Donald John Trump

Stories and links about our 45th President, Donald John Trump, to help you keep informed on what our president is up to these days.

Who would want to work for the Trump administration in 2025?

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It’s very much an open question when so many of the top Trump officials from 2020 now are justice involved if not serving prison sentences for their involvement in the insurrection. A future administration is going to require tens of thousands of patronage employees but many may not be willing to step up because of the risk to their careers and reputation.

Often working in a presidential administration is the capstone of a career. But for so many appointees in the first term of Trump, they faced extensive political pressure to violate norms and even laws, not only putting their personal ethics at question but also subjecting themselves to criminal penalties and fines, not to mention risks to their future.

While there are millions of Americans to pick from and there are inevitably Trump supporters who’d love to join his administration, most are likely not the experienced, seasoned professionals who you would hope the President would attract as advisors.

The thing about vermin … 🐕 🐀 🐿

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Vermin usually win. Seriously, they’re called vermin not only because they’re a pest, be it because they kill livestock like coyotes do, or chew holes in walls and into food like mice do, but because they’re damn hard to control and win a war against.

Not a conservative or a Trump supporter

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I never liked Trump as I didn’t think he was a serious candidate for president or even a serious president. He’s not somebody I think is willing to listen to facts or even understand complicated nuisanced issues. Most politicians like to toot their horns and be obnoxious ideologues by throwing red meat to their base, but I never got the impression that Trump goes any deeper than that.

I never got rallying around the flag or the support our police and military movement. Government workers have jobs and we expect them to do it competently for pay. It’s what I do too. But I don’t expect any parades in my honor. Government workers get paid, and many have unions and if they are concerned about low pay or unsafe working conditions – the solution shouldn’t be parades or medals given out – but better pay, benefits and working conditions. Government workers aren’t virtuous but they deserve fair working conditions.

Indeed, I’m deeply cynical about the government. I don’t think the government is out there to help but instead is motivated by a complex web of personal ambitions. Every government program after all is motivated by a desire of politicians to get reelected or a government employee to get a promotion and make more money. So if anything I’m a libertarian – regulate the corporations and big businesses but leave the little guy alone.

NPR

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Fraud ruling threatens Trump’s N.Y. business empire : NPR

New York City — Donald J. Trump's sprawling web of businesses in New York faces grave danger and could unravel swiftly after this week's fraud ruling by a state Supreme Court judge, legal and business experts say.

The summary judgment issued Tuesday concluded that the former president and his associates, including sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, systematically overvalued corporate assets over a period of years.

In one instance, they falsely inflated the total square footage of a commercial building by 300 percent, the ruling concluded. They also valued rent-controlled apartments equally with buildings where landlords are free to set their own prices.

Why does Trump think he can win in 2024?

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There isn’t a plausible explanation in my mind why Donald Trump thinks he can realistically expect to win the 2024 Presidential election. Even on his most simplistic explanation – his claim that he lost due to massive fraud in 2020, there is little reason to believe there would be less fraud in 2024.

You can debate what counts as election fraud but ultimately the rules of elections are defined primarily by incumbents and few changes to election law favorable to Republicans have occurred in blue states. If anything with Democrats winning several state legislatures in 2022 post-Dobbs decision, the terrain has become more unfavorable to Republicans. If Trump wants to win back the presidency in 2024, he obviously has to win back states he lost in 2020.

Incumbents often win re-election because they have previously perfected the strategy to win election plus have had several years of the state’s apparatus to further their candidacy. Doesn’t always happen that way, incumbents either do a bad job or are of unfortunate circumstances and get voted out of office, witness Donald Trump. But all things the same, a re-run of the 2020 election against Trump in 2024 only is likely to produce the same result – Biden re-elected.

Like it or not, the most likely thing to happen in a Trump – Biden rematch is just another 2020 election. Same result in most states, same amount of fraud and voter turnout. States that were blue in 2020 are likely just to be as blue in 2024. If anything, Biden might pick up additional states assuming that Trump is even less popular after his multiple felony indictments and trials.

Biden himself doesn’t have an automatic ride to the presidency though, he does own the economy and everything else that has happened in the past four years in the country. Inflation and crime are down slightly after peaking in the first years of his presidency after COVID-19 but they are still leaving a sting in voters minds, especially as gas prices creep back up. Recession fears continue even if they’ve slowed lately too.

I don’t know but I don’t think Trump is a good candidate at all for 2024 – but I could be wrong. Not the first time.

NPR

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Prosecutors obtained secret search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account : NPR

Special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account back in January and requested Twitter not disclose this information to Trump, newly unsealed court documents show.

On Jan. 17, 2023, prosecutors applied for, and received, a search warrant directing Twitter, a company now known as X, to produce data and records related to the @realDonaldTrump account, documents from the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit show.

The social media company subsequently fought the Justice Department on this warrant request as well as its demand not to disclose this information to Trump or others, the court filings show.

In a since-rejected appeal, Twitter had argued that the nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment and the Stored Communications Act.

Twitter did eventually comply with the warrant, but failed to produce all of the requested information until three days after a court-ordered deadline, placing the company in contempt and was ordered to pay a $350,000 fine for the delay.