Bonaparte of the Deal
This week, Trump vests sole power over federal agencies in himself, Ukraine War negotiations take a dark turn, and D.O.G.E.'s assault on federal services continues.
Dispatch from Below is a digest delivered every Monday and Thursday, highlighting what I find to be the most interesting stories covering politics, working class struggles, and current events, along with my own brief commentary.
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My next long-form piece is underway, but it needs a bit more time in the oven before I’m ready to hit publish. As such, it will probably have to arrive next week. For now, why not catch up with some of the most interesting stories I’ve collected this week?
👑 Trump signs an executive order declaring himself as the sole interpreter of law over independent agencies
This executive order requires all executive branch agencies to report and run any draft regulations and strategies by Trump, with their enactment subject to his approval and discretion. Functionally, this vests in Trump near-absolute power over federal agencies. This comes as Trump has recently likened himself to a king and quoted notorious French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
🔨 Lina Khan FTC Merger Guidelines to remain in effect, in spite of her ouster
🇧🇷 In Brazil: Bolsonaro charged with co-conspiring to poison Lula
Jair Bolsonaro, the former right-wing president of Brazil, has been charged with participating in a failed conspiracy to poison his political opponent and current president, Lula de Silva. Prosecutors suggest that they have assembled a mountain of evidence, including text message correspondence between Bolsonaro and co-conspirators.
🇺🇦 Trump proposes Treaty-of-Versailles-levels of economic punishment upon Ukraine
The Trump Administration is proposing a 50% cut on all revenues generated from extracted resources in Ukraine, a cut of their GDP that would rival the reparations imposed on Germany at the end of World War I (WWI). Notably, Germany was an aggressor state in WWI, and the economic conditions brought about by the treaty could be seen as partially responsible for for giving rise to the Nazi Party.
He has likened Zelenskyy to a dictator and suggests that Zelenskyy started the war. Insofar as Zelenskyy played a role in provoking the conflict by snuggling up to the west and expressing a provocative (if empty) desire to join NATO, Russia initiated the offensive, and the United States has been instrumental in prolonging and exacerbating the conflict as a means of overextending Russia since at least 2014, including under Trump. To impose economic devastation on the people of Ukraine, who’ve already suffered immensely as pawns in a proxy war, would be unusually and needlessly cruel and punitive.
🗳️ Democratic Party Politicans are more angry at grassroots groups than they are at Republicans
Reporting from Axios indicates that Democrats are frustrated by grassroots constituent groups inundating congresspeople with phone calls to action.
Democrats have rightfully been handed a lot of heat lately for their weak response (when one is even offered up at all) to Trump Administration actions, like sweeping and illegal cuts to government agencies, with many Democrats even voting to confirm Trump cabinet nominees.
Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic House Minority Leader, recently came under fire for asking revealingly in a now-viral clip, “What leverage do we have?” Well, from the ivory halls of congress, I’d reckon that they have a lot more leverage than the average Joe calling in.
✂️ D.O.G.E agency cuts continue
D.O.G.E. agency cuts have extended to the following agencies:
CISA, an election security watchdog, has ceased operations
NIH, which funds scientific and medical research, has had their funding cut so drastically that entire fields of research may be under threat
NASA, notably a competitor to Musk’s private counterpart in SpaceX, was set to cut 1,000 employees before terminations were paused temporarily
Social Security, whose top official was pressured to resign by D.O.G.E., is currently under assault by the Trump Administration with false claims of widespread payments to dead recipients (see section below)
🗽 Trump bribes New York City Mayor to take up immigration crackdown
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has had corruption charges dropped, seemingly in exchange for allowing Trump’s ICE to run roughshod over the city in search of migrants. The charges allege that he was accepting bribes from foreign nationals, including allowing them to construct skyscrapers in the city without passing safety inspections.
Mayor Adams seems to have been setting the stage for this new bribe for some time. He began to pivot towards a tougher position on immigration as Trump’s return to the presidency seemed likelier and as investigations into his past bribes began to escalate.
🤥 D.O.G.E. pushes lies about Social Security
Recently, Trump and Musk have been pushing claims that Social Security has been issuing payments to people aged 100 and beyond. However, according to the Social Security Administration Inspector General report, 98% of the ~18 million people over the age of 100 recorded in the database as still living are not receiving payments, which would be consistent with Census Bureau data stating that around 86,000 living people in the U.S. are over the age of 100. These entries in the SSA database are likely improperly marked as living due to their death occurring before the advent of electronic death records. The report suggests that it would cost millions to correct these discrepancies, a cost not worth the benefit if most entries don’t actually represent wasted payments.