Thursday, November 14, 2024

The Trump sequel is even more outrageous 

RFK Jr.? Matt Gaetz? The president-elect is trolling his enemies.

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Today's Agenda

A Department of Demagogues

Not to brag, but my alma mater is doing some amazing things lately.

Indiana University is having a downright magical football season, winning 10 straight games for the first time in school history. And the school newspaper is winning in its own way, too: Editors of the Indiana Daily Student fiercely defended their First Amendment rights after Indiana Lt. Governor-elect Micah Beckwith threatened them on X for their post-election coverage, which featured various quotes from President-elect Donald Trump's former allies:

What does "we will be happy to stop it for them" even mean? It's a question that IDS journalist Mia Hilkowitz put to Beckwith — along with a lot of other great questions! — when she talked to him the day after he sent his tweet. Sadly, rhetoric like Beckwith's is all too familiar: Trump's own playbook involves similar scare tactics, and Beckwith is clearly all aboard the MAGA-powered hype train.

If this is a real-life Marvel cast, as Beckwith posits, Tim O'Brien says it's a "troubling knockoff" that's "populated by B-list actors."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is just the latest character in this drama. There's also Tulsi Gabbard, who Tim says "has offered spirited defenses of US adversaries — such as the presidents of Russia and Syria — and is an apologist for Russia's invasion of Ukraine." He calls her "a possible national security threat," not a label you want for your director of national intelligence. How about Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, who is tatted with "Deus Vult" and a Jerusalem cross? Never mind that he can't throw an axe on television; the Pentagon has 3 million employees and an $840 billion budget. "There's little reason to think he can manage," Bloomberg's editorial board writes.

Don't even get them started on Matt Gaetz. Far from being a "phenomenal" pick, the editors say the Florida Republican is a "consummate demagogue who has been investigated by federal authorities for alleged sex crimes." Soon after Trump nominated him as attorney general, Gaetz resigned from Congress, triggering an end to the House's inquiry into his purported misconduct. Convenient how that worked out for him! (This morning, Senator Dick Durbin implored the House Ethics Committee to release "relevant" aspects of their investigation.)

To be fair, some of Trump's picks are reasonable. "With a relatively robust mandate from voters, Trump — even now, after everything — deserves some latitude in assembling his team," the editors say, noting that Senator Marco Rubio (nominated for secretary of state), Representative Mike Waltz (national security adviser) and John Ratcliffe (head of the CIA) are all experienced public servants with venerable track records.

But how many of these appointees will still be around a year or two from now? The last time Trump was in office, Hope Hicks was crossing out so many names in her notebook she practically ran out of red ink:

The editors point out "an extraordinary number of officials from Trump's first term have suggested publicly that he's unfit for office, including his vice president, a secretary of state, an attorney general, two national security advisers, two defense secretaries, two chiefs of staff and perhaps a dozen other senior staffers." Sound familiar? Ah, yes, those are the same people that the IDS quoted on its front page.

But Trump's second term won't hold the same constraints as his first: "The incoming Congress will be substantially more MAGA-oriented than the Republican Congress of 2017 to 2019," Noah Feldman warns. "There may be much more support for Trump's most extreme actions now than in the past. Indeed, rather than checking Trump, some in Congress may want to press Trump to be even more radical than he would choose to be on his own."

Bonus Trump-Era Reading:

  • Sorry, DOGE: The government already has an agency to cut waste. — Kathryn Anne Edwards
  • Is the Republican Party still worthy of its name? This lawsuit says no. — Stephen L. Carter
  • CEOs think silence will save them from Trump. They're wrong. — Beth Kowitt

Oh Riiight, That Climate Conference

Uhhh, did the world forget to that COP existed? Last year, about 85,000 people attended COP28, the Coachella-esque climate confab in Dubai. But only 50,000 people are gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan for COP29. Sure, that's still a hefty headcount, but as Time Magazine reports, the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting nations — including the US and China — aren't sending their top brass this time around.

Those who are in attendance are busy bickering about money. Mark Gongloff says that developing nations want rich ones to cough up $1.3 trillion a year to slow emissions, but no one seems eager to step up to the plate. Even getting them to donate $100 billion a year — an obligation they agreed to way back in 2009 — has been like pulling teeth:

"The fact that we are still squabbling over relatively small sums in 2024 — when the window to keep global heating limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial averages is slamming shut — is disgraceful and demoralizing," Mark writes. "Transitioning the world to clean energy alone could cost $215 trillion by 2050, BloombergNEF has estimated. Adaptation could cost an additional $565 billion a year by mid-century. That annual $1.3 trillion starts to look like a real bargain in comparison."

Part of the issue may be the conference's setting. Azerbaijan, after all, is a petrostate — a fact Lara Williams flagged back in January. In his COP29 speech, Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's president, called his country's gas reserves "a gift from God."

Maybe he forgot he was hosting a climate conference?? I don't know. But it's related to a point that Matthew Brooker makes in his latest column about how South by Southwest is randomly coming to London. It's not a good fit, vibe-wise! The city of Big Ben is by no means going to give SXSW the same feel as Austin, Texas. Likewise, hosting COP in a country with a poor human rights record and a leader who seems wholly uninterested in climate progress is probably *not* the best way to inspire delegates to hold hands and write checks, as Mark says.

Bonus Oil Money Reading: Shell's success in overturning a Dutch court decision on its climate responsibilities may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. — Lara Williams

Telltale Charts

"Is this all there is?" It's the question Bloomberg's editorial board asked after UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves revealed her party's first budget two weeks ago. "Labour's plans — greater accountability, digitization, a shift to preventative community care and workforce expansion — are all welcome, as is the additional investment. But mostly these ideas still lack details," they write. Although Reeves laid out more plans to boost investment in a speech this evening at Mansion House, the editors argue for more urgency: "Reforms to Britain's housing market, public works and other areas can't wait."

In other investment-related news, Karishma Vaswani says Indonesia is cozying up to China largely because of President Xi Jinping's economic olive branch. During a recent trip to Beijing, Indonesia's newly elected President Prabowo Subianto "broke with decades of careful Indonesian foreign policy by reportedly agreeing to joint development with China in the South China Sea, potentially legitimizing Beijing's claims to almost all of the contested waterway," Karishma writes, warning that the strategic blunder "sets a dangerous precedent."

Further Reading

Michael Jordan could save NASCAR from itself. — Adam Minter

Inflation in the US has definitely stopped going down. — John Authers

A sharp fiscal adjustment now isn't a smart move for Mexico. — Juan Pablo Spinetto

Voters just put DEI programs in further danger. — Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

Trump's past policies didn't stymie China's tech ambitions. — Catherine Thorbecke

Pivoting to wealth management is a practical fix for Schroders. — Chris Hughes

ICYMI

Bye-bye broker fees, I will not miss thee.

The Onion did the funniest thing possible.

A powerful protest in New Zealand's parliament.

Ben & Jerry's claims Unilever is muting its Gaza stance.

Kickers

Introducing the new musical supergroup, Z-Pain.

Sofia Coppola is throwing a party in Paris.

This 96-year-old is the star of his own auction.

If your stepmother is Barbra Streisand, you listen.

Notes: Please send Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net.

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