Dem
47
GOP
53
We would like to reiterate, once again, that it goes against our training as academics to use words like "fascism," which are very loaded, and which are often used to score cheap rhetorical points. But Christ Jesus Almighty. (Z) was teaching yesterday, and would check his e-mail and text messages before and after lectures. And every damn time he did that (six times in total, spread across about 9 hours), there was yet another new story about something the Trump administration had done, or announced, or threatened, that could easily have come out of the Mussolini playbook.
For example, when it came to the Italian economy, Mussolini embraced fascist corporatism. It's a little weedy, but he wanted all aspects of the economy to be managed by a partnership between the government, corporate interests and labor, with the government as the VERY senior partner in the partnership. In practice, this effectively means that the government (i.e., Mussolini) called most of the shots, and then it was up to the other "partners" to figure out how to implement those directives. It did not work out very well.
Trump, of course, wants to make the single most important cog in the U.S. economy—the Federal Reserve—into a group of a**-kissing, incompetent underlings along the lines of would-be leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics E.J. Antoni, who will then set interest rates at whatever level Il Donald commands. Then, he would slash the rates down to nothing, because that would help his personal business interests, and would also make it cheaper for the government to borrow money in order to cover the massive costs of the BBB.
This leaves us with so many questions that we'd really like the answers to (not that we are going to get them). For example, does Trump have ANY concept how much harm his schemes would do to the economy? We recognize that he's not worried about getting reelected, whether he stands down or declares himself dictator-for-life. However, all the gerrymandering nonsense was triggered by his desire to preserve the trifecta after the midterms. If he wrecks the economy, and sends inflation skyrocketing, that's not going to happen.
Similarly, does he have any awareness that the key to the Fed is that they operate independent of the White House and the party that controls the government? The Fed governors set the federal funds rate, of course. And many/most banks then take that number, add a little profit for themselves, and that's their prime rate. But they are not bound by law to honor the federal funds rate, and they won't do so if they believe that the number set by the Fed does not reflect a prudent approach to the state and the health of the economy. Here's a thought exercise: Imagine that Trump orders a lackey-led Federal Reserve to set the federal funds rate at -1000%. No bank would follow suit, because they would be out of business. So, there's a limit to the banks' tolerance, and that limit will arrive very quickly if the Federal Reserve is turned into an adjunct of the Trump Organization.
Whatever Trump is, or is not, aware of, he's definitely doing everything he can to bend the Fed governors to his will. And yesterday, after a week of talking up alleged "fraud" by Governor Lisa Cook, Trump announced that he is firing her. This is the first time in the 110-year history of the Fed that a president has tried to do that.
It is true that the law allows Trump to remove governors... for cause. Cooking up a "cause" like this, which involves an unproven and un-prosecuted claim that Cook lied on her mortgage paperwork, is very thin. It gets thinner when you consider that the alleged "crime" took place well before her appointment to the Fed. If anything anyone does in their pre-public-service life is basis for termination AFTER Senate confirmation, that opens up many cans of worms.
It's not at all surprising that Trump went after Cook first, as he has particular enmity for Black people in politics, and for women in politics, and so Cook pushes two of his biggest buttons. That said, his real game here is to establish a precedent, however shaky, so he can then find some excuse to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Who knows, maybe Powell once cut the tags off his mattress.
Trump's problem here (and see below for more) is that, while he doesn't seem to realize it, he is moving closer and closer to his "the emperor has no clothes" moment. That is to say, he's going to flex his flabby fascist muscles, and someone is going to tell him to go fu** himself. And someone else. And someone else. Not only is such defiance humiliating to him, but it underscores that he's more bark than bite.
For example, Cook says she's most certainly not stepping down, and she's going to keep showing up to work. Trump will undoubtedly respond by filing suit, and trying to have her removed at the end of a judge's order. But again, his argument is as thin as watery oatmeal. And the Supreme Court, back in May, did everything possible to warn him to keep his grimy mitts off the Fed. In a decision where they allowed him to remove a member of the National Labor Relations Board, they also added that the Fed "is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States."
So, he's going to lose, and he's going to look weak, and he's also going to fail to remove Powell. And that's not the only "the emperor has no clothes" dynamic that was in the news yesterday. For example, John Bolton got raided this weekend, and how did he respond? With an op-ed lambasting Trump's Ukraine policy. In other words, "You don't scare me, Donald."
Similarly, Trump decided to get a cheap shot in at the expense of Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), in advance of a near-certain invasion of Chicago by the White House. And so, flanked by "AG" Pam Bondi, VP "J.D." Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump gave yet another bizarre and rambling press conference, during which he called Pritzker a "slob" and "ought to spend more time in the gym, actually." That's pretty rich, given that Trump himself has never seen the inside of a gym, and that he, uh, would never be mistaken for Twiggy, let's say (On the other hand, a Muppet whose name rhymes with "Twiggy?" Maybe).
Pritzker quickly returned serve, remarking that "It takes one to know one on the weight question," and adding "I would say also that his personal attacks on me are just evidence of a guy who's still living in fifth grade. He's the kind of bully that throws invectives at people, because he knows that what he's saying is actually commentary on himself."
We don't propose that the "resistance" has arrived, quite yet. But every time another person makes clear that they'll stand up to Trump, the easier it becomes for the next person, and the next one after that. And we haven't even mentioned Gavin Newsom yet (but see below, and tomorrow). (Z)