Donald Trump’s 12th day back in office saw him oversee some of the most chilling – likely illegal – actions taken by a president in living memory.
And also a couple of things that were just plain stupid.
He took his biggest gamble yet with the economy, slapping enormous tariffs on goods from three major trading partners. And the stock market did not like it at all.
And he emptied a couple of reservoirs for no reason, risking immediate flooding and future droughts for farmers.
Meanwhile, he started to purge those who investigated him for his literal crimes from the FBI.
And he apparently continues to let his buddy Elon Musk and his bully boys take over highly sensitive parts of the US Government and do whatever he wants with them.
We’ve reached the “find out” stage of Trump’s shock and awe strategy – here’s what you need to know.
1. Sent the stock market tumbling after confirming tariffs on Canada, Mexico and Canada
Trump confirmed last night that tariffs of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods with China would kick in today. Even crude oil imports from Canada – which make up a huge chunk of America’s supply – will have a 10% tariff slapped on them.
In response, the Dow Jones Industrial Average did this.
Trump was largely elected on promises to make goods cheaper for Americans. This is unlikely to help with that.
2. Purged people who investigated him from the FBI
As the evening went on, it emerged that as many as 20 senior FBI heads of field offices – including those in Miami and Washington DC who investigated Trump – had been told to resign or retire.
Many of them are in positions where they can only be fired for “cause” – as in, if they’ve done something manifestly wrong. The legality of the purge is deeply questionable.
According to NBC News, the acting FBI director confirmed last night in a memo to staff that he’s been ordered by the Department of Justice to fire eight FBI executives and turn over the names of every employee who worked on January 6th cases.
3. Let Elon Musk do basically whatever he wants
A top Treasury official was forced out of his job this week after refusing to give Elon Musk access to the US government’s payment system.
David Lebreyk resisted requests from Musk’s bully boys – before announcing he was resigning after 35 years at the department, according to the New York Times.
The system Musk wants access to makes billions of payments for the government – including staff payroll, pensions and contractors.
He reportedly claims to want to examine the system for “fraud and abuse” – claiming the government is sending money to fraudsters or people who don’t exist.
But it contains sensitive personal data about millions of Americans, as well as financial details of companies.
And that’s not all he’s been up to.
Musk’s lackeys charged with running the government’s HR system are reported to have locked civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of Americans.
Senior officials at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have had their access revoked to some of the department’s data systems.
They include the Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers.
According to Reuters, Musk allies moved into OPM on the day of Trump’s inauguration – installing sofa beds so they can work around the clock.
Meanwhile, Wired reported Musk’s minions have taken over the Government Services Administration (GSA) – which manages government offices and technology.
The team is said to be “attempting to use White House security credentials to gain unusual access to GSA tech, deploying a suite of new AI software, and recreating the office in X’s image.”
The changes could reportedly allow Musk to gain remote access to laptops and read people’s emails.
One GSA staff member told Wired: “I believe these people do not want to help the federal government provide services to the American people. They are acting like this is a takeover of a tech company.”
All totally normal. Definitely not bone-chilling.
4. Admitted it could take months to end the Ukraine war
Before he took office, Trump infamously promised to end the Ukraine war on day one.
Last night his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, severely downgraded that pledge.
He said: “I would like to say it’s months, and it’s not years. I would like to think that we could have something in the short term…I’d like to see it count down from 100 days back…this is all in the realm of the doable.”
5. Emptied a bunch of reservoirs for no reason
Trump has been borderline obsessed with the idea that someone in California has refused to turn a tap on that could put out all the fires.
The fires have (at this time) all been put out, but that’s by the by.
Last night, someone – apparently under orders from Trump’s White House – opened dams and emptied two reservoirs California.
One problem – neither reservoir flows to Los Angeles, 200 miles away, where the fires were.
Which means all he’s accomplished is to lose billions of gallons of water which was being stored so farmers could use it in the Summer.
Oh, and pose a risk of flooding to populated areas.
A former official told Politico the move could “endanger property and lives.”
They said: “Dumping the water from Lake Kaweah and Success Lake poses a flood risk to downstream communities…It also reduces the amount of irrigation water available to farmers during the driest months of the year.”
Still, Trump thought it was “beautiful”.
6. Demanded journalists hand over materials to pursue a feud with Kamala Harris
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last night demanded CBS News hand over unedited transcripts and tapes of an interview with Kamala Harris from before the election – which Trump has long claimed was edited in order to make her look better.
CBS says “we are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do”, according to media analyst Brian Stelter.
As a licensed broadcaster, CBS is legally required to respond to “reasonable requests” from the FCC.
7. Started scrubbing science research from the internet
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has started to delete science data and research from its website under orders from the Trump administration.
The body’s website says it has removed data to comply with Trump’s executive orders on diversity and transgender policies.
The agency has reportedly ordered employees to scrub any mention of “gender”, replacing it with “sex.”
The missing information includes nearly 20 years of CDC surveillance data on HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis, according to The Atlantic.
8. Gave his picks for FBI chief and Education Secretary $800k worth of shares in his company
Trump Media Inc, the loss-making business that owns Truth Social, handed around $800,000 worth of shares to Kash Patel – who Trump wants to make director of the FBI – and Linda McMahon, the former Wrestling executive he’s picked to lead (and abolish) the Education Department.
Trump Media called the gifts in the filings “consideration for services provided”.
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