Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Poopymonster]

US tourism is slowing down.

Travel to the U.S. fell 11.6% in March from the year before, according to the International Trade Administration. And car trips by Canadians to the U.S. fell 32% in March, after dropping 23% in February. Goldman Sachs has estimated that the drop in tourism could reduce GDP by as much as 0.3%, or about $90 billion, in a worst-case scenario.

Not only is it bad for tourism. It is bad for oil companies also due to lowered demand.



I bet those oil executives never dreamt of this scenario when they supported Trump during the election.

Bunch of faceless folks wondering why them.

[Tech614]

No sane individual wants to go on vacation in a country that is randomly deporting people for "hating america".

[Edge-]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/0...tions-00293051

President Donald Trump’s pick for Internal Revenue Service commissioner recently cleared a substantial debt from his failed 2022 Senate bid, using campaign contributions that rolled in after Trump announced his intent to nominate him to lead the tax agency, according to federal filings.

Former Republican Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) raked in roughly $137,000 in campaign donations in January — the month after Trump said he would nominate him to serve in Trump’s administration — according to campaign finance disclosures filed late Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Long then paid back an outstanding personal loan of $130,000 he had made to his now-dormant 2022 U.S. Senate campaign in February. A number of the donors are affiliated with firms in the tax consultancy industry.


The Lever was first to report on the filings.

Before January’s flood of donations, Long had only raised roughly $36,000 through his latent Senate campaign committee over the last two years, much of which came in December.

The IRS directed POLITICO to the Treasury Department for comment, which did not immediately respond. Long’s campaign treasurer did not immediately return a request for comment via email, and Long could not otherwise be reached for comment.

The disclosure comes as Long is facing backlash from Democratic lawmakers for connections to alleged tax credit loopholes. The disclosure report lists various contributions from financial advisers working at consulting groups such as White River Energy and Lifetime Advisors, which are in hot water with Democrats.

The firms are mentioned in a letter sent from Senate Finance Committee Democrats to the IRS on Monday urging the agency to open a criminal investigation into the groups’ promotion of allegedly fraudulent “tribal tax credits.”

The Missouri Republican represented the state’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. He lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary contest to now-Sen. Eric Schmitt.

After leaving Congress in 2023, Long pitched tax products for Lifetime Advisors. He also reported earning at least $5,000 from White River Energy for a duty designated as a “Referral to Capitol Edge Strategies” — a firm that, according to Bloomberg Tax, promotes tribal tax credit resources.

In 2022, the Supreme Court struck down limits on how much post-election cash candidates can use to repay personal loans, opening the door for donors with business before candidates to refill their coffers.

Long’s nomination to lead the IRS is still awaiting Senate confirmation.

Well, Donald's IRS nominee is already bought and paid for by corporate interests.

I love how industries can just purchase members of the administration, now.

[Draco-Onis]

No sane individual wants to go on vacation in a country that is randomly deporting people for "hating america".

Are you telling me videos of the gestapo kidnapping people in broad daylight to send them to a death camp isn't good for tourism? No one could have guessed that I mean look at how many people love vacationing in North Korea...

[Edge-]

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/nx-s1...itism-wesleyan

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth says he finds no comfort in the Trump administration's supposed fight against antisemitism on college campuses.

Roth, the first Jewish president of Wesleyan, told Morning Edition that the White House is "using antisemitism as a cloak" and threatening to defund universities to get them to "express loyalty to the president."

In the latest battle between the Trump administration and America's most prestigious universities, President Trump threatened to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status. The threat came after the university refused to comply with the administration's demands, which included immediately shutting down all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies at the school.

Roth says that canceling DEI programs does not protect Jewish people, but instead reduces access and fairness on campuses.

The White House maintains that its actions are aimed at combating antisemitism on college campuses. In the last month, the administration has canceled or frozen nearly $11 billion in federal grants at several universities.

In which an actual Jew points out that Donald, not a Jew, is using "antisemitism" as the emperor's clothes hiding his push to demand ideological loyalty from anyone and everyone and how it has nothing to do with actually protecting Jewish Americans.

[Draco-Onis]

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/nx-s1...itism-wesleyan

In which an actual Jew points out that Donald, not a Jew, is using "antisemitism" as the emperor's clothes hiding his push to demand ideological loyalty from anyone and everyone and how it has nothing to do with actually protecting Jewish Americans.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that tactic like this does the opposite antisemitism is growing and its being fed by things like this. I can't help but think that it is intended considering this administration is chuck full of antisemites and Neo Nazis. These people are unironically putting out Sebastian Gorka (advisor to the president open Neo Nazi) to put out the message.

[Mayhem]

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/nx-s1...itism-wesleyan



In which an actual Jew points out that Donald, not a Jew, is using "antisemitism" as the emperor's clothes hiding his push to demand ideological loyalty from anyone and everyone and how it has nothing to do with actually protecting Jewish Americans.

About 30% of jewish americans voted for Trump. We live in the stupidest of times.

[Edge-]

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trum...231028015.html

Apparently gender-bent Goebbels, Presse Secretary Karoline Leavitt, keeps getting called out by the Chinese embassy for wearing clothes that were at least in-part manufactured in China, and otherwise her expensive, luxury clothing.

As the trade war between China and the U.S. continues to simmer, a fashion choice by the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has heated up the issue on social media.

A photograph of the 27-year-old wearing a red dress with black trim caught the attention of Chinese envoy Zhang Zhishen, who posted a photo of the dress on “X” and included screenshots from Weibo users that claimed the lace on the dress was made in a factory in Mabu, China, where the Weibo users worked. Zhang, the consul general of the People’s Republic of China in Denpasar, Indonesia, posted on April 14, “Accusing China is business. Buying China is life. The beautiful lace on the dress was recognized by an employee of a Chinese company as its product.”

That sparked more responses and pushback on social media, while the trade war between China and the U.S. continues to heat up. In response to President Donald Trump’s decision to place 145 percent tariffs on China, Chinese officials responded last week by increasing tariffs on U.S. imports to as high as 125 percent.

Leavitt’s choice – a crystal-embellished knit dress from Self-Portrait – was still available Thursday morning on the e-commerce site Farfetch for $403, a 20 percent discount compared to its regular full retail price. Self Portrait’s designer declined to comment.

That moment when you decline to take advantage of the free publicity because there is such a thing as bad publicity.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

About 30% of jewish americans voted for Trump. We live in the stupidest of times.

That number may not be accurate. it could be as low as 21%.

https://www.jta.org/2024/11/06/unite...nary-exit-poll

Initial polls suggest that was not the case, at least in the aggregate. The National Election Pool, which produces an exit poll for a consortium of major news organizations, found that 79% of Jews said they voted Democratic, compared to 21% who voted Republican.

A second major analysis, for Fox News by a nonpartisan polling firm using data from the Associated Press, found lower but still substantial support for Harris. It concluded that 66% of Jews voted for her.

Either way, the good news is that the majority of Jewish voters still vote for Democrats.

The bad news is that it seems Donald got more support for Jewish Americans than he did in his previous bids for President. Still less than Reagan though...who hit ~40%.

[Edge-]

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/la...nds-rcna201417

Trump administration denies FEMA funds to Democratic-led states
Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to impose conditions on critical funds for disaster recovery.

That's fine. The Trump precedent is set.

If disasters hit Republican-controlled states under a Democratic administration, if there is ever another one, they can go fuck themselves and pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Never before has a president hated his fellow Americans so much.

[Endus]

It would check out with generally how unimaginative rich folks have become nowadays.

It doesn't help that the late-stage capitalist ideal is running your business in ways that are objectively not sustainable and will chip away consistently at worker morale, loyalty, and performance, bringing the company down with it.

Imagine an airline pilot whose goal was to make sure their parachute was the biggest and fluffiest and bestest parachute available, because they're definitely jumping out of this plane and leaving everyone still inside to slam into a mountain and die. Because fuck 'em, look at this golden parachute! Wheee!

They're bad at running businesses. On purpose. It doesn't take skill any more to become a huge company, it takes sociopathy. Hence why the richest fuckwits always seems to be complete idiots at anything but stuffing as much money into their own pockets as they possibly can.

[Xath]

https://newrepublic.com/post/194119/...th-certificate and here we go

[Rasulis]

BYU Ph.D. student’s international student visa revoked over apparent fishing license violation
Husband and father of 5 may have to return to Japan unless the courts allow him to continue his graduate studies

A Brigham Young University Ph.D. candidate from Japan has had his international student visa revoked — perhaps because of a fishing violation from years ago.

Outside of a couple of speeding tickets, Suguru Onda — a husband and father of five — has had only one legal hiccup during his six years of study in the United States. He was reportedly cited for harvesting more fish than his fishing license allowed during a 2019 outing with his Latter-day Saint church group.

The fishing charge was later dismissed, according to Adam Crayk, Onda’s attorney.

Still, earlier this month Onda, who is a year away from earning his BYU doctorate in computer science, received notice that his student visa was being revoked.

He is counted among the two dozen or more international students attending Utah colleges and universities who have had their visa revoked in recent weeks — and have been directed to leave the country without delay.

“I was surprised,” Onda told the Deseret News, “but at the same time, I’m seeing so much news about (student visa revocations); but I didn’t expect it to happen to me.”

Onda’s visa revocation notice, according to Crayk, offered few details:

Termination reason: “Otherwise failing to maintain status.”

Explanation: “Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked, service record has been terminated.”

Crayk told the Deseret News that his client went on a 2019 fishing activity with his Latter-day Saint ward.

Onda went to court, the attorney added, “but the prosecutor was like, ‘Yeah, we’re dismissing this’ — and it was dismissed.”

But Crayk believes that the church fishing incident, despite the charge being dismissed, linked Onda’s name with a potential criminal case and led to his international student visa being flagged and revoked.

An immigration attorney, Crayk said that traditionally international students were in jeopardy of having the visas revoked when they are connected with aggravated felonies, crimes involving “moral turpitude” and offenses related to, say, drugs, guns, protective order violations and certain domestic violence offenses.

“Something that’s much more significant than keeping an extra fish,” Crayk added.

Onda’s attorney added his “low-key” client is married, the father of five children and has no history of posting politically charged content.

Crayk is concerned that the Department of Homeland Security system is revoking international student visas involving minor criminal cases such as Onda’s without being verified “with human eyes.”

He is also concerned affected international students are not being offered opportunities to represent themselves and present their side of the story.

“We’ve taken away due process, which is just so fundamentally unfair.”

If the details are correct, the whole thing is simply "Twilight Zone" level of absurd. I guess he might be the secret head of the Japanese branch of MS-13.

[Edge-]

https://newrepublic.com/post/194119/...th-certificate and here we go

The first native-born American locked up for being brown!

In other news for this white supremacist administration - https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/g-s1-...-abrego-garcia

A federal court on Thursday denied the Trump administration's effort to appeal an order mandating that government officials be deposed about the accidental deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.

"It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all," a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit wrote. "The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order."

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador due to an administrative error and is being held at a notorious mega-prison, according to the Trump administration. His lawyers have sued the government to return him to the United States.

The Fourth Circuit ruling against the Trump administration came just one day after the government filed an appeal of a lower court order, a remarkably short time for a court to reach a ruling. It comes as Abrego Garcia's case has become another test of how far the White House is seeking to push the bounds of law through its immigration policy.

This is, of course, being appealed to the SCOTUS because this administration does not want to comply with clear judicial orders.

[Sunseeker]

BYU Ph.D. student’s international student visa revoked over apparent fishing license violation
Husband and father of 5 may have to return to Japan unless the courts allow him to continue his graduate studies



If the details are correct, the whole thing is simply "Twilight Zone" level of absurd. I guess he might be the secret head of the Japanese branch of MS-13.

Oh boy, it'll be fun to see Trump piss off the Mormons.

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...eak-rcna200236

An E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce ripped across 15 states in November, sickening dozens of people, including a 9-year-old boy in Indiana who nearly died of kidney failure and a 57-year-old Missouri woman who fell ill after attending a funeral lunch. One person died.

But chances are you haven’t heard about it.

The Food and Drug Administration indicated in February that it had closed the investigation without publicly detailing what had happened — or which companies were responsible for growing and processing the contaminated lettuce.

According to an internal report obtained by NBC News, the FDA did not name the companies because no contaminated lettuce was left by the time investigators uncovered where the pathogen was coming from.

“There were no public communications related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in its report, which noted that there had been a death but provided no details about it.

Federal officials are not required by law to reveal detailed information about all known outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, and there are reasons the FDA may choose not to publicize an outbreak, including when the cause is unknown or when officials are still working behind the scenes with the companies responsible.

But the FDA had shifted in recent years toward greater transparency in the wake of large-scale outbreaks and heightened public concern about contaminated food, said Frank Yiannas, the former deputy commissioner of food policy and response at the agency.

“It is disturbing that FDA hasn’t said anything more public or identified the name of a grower or processor,” said Yiannas, who was at the FDA from 2018 to 2023.

By declining to name the culprit, he said, the FDA was withholding critical information that consumers could use to make decisions about what they buy. It’s also possible that someone could have been sickened during the outbreak and not have realized the cause, and serious bacterial illness can cause long-term damage.

Did you know the US had an e-coli outbreak that killed someone?

You probably didn't. Nobody really did.

Because the FDA didn't bother to tell anyone about it.

Apparently the FDA/CDC have functionally stopped sharing information externally, which is extremely dangerous. Hospitals used to get routine updates on infections diseases from the CDC, apparently those have stopped almost entirely.

But hey, RFK Jr. is gonna get to the bottom of why there are more people diagnosed with autism nowadays because he thinks being on the spectrum makes you a functional invalid because his brain was eaten by a worm.

[Xath]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...eak-rcna200236



Did you know the US had an e-coli outbreak that killed someone?

You probably didn't. Nobody really did.

Because the FDA didn't bother to tell anyone about it.

Apparently the FDA/CDC have functionally stopped sharing information externally, which is extremely dangerous. Hospitals used to get routine updates on infections diseases from the CDC, apparently those have stopped almost entirely.

But hey, RFK Jr. is gonna get to the bottom of why there are more people diagnosed with autism nowadays because he thinks being on the spectrum makes you a functional invalid because his brain was eaten by a worm.

Oh it's so much better than that.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...ts-2025-04-17/

These are likely to be expanded to fully cutting safety checks for us grown food.

[s_bushido]

This is, of course, being appealed to the SCOTUS because this administration does not want to comply with clear judicial orders.

What's the point in appealing to the SCOTUS when they're blatantly ignoring a ruling they've already made on this very same case?

And now there's a US citizen in Florida being detained by ICE...

[Edge-]

Oh it's so much better than that.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...ts-2025-04-17/

These are likely to be expanded to fully cutting safety checks for us grown food.

The proficiency testing program of the FDA's Food Emergency Response Network is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency's network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.

Who would want consistency and accuracy in testing the food we consume for pathogens and contaminants?

ENJOY YOUR SALMONELLA AND ECOLI AND LIKE IT, LIBCUCK

Where's @Somewhatconcerned to tell us how this is actually all great and more children dying of measles is actually good you see because...

- - - Updated - - -

What's the point in appealing to the SCOTUS when they're blatantly ignoring a ruling they've already made on this very same case?

And now there's a US citizen in Florida being detained by ICE...

basically democrats need to dismantle ice entirely and start prosecuting those who ran it and that's all there is, if they ever get back into power

but they won't

this continues to be charging straight down the path towards the fourth reich as record speeds

[Corvus]

And you wonder why the rest of the world doesn't want to buy your food.