Life in Post Democracy Era: The Trump 2/Elon Dictatatorship

[China]

Eye-Watering Price of Meeting Trump One-on-One Is Revealed

If you want a private audience with President Donald Trump, be prepared to pay.

Trump has been offering one-to-one conversations in exchange for a hefty donation to MAGA Inc., a super PAC founded in 2022 that raises funds to support the GOP President, The New Yorker reported.

The price is a cool $5 million, according to the magazine.

It is a hefty hike since December, when MAGA supporters could buy a seat at a group dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago for $1 million. But it follows a spate of White House schemes to raise funds including a crypto dinner that came in at $1.7 million a seat and was billed as the “most exclusive invitation in the world.”

The new cash-to-talk scheme has shocked even the staunchest Trump supporters who are used to buying influence in Washington, The New Yorker reported.

But it’s not clear whether the $5 million investment is worth it, or what’s on offer besides an opportunity to lobby the president in person.

Lobbyists have had success with the administration since the start of Trump’s second term in January.

Pilgrim’s Pride, a U.S. poultry producer, was the largest donor to Trump’s inauguration fund and a few months later the administration announced policy changes that benefitted the company, such as agreeing not to increase salmonella testing, the New Yorker said.

Click on the link for the full article

Sickening.

[Renegade7]

Getting news alerts US Tax Court is blocking Trumps tarrifs calling them illegal.

Courts is all we have left, please keep fighting the good fight...

[Simmsy]

Getting news alerts US Tax Court is blocking Trumps tarrifs calling them illegal.

Courts is all we have left, please keep fighting the good fight...

So, what does this mean? That Trump keeps saying and talking about tariffs and we just ignore him...like Wall St. is doing? "Taco Trade", haha! Trump is a loser, if you haven't seen the video of him being being asked about the taco moniker, you should give it a look.

[The Sisko]

Let's check out some recent Trump pardons:

Donald Trump to Pardon Reality Show Couple Todd and Julie Chrisley

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he plans to grant full pardons to Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of the reality TV show Chrisley Knows Best.

The couple rose to fame portraying a tight-knit, faith-centered Southern family enjoying an extravagant lifestyle.

In 2022, they were convicted of defrauding banks in the Atlanta out of more than $30 million and evading taxes. The pardons come amid Trump's broader pattern of granting clemency to high-profile allies and supporters, sparking renewed debate over the use of presidential pardon powers.

Click on the link for the full article

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Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner

As Paul Walczak awaited sentencing early this year, his best hope for avoiding prison time rested with the newly inaugurated president.

Mr. Walczak, a former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes days after the 2024 election, submitted a pardon application to President Trump around Inauguration Day. The application focused not solely on Mr. Walczak’s offenses but also on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago.

Ms. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Mr. Trump’s campaigns and those of other Republicans, the application said. It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny.

Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Still, weeks went by and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Mr. Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies.

Then, Ms. Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Mr. Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Less than three weeks after she attended the dinner, Mr. Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon.

Click on the link for the full article

And it gets worse...

Trump says he will ‘look at’ pardon for Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping conspiracy

President Trump said Wednesday he will take a look at whether to issue pardons for those convicted in the 2020 failed plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“I’m going to look at it. I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about pardons for those involved.

“I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things, you know they were drinking, and I think they said stupid things,” Trump added.

“But I’ll take a look at that. A lot of people are asking me that question, from both sides actually. A lot of people think they got railroaded. A lot of people think they got railroaded and probably some people don’t.”

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted for the kidnapping plot, which involved taking the governor at her vacation home at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic because they were angry with government-imposed restrictions.

Fox was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on two conspiracy charges relating to the kidnapping scheme and another to obtain and use a weapon of mass destruction related to a side plot to blow up a bridge in order to distract authorities. Federal prosecutors at the time identified Fox as the “driving force” behind the plan against Whitmer.

Click on the link for the full article

I hope if he pardons them that Michigan immediately arrests them and charges them with state crimes he can't pardon.

Nah, don’t wait. File those state charges now. That way when he pardons them, they can go straight from the penitentiary to state prison to await trial.

[China]

Trump Tariffs Ruled Illegal by Federal Judicial Panel

A panel of federal judges on Wednesday blocked President Trump from imposing some of his steepest tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, finding in two cases that he vastly overstepped his ability to issue those expansive duties under federal law.

The ruling, by the U.S. Court of International Trade, delivered an early yet significant setback to Mr. Trump in his campaign to strike a series of agreements that reorient the nation’s trading relationships, setting up a legal fight that could soon reach the Supreme Court.

The cases centered on the president’s use of a 1977 federal economic emergency law to issue many of his steep duties, including some of his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and his “reciprocal” rates on much of the rest of the world, which Mr. Trump announced and then suspended in April.

The law does not specify tariffs as a tool available to the president to protect the United States from economic threats. But Mr. Trump has invoked its powers anyway, citing a need to take drastic action in response to a wide variety of urgent matters — including the flow of fentanyl into the United States, for example, and the country’s persistent trade deficit with much of the world.

In two separate lawsuits, a group of businesses and a coalition of state officials argued that Mr. Trump’s strategy had overstepped the authorities of his office, resulting in a global trade war that had saddled them with steep financial losses. The Court of International Trade agreed, finding in a single ruling that the law “does not authorize” the president to use the emergency powers law to issue tariffs.

Click on the link for the full article

[TK]

Melania's like..."keeps digging fatboy. Easier to hit you over head with ze shovel and bury you".

[TK]

[TK]

[TK]

[TK]