The Conversation -- July 7, 2025
Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “Since retaking office..., [Donald] Trump has issued a pace-setting number of executive actions that have become a hallmark of his approach to governing.... Many reflect Mr. Trump’s public messaging. Some repeat nearly verbatim inaccurate claims that have long been a feature of his campaign rallies, news conferences and interviews. Here are a few examples.”
David Lynch of the Washington Post: “With only three days remaining before ... Donald Trump’s self-imposed July 9 deadline, U.S. and European negotiators continue to haggle over a skeletal trade deal that would defer a resolution of their toughest commercial disputes. The prospective accord, which would spare European goods the 50 percent tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose, is one of a relative handful of deals the administration is set to finalize by Wednesday. Any European bargain might prove modest. But Trump’s decision to pursue his goals by ignoring the global trading rules that American leaders helped to write marks a significant break with decades of U.S. policy. Europe and the United States for years were aligned in support of the World Trade Organization’s rules-based trading system.... U.S. commitments to the WTO system remain in effect. But the president’s unilateral diplomacy ignores them, analysts said.” ~~~
~~~ Yes, but Trump is delaying the "deadline." Again. ~~~
~~~ Ari Hawkins of Politico: “Tariffs will revert back to their April 2 rates on Aug. 1 for countries that fail to nail down new trade deals with the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, just three days before the Trump administration’s initial July 9 deadline for tariffs to return. Bessent told CNN’s 'State of the Union' that the Trump administration would be sending out letters to 100 smaller countries 'saying that if you don’t move things along, then on August 1st, you will boomerang back to your April 2nd tariff level.' The announcement effectively pushes back the tariffs that were originally set in April but had been suspended until July 9, a window the Trump administration used to pursue an ambitious round of dealmaking with other countries aimed at reaching deals to stave off the return of tariffs of between 10 and 50 percent on dozens of countries. It comes as Trump administration officials increasingly hint at difficulties in nailing down deals.”
Scott Dance of the Washington Post: “Trump’s efforts to freeze climate research spending and slash the government’s scientific workforce have for months prompted warnings of rippling consequences in years ahead. For many climate scientists, the consequences are already here. With so much uncertainty across scientific agencies and academic research centers, even prominent scientists are hitting dead ends.... More recent administration actions have limited or even wiped access to existing climate science.”
More Trump Bull. Meryl Kornfield & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “Over the past four months, the Trump administration has been touting a $5 million visa to wealthy foreigners to get into the United States with lofty promises of an immediate rollout since February. Aboard Air Force One in April..., Donald Trump flashed a laminated, golden prototype to reporters and announced that it would become available 'in about less than two weeks,' while the White House launched a website in June to sign people up to join a waiting list. But in reality, any Trump gold visas are a long way off — if they can ever be implemented at all. Trump and his aides have repeatedly exaggerated the likelihood that such a program can be implemented under current law, and have made no effort to introduce legislation to make it happen. Immigration attorneys and other legal experts say a president has no power to unilaterally create a new visa category, which would require an act of Congress.”
Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump assailed Elon Musk on Sunday night.... 'I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely “off the rails,” essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday evening. 'He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States.'”
Donald, Little Marco & Chainsaw Elon Are Killing Millions of People. Daniella Cavalcanti, et al., in the Lancet: "USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030.... Forecasting models predicted that the current steep funding cuts could result in more than 14 051 750 ... additional all-age deaths, including 4 537 157 ... in children younger than age 5 years, by 2030." Thanks to RAS for the link.
Ewan Palmer of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “Donald Trump is boasting that his settlement payout from Paramount Global could be worth more than double the agreed cash amount once 'advertising' is factored in. 'We did a deal for about $16 million plus $16 million, or maybe more than that, in advertising,' Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. 'So it’s a combination of 16 plus 16 plus. So it’s like $32 [million] to maybe $35 million.' The New York Post reported on July 2 that Paramount Global agreed, as part of its settlement in the president’s lawsuit against CBS’ 60 Minutes over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, to run between $15 million and $20 million worth of pro-Trump ads across its networks once it is acquired by David Ellison’s Skydance Media.... However, Paramount Global has denied that the settlement — which has drawn fierce backlash from CBS News anchors — included any deal involving ad buys or PSAs.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If Trump does get free advertising on CBS as part of a settlement for a fake lawsuit, Democrats should get the same. How fake was it? Even Trump's own lawyers thought it was a joke: ~~~
~~~ David Frum of the Atlantic: “Trump’s lawsuit [against CBS for editing a '60 Minutes' Kamala Harris interview] was about as meritless as a lawsuit can be.... But ... CBS belongs to a parent corporation with regulatory business before Trump-appointed agencies. Paramount is pursuing an $8 billion merger that requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission. In November 2024, then-incoming FCC Chair Brendan Carr warned that merger approval would depend on satisfying Trump’s claims against CBS.... Evident from the Trump legal filing against CBS is that not even the president’s own lawyers took his complaint seriously. [MB: You'll want to read these.]... What’s going on here is extortion — and it does not get any less extortionate for being laundered through Trump’s hypothetical future library. A systematic pattern has emerged: shakedowns of law firms, business corporations, and media companies for the enrichment of Trump, his family, and his political allies. Every time targets yield, they create an incentive for Trump to repeat the shakedown on another victim.... Who will be the next target of an administration that governs by mafia methods?” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "A review ordered by ... Donald Trump-appointed leadership of the Justice Department and the FBI found no evidence that notorious deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein kept a 'client list' of associates whom he blackmailed or conspired with to victimize dozens of women, according to a new memo reviewed by ABC News. The department has also released hours of purported footage as part of its review, which officials say further confirms Epstein died by suicide while in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019 -- contradicting conspiracy theories long embraced or spread by allies of ... [Donald] Trump and others." MB: Of course Trump's FBI "found no evidence" of Epstein's client list. If the list exists, Trump would be on it. And we can't have that.
Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Max Tani of Semafor: The New York Times published its story about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's Columbia U. admissions application because the paper didn't want to be scooped by a right-wing “journalist.” “The piece also seemed to divide staff, and reignited years-old internal tensions between some younger, more left-leaning members of staff and management. 'People are really upset,' one Times journalist told Semafor. In a series of posts on Bluesky, Times columnist Jamelle Bouie said, 'i think you should tell readers if your source is a nazi.' On Friday, he deleted his posts, saying they violated the Times’ social media guidelines. Bouie also deleted subsequent posts on Sunday that also seemed to express frustration at the Times’ decision to publish the story, and shared a post that said 'NYT & many of its elite white readers are still obsessed with race-conscious college admissions.' The paper would not comment on whether it had compelled Bouie to delete the posts.”
The U.S.A., Where You Can Get Away with Murder. German Lopez of the New York Times: “In the United States, people often get away with murder. The clearance rate — the share of cases that result in an arrest or are otherwise solved — was 58 percent in 2023, the latest year for which F.B.I. data is available. And that figure is inflated because it includes murders from previous years that police solved in 2023. In other words, a murderer’s chance of getting caught within a year essentially comes down to a coin flip. For other crimes, clearance rates are even lower. Only 8 percent of car thefts result in an arrest. Compared with its peers, America overall does an unusually poor job of solving killings. The murder clearance rates of other rich nations, including Australia, Britain and Germany, hover in the 70s, 80s and even 90s. Several issues, including a lack of resources, the sheer volume of cases and a distrust of the police, have converged to make the jobs of American detectives much more difficult.... The lack of legal accountability emboldens criminals, leading to more crime and violence.” The link appears to be a gift link.
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Texas. The New York Times liveblog of developments in the Texas floods is here:. From the pinned item at 4:45 am ET: “Rescuers rushed on Sunday to find more survivors of devastating floods that killed at least 81 in Central Texas, as dramatic tales emerged of those who experienced the disaster and endured the agonizing wait for news of loved ones.... Dozens more people — at least 41 — are still missing, and rescuers, volunteers and family members braved renewed downpours to search for them on Sunday, navigating fields of debris with helicopters, drones, boats, golf carts and horses.... On Sunday, some parts of Central Texas saw heavy rain, but the areas already hit the hardest, including Kerr County, appeared to avoid more devastation.” An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Brianna Sacks, et al., of the Washington Post: “The deluge that killed nearly 80 people along fast-surging Texas rivers early Friday struck a region that has grappled with deadly floods before. This swath of Central Texas is the most flash-flood prone region in the country.... And yet, the magnitude of the disaster exposed gaps in its ability to warn people, including a delayed flood risk alert from Kerr County and stalled development of a flood monitoring system.... [FEMA's] Integrated Public Alert & Warning System shows that the county did not send its first Amber Alert-style push until Sunday [i.e., two days after the flooding began].... When the precipitation intensified in the early morning hours Friday, many people failed to receive or respond to flood warnings at riverside campsites and cabins that were known to be in the floodplain.” ~~~
~~~ Terri Langford & Carlos Ramos of the Texas Tribune: “A GOP state lawmaker who represents Kerr County says he likely would vote differently now on House Bill 13, which would have established a grant program for counties to build new emergency communication infrastructure.... The bill failed in the Texas Senate, prompting newfound questions about whether lawmakers should have done more to help rural, cash-strapped counties stave off the deadly effects of future natural disasters.” ~~~
~~~ Catherine Bouris of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the Trump administration from suggestions that the delayed warning residents received during the flash floods in Texas this week was insufficient. Speaking at a press conference alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday, Noem was asked by a reporter whether the fact that he and many others did not receive warnings from the National Weather Service until 7 a.m. was a 'fundamental failure of the federal government’s responsibility to keep people safe.' Noem argued that the technology was 'ancient' and that the Trump administration is working to upgrade it.... Noem ... seemingly shift[ed] the blame onto previous administrations that failed to upgrade the technology. Trump was previously president from 2017 to 2021.... In addition to the [spending] cuts detailed in Trump’s tax bill, the Department of Government Efficiency cut hundreds of jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service earlier this year.”
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Reader Comments (1)
Chainsaw Elmo’s new party could be troublesome if he ever gets it off the ground. It’s not like Party of Traitors voters are gonna join up. They’ve all got the Fat Hitler Kool-Aid running through their veins.
And even though, considering its provenance, it probably should be called the American Nazi Party, it could pull independents who might vote with Democrats away from that party, although it’s not clear at this point who might join this Dogey bunch. Plus, Chainsaw is so toxic it might not gain much traction.
Still, third parties have mostly been trouble for Democrats. Carter didn’t have much chance of winning in 1980, but John Anderson’s 7 percent of voters were predominantly Democrats. The Green Party idiots pulled enough Democrats away from Clinton to hand Fat Fuck the win in 2016, and Ralph Nader certainly helped the Decider in 2000. The only third party candidate to have likely helped a Democrat was Ross Perot. George Wallace likely attracted more Republicans in 1968, but it still didn’t help Hubert Humphrey beat the Tricky One.
It would depend, of course, on who Musk picks as a candidate, since he couldn’t run himself (thank Christ!).
It would likely be some tech bro billionaire type, and given the disarray of the Democratic Party, who knows how that could play out.
Shit continues to get worse for us.
Of course. It might be a moot point. I’m thinking seriously that Fat Hitler will find a way to cancel the midterm elections, and if that works, he might pull the same shit in 2028, if he’s not dead yet, and then we also have to worry about the Nazi Supremes installing their own pick.
If Democrats don’t figure a way to pull it together—and that, right soon—our future looks very dim.