#politics + #trump

In just the past week, President Donald Trump has ordered defense companies to halt dividends and stock buybacks, and limited executive compensation to $5 million a year; ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities; ordered an array of energy firms to invest in Venezuelan oil infrastructure, called for a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates; announced steps to ban institutional purchases of single-family homes; and opened a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell's handling of Federal Reserve building renovations in an attempt to influence monetary policy.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit,” Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.

Although the Supreme Court hasn't weighed in on the issue, seven federal circuit courts have, and they all upheld the First Amendment right to record the police. Likewise, federal circuits have upheld the right to use vulgar language to oppose police without fear of retaliation, and to warn others of nearby police checkpoints or speed traps.

Using rules that exempt certain bills from the filibuster, Congress passed (and President Trump signed into law) the 330-page "reconciliation" bill which included tax breaks adding $500 billion to the deficit; new limits on Medicaid, SNAP, federal student loads, and green energy; and $171 billion for immigration enforcement, making ICE the largest law enforcement agency in the United States.

Those were perhaps the most controversial bills ever enacted, with senators voting yes on the reconciliation bill representing just 44% of the country's population. I don't think that's ever happened before and really captures the political climate. (For comparison, the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, passed the Senate with the yea votes representing 62% of the country’s population.)

Do Trump and the Republican's just hate the earth? Apparently nobody even wants to drill for oil there. So why is this such a priority?

The U.S. Senate is about to vote on a resolution to toss ex-President Biden’s limits on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ensure nothing like it is imposed again. ... Congress and the Trump administration have already nullified the Biden limits on leasing in the Arctic Refuge. But the latest nullification method uses the Congressional Review Act. That means a future president could not impose substantially similar limits without an act of Congress.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., spoke against the resolution. An outdoorsman who has travelled to the region, Heinrich described the refuge as a breathtaking wilderness that’s vital for hundreds of species of birds and wildlife.

““The Arctic Refuge is the crown jewel of our National Wildlife Refuge System, and it belongs to every single American,” he said. “It deserves our protection.”

Market forces may, in effect, provide that protection. No major oil companies bid when the first Trump administration held an ANWR lease sale in 2021. A lease sale during the Biden administration, with more restrictive conditions imposed, drew no bids at all.

Presidents and congressional representatives from both parties have established a dangerous precedent of expanding Presidential power to the point of conducting full scale war without congressional approval. It is unconstitutional and a failure of the elected officials on both sides to uphold the constitution.

“Trump’s Take” is a real-time financial tracker documenting the cash and gifts that President Donald Trump and his family have received by selling the presidency. For our purposes, the family includes President Trump, Melania Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump, hereafter referred to collectively as the “Trump family,” but excludes Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Trump has made most of the cash by launching his own crypto ventures—reversing his outspoken, skeptical stance on crypto—while aggressively deregulating the industry. Trump takes a cut in cash from the trades and sales of the family’s coins and tokens along with stablecoin interest. The “take” is the cash he has received calculated in real time, based on actual trading activity and stablecoin interest. It can only go up. We have also added the value of the gifts, legal settlements, and the income from Melania Trump’s documentary paid directly to Trump or to his presidential library.

Due to the complex nature of these earnings, which are channeled through multiple financial vehicles, our calculations are constantly being updated and refined. A comprehensive methodology detailing the determination of the Trump family’s crypto income is available here.

We have excluded income from assets Trump had before his November 2024 election victory—including real estate, hotels, licensing deals, and more—even though their value has inarguably increased as a result of his election. We made one notable exception by including income from his first crypto venture, World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFI). WLFI launched in September 2024, and nearly all of the income from this venture was made after his election in November of the same year.

It’s not that the Trumps are the first to leverage the presidency for profit. Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy, promoted Billy Beer—and took money from the Libyans. Richard Nixon had his brother Donald’s phone tapped amid concerns about business dealings. Hunter Biden received more than $1 million for artwork of questionable quality. But no first family has used the office to make as much money as Donald Trump’s.

Crypto is the big driver, but additional funds have come from advising right-wing companies in America and partnering with cash-rich firms overseas, especially in the Middle East. Family members who never had significant fortunes of their own—Eric, Don Jr., Barron and Melania—have accumulated tens, then hundreds of millions of dollars. All told, the family (including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner) is now worth an estimated $10 billion, having nearly doubled its net worth since last year’s election.

Your stopover in the United Arab Emirates, where you will reportedly seal a deal relaxing export controls on sensitive U.S. technology, is poised to showcase this new level of grifting – and it will come directly at the expense of U.S. national security.

You and your family are financially tied to World Liberty Financial (WLF), a crypto venture that recently launched the stablecoin USD1.3 In March, prior to the official launch of USD1, your crypto assets – including WLF holdings and your $TRUMP meme coin –accounted for nearly 40 percent of your total assets.4 Your holdings in WLF have clearly expanded your wealth since you took office and will only further expand it as USD1 issuance grows.

On May 1, Eric Trump and the son of your Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced that Emirati state-owned investment firm MGX will use USD1 to complete a $2 billion dollar transaction with cryptoexchange Binance. 5 In selecting USD1, the Emirati-backed fund will likely pay hundreds of millions of dollars in transaction fees, and WLF will be able to reap returns on any investments it makes with the $2 billion deposit. In essence, WLF – and you and your family by extension – are receiving a cut of this deal.