Trump threatens Netflix. More on tariffs

Trump threatens Netflix

The president who seems to threaten everybody now has threatened Netflix. President Trump who has all sorts of conflict of interest in the Netflix Warner Bros. deal has now demanded that Netflix oust Susan Rice from its board – or else. Recall that Trump bought $2 million in Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery stock days after the announcement of an agreement between the two media giants. Trump had said earlier that he would be personally involved in the decisions involving the merger. His son-in-law Jared Kurshner has been involved in financing efforts related to Paramount’s effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery which is competing against Netflix.

I do not know on what basis Trump thinks he can interfere in the businesses of private corporations but he has injected himself here saying “Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences.” Trump said of Rice, Obama’s national security advisor and Biden’s Ambassador to the United Nations “She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???”  A national security advisor and ambassador to the UN with no talent or skills? Maybe Trump is thinking about his own people. Rice’s father Emmitt Rice was appointed by Jimmy Carter to the Fed’s Board of Governors. I was actually interviewed for that seat but was told I was too young (33) and did not have the ”right” political connections (Jesse Helms was my senior senator) and was appointed to the National Credit Union Administration Board instead.

What are these “consequences?” – that Trump us talking about if Nexflix doesn’t do his bidding? Will he not have his “Justice” Department approve Netflix’s attempt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and give the bid to Paramount instead? Won’t that make Kushner happy? Media sources say Trump is being influenced by someone named Laura Loomer who has criticized Rice and said that Trump should block the Netflix deal so long as Rice is on the board. Is Trump really influenced by the Loomer person? BTW, Trump called Rice “racist?”

Trump doesn’t like that Rice stated the obvious: that Trump is a short-timer and that corporations need to look to the long run. Rice said that when the democrats come back in power they shouldn’t “forgive or forget” those corporations that “bent the knee” to Trump. “Whether you’re a law firm, whether you’re a university, whether you’re a media entity, whether you’re a big corporation, whether you’re Big Tech, you need to play a long game, not this short game that has been so detrimental.” No wonder, she is on the very very long list of folk that Trump hates.

Tariffs, One more time

Trump probably imposed tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers act because he wanted a tariff regime that did not limit him in any way. All he had to do was declare an emergency and then he could inflict tariffs without constraint. Other acts would have limited him to a specific event and/or and specific time limit. All of these laws restrict presidential action by specifying acceptable rationales, requiring agency investigations, or limiting the size, scope, or duration of the tariffs. None exist under the IEEPA. Yet Trump’s mistake was that he imposed the tariffs universally with only a fabricated “emergency” of a persistent trade deficit. His second mistake was to impose the tariffs on countries with which the US runs a surplus. I

n his decision Chief Justice Roberts explicitly pointed out that “When Congress grants the power to impose tariffs, it does so clearly and with careful constraints.” The president now is forced to chose an act that allows him to impose a maximum 15 percent tariff for up to 150 days without congressional approval. He has done so and again imposed it universally ignoring previous shakedowns – er deals.  

Some say that the president has a deep rooted hostility for trade deficits. I go a bit further. Trump is xenophobic and has a deep hostility for everything foreign – except I guess Melania. He would like to deport all illegals. He would like to curtain all immigration for all non-whites. He wants no trade deficits. Well I have a modest proposal: why not say that for every dollar of imports there must be a matching dollar of exports? That way there will be no trade deficit but the interest rates on Treasurys will explode upward as foreigners will no longer have the dollars with which to buy US debt offerings. Also the real extate market and the stock markets will collapse. Why doesn’t Trump know this?

When six republicans in the House voted against Trump’s tariffs on Canada, the president was furious and vowed to help defeat those six. He has refused to endorse the re-election of Colorado’s Jeff Hurd. Of course, he called Hurd a (Trump) RINO and said that Hurd “is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America.” Good grief. Trump then promptly endorsed Hurd’s very right wing primary opponent Hope Scheppelman, who is less likely to prevail in the general election. She was removed by the state republican party from her post as vice chair of the state party in response to her extreme posts (for Colorado). She is also “deeply invested in 2020 election conspiracies.” You might remember Hurd’s predecessor was the more controversial Lauren Boebert who switched districts to run in a more solidly republican one.

We have seen this before. The democrats will likely put stealth financial support behind Scheppelman. Republican strategists say that if she defeats Hurd in the primary then democrats will win the district saying that she is “a limited candidate with a limited base, limited runway, andlimited options.” But Trump doesn’t care if republicans lose the seat so long as Hurd is beaten in the primary. Trump should realize the consequences of losing the House – shouldn’t he?