% of the avocados Americans consumed in 2022 were imported. Of the avocados imported into the US, 89% came from Mexico. Said differently, your guac and your avocado toast could skyrocket if 25% tariffs are levied on Mexico.

The United States imported $44.76 billion worth of vehicles from Mexico in 2023, making it the number-one import, according to Commerce Department data.As more car manufacturers sought to get around tariffs imposed on Chinese goods, many moved their production to Mexico, making it a global hub for car factories, including General Motors, Ford, Stellantis and nearly a dozen more.

On Tuesday, shares of US carmakers plunged, with General Motors taking the biggest dive, closing down 9%.

Virtually every American auto manufacturer depends on parts from Mexico to build its cars or trucks, because those parts can be substantially cheaper than those made in the US. But a 25% tariff would likely be a game changer there.

And, behind cars themselves, car parts were the second-most imported good from Mexico last year.

Most of the alcohol the US imports comes from Mexico...

This means that the new tariffs Trump pledged will be virtually inescapable for Americans, as businesses facing higher costs will likely pass that along to consumers.

Matt Ford, New Republic - Earlier this week, I wrote about the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and its vague but audacious plans for reforming the executive branch after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two men leading the project, have largely spoken about it only in hazy terms—at least until now. The clarity that they have offered is unlikely to satisfy its critics or doubters, to say the least.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday, Musk and Ramaswamy elaborated in more detail about their plans to “reverse a decadeslong executive power grab” and reshape the federal government. They claimed to have a mandate not only from the American people but also from the Supreme Court in their quest to dismantle federal regulatory agencies. And they advanced legally questionable arguments for how they could accomplish it.

The op-ed opens with a certain lack of self-awareness. “Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government,” the two men wrote. They depicted an America where most policy decisions aren’t made by “the democratically elected president and his political appointees” but by “millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.”

Taking on these nefarious civil servants are two unelected, unappointed men who aspire to wield unaccountable influence—DOGE, despite its name, is not a government agency—who also cannot be fired. “We are entrepreneurs, not politicians,” they wrote. “We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.” The irony was apparently lost on them.