The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[El Guapo]

What we need is more Ranked Choice voting. It works in other countries, and worked in Maine recently. Pissed off the Republicans, sure, but anything that makes more votes count generally does.

I think it would really encourage more than two parties to run consistently and give independents a fighting chance to get more votes. We really need a third option, but can't afford to support one.

1,000% yes. While I have been plenty critical of third party candidates and voters, third parties should be able to compete without throwing elections to the more distant of the two parties.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

As [Sanders] jousted with the assembled media, however, CNN did something it doesn’t routinely do: It stayed away. CNN host Jake Tapper opened his show with an extensive discussion of the 2020 presidential candidacy of Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), with whom Tapper held a CNN town hall in Des Moines on Monday night. Moments later, the network aired a prepared package by White House reporter Kaitlan Collins on the first White House briefing of 2019 — complete with footage of Sanders, moments earlier, telling reporters that Trump doesn’t want to do another government shutdown.

But it didn’t go live from the White House briefing room.

The practice of cable-news networks to broadcast these sessions live has become a recent obsession of the Erik Wemple Blog. Last year, we wrote about how MSNBC led the pack in blowing off full live coverage of these sessions and grabbing only the newsworthy moments for subsequent clipping and commentary.
...
CNN’s move on Monday appeared to the Erik Wemple Blog to be a programmatic démarche. As a close watcher of these things, we’ve seen the network routinely uproot its regular coverage to take the feed from Sanders in the briefing room. Better said, the briefings have been part of CNN’s regular coverage — as they had been for all three cable-news networks for much of the Trump presidency. Looking back over Sanders’s “recent” briefings, it’s pretty clear that CNN defaulted to live and comprehensive coverage of these sessions

[Pyperkub]

Effing disgusting:

Trump’s CFPB Fines a Man $1 For Swindling Veterans, Orders Him Not to Do It Again

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau penalized a man $1 this week, for illegally exchanging veterans’ pensions for high-interest “cash advances.”

[LawBeefaroni]

CFPB website with announcement of this harsh punishment.

[El Guapo]

CFPB website with announcement of this harsh punishment.

The statement does say that he's cooperating with the investigation. So this could well reflect both the target's bankruptcy and cooperation in nailing more senior people on the scam.

More broadly, there is zero chance that the staff of the CFPB would want to let him off the hook. The question is whether they were ordered to by more senior people, although I would tend to think that if that were the case, that that might well leak. Also it's not totally clear why senior people at the CFPB would want to help this guy (unless there are unknown connections, although that seems unlikely).

[Isgrimnur]

Corbett is permanently banned from brokering, offering, or arranging agreements between veterans and third parties under which the veteran purports to sell a future right to an income stream from the veteran’s pension. Corbett must also pay a civil money penalty of $1, an amount that accounts for Corbett’s inability to pay more based on sworn financial statements that he provided to the Bureau and Corbett’s ongoing cooperation with the Bureau’s investigation.

<Insert I'm Broke gif here />

[malchior]

Notice how laser tight that consent agreement is. Want to scam elsewhere? You are not prevented at all. If we catch you, perhaps you again will have shielded your finances adequately. Carry on fellow grifter!

[Max Peck]

Going light on regulation is just par for the course.

U.S. regulator drops fine against Citi over fair-lending claims - sources

A top U.S. bank regulator has decided not to fine Citigroup for discriminating against minority mortgage borrowers, dropping the public rebuke that some officials had sought, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The decision is sure to be watched by consumer advocates who have questioned whether the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) will enforce fair lending rules under the leadership of Joseph Otting, an appointee of President Donald Trump and former banker who has pledged to be friendlier to the industry.

Reuters reported in October that the OCC was mulling sanctions against Citi for failing to give minority customers mortgage discounts that were available to many other borrowers.

Instead of a fine, the OCC issued a warning after Citi assured the regulator it had repaid borrowers and fixed faulty lending policies, the people said this week.

A spokesman for the OCC declined to comment, and a Citi spokesman declined to comment for this story.

[Isgrimnur]

Compliance and redress are great, and honestly should be the point.

[LawBeefaroni]

Compliance and redress are great, and honestly should be the point.

When the only penalty is compliance and redress, no one will comply until they're caught.

[Isgrimnur]

How harshly do you punish those that self-report?

In 2014, Citi identified “errors” implementing the program, the bank said in October. Sources familiar with the issue said some minority borrowers who qualified for the mortgage rate discount had not received it.

Citi flagged the issue to the OCC, saying the discrepancies were inadvertent and it had taken steps to resolve them. Following a review, OCC staff agreed in early 2017 that the loans were racially skewed and recommended public sanctions, according to the sources.

[LawBeefaroni]

How harshly do you punish those that self-report?

In 2014, Citi identified “errors” implementing the program, the bank said in October. Sources familiar with the issue said some minority borrowers who qualified for the mortgage rate discount had not received it.

Citi flagged the issue to the OCC, saying the discrepancies were inadvertent and it had taken steps to resolve them. Following a review, OCC staff agreed in early 2017 that the loans were racially skewed and recommended public sanctions, according to the sources.

More than zero. Less than if hadn't self-reported.

What were the recommended sanctions mentioned in the quote?

[Isgrimnur]

I'm unable to find specifics.

[Max Peck]

How harshly do you punish those that self-report?

In 2014, Citi identified “errors” implementing the program, the bank said in October. Sources familiar with the issue said some minority borrowers who qualified for the mortgage rate discount had not received it.

Citi flagged the issue to the OCC, saying the discrepancies were inadvertent and it had taken steps to resolve them. Following a review, OCC staff agreed in early 2017 that the loans were racially skewed and recommended public sanctions, according to the sources.

More than zero. Less than if hadn't self-reported.

What were the recommended sanctions mentioned in the quote?

The article doesn't say that anyone had recommended a fine, just a public rebuke (i.e. bad publicity for Citibank). Presumably the only reason we're hearing about the outcome at all is that a couple of unnamed sources talked to Reuters about it, possibly because they were salty about the incident being swept under the carpet.

[Max Peck]

Last fall I spent over $100 million of my own money to elect Democrats to the House...

That he leads with that and that it's supposedly a good thing is mind boggling.

"I single handedly bought several seats..."


Yay?

That was just the warmup.

Michael Bloomberg Wants To Crush Trump With Big Data

Mike Bloomberg has bigger plans for 2020 than running for president. The billionaire and former New York City mayor has been openly dreaming of the White House for 25 years, and spent huge amounts of time and money now four times over the last 10 years trying to figure out a way to get him there.

But he has hesitations about this race, too. He’s not sure there is a realistic space in the Democratic primaries for his centrist record. And he almost certainly won’t run if Joe Biden does, members of his team believe.

While no final decision has been made, his aides have nonetheless been working on a fallback that only a man worth $40 billion can afford, whether he runs or not. Bloomberg is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a data-centric political operation designed to assure one goal: Crush Donald Trump.

Though a budget has not been set, this effort would almost certainly become the biggest and most powerful political organization in the country overnight. It would also be the only real counter to the operation that Trump’s campaign put together in 2016, which allowed it to reach out to millions of voters in a more targeted, under-the-radar way, and helped deliver the election to Trump by shaping their thinking for months and then activating them on Election Day.

The goal, as it’s been put at points in private meetings: “all the data.”

[malchior]

Foxconn pulls the football away just before Trump could kick it...

It was heralded a year and a half ago as the start of a Midwestern manufacturing renaissance: Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics behemoth, would build a $10 billion Wisconsin plant to make flat-screen televisions, creating 13,000 jobs. President Trump later called the project “the eighth wonder of the world.”

Now that prospect looks less certain.

Pointing to “new realities” in the market, the company said Wednesday that it was reassessing the plans, underscoring the difficult economics of manufacturing in the United States. “The global market environment that existed when the project was first announced has changed,” Foxconn said in a statement.

Company officials had signaled for months that their emphasis was increasingly on research and development rather than large-scale production, dampening the potential for blue-collar job creation.

That turn runs counter to Mr. Trump’s vision for the project, which he had cited as a milestone in reversing the decline in factory jobs. The twist also brought new friction in Wisconsin, where the initiative has been politically fraught from the start because of its billions of dollars in tax subsidies.

Foxconn said that it remained committed to creating 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin and that it was “moving forward with plans to build an advanced manufacturing facility.” But it did not address the share of jobs to be devoted to production, and economists questioned how such a large work force could be created if the plant’s focus was on other areas.

A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

[LordMortis]

That's what happens when The Art of Deal is really Machiavelli for Dummy's and Donald isn't The Prince but rather a clotheless emperor. Much like we meh'd on the Pacific Trade agreements and Paris accords we agreed to, others can flex their "deal" skills by meh'ing their commitments. Why not?

[stessier]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

[Pyperkub]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

I would doubt is is anything - Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese, and China *hates* Taiwan.

[Isgrimnur]

Taiwan #1!

[Enough]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

I would doubt is is anything - Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese, and China *hates* Taiwan.

I dunno, they have 12 factories including their largest with hundreds of thousands of workers located there....

[LawBeefaroni]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

I would doubt is is anything - Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese, and China *hates* Taiwan.

They don't hate them enough to kick all their factories out of China.

[Enough]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

I would doubt is is anything - Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese, and China *hates* Taiwan.

They don't hate them enough to kick all their factories out of China.

You mean their 12 factories?

[LawBeefaroni]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

I would doubt is is anything - Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese, and China *hates* Taiwan.

They don't hate them enough to kick all their factories out of China.

You mean their 12 factories?

Hey, I'm multitasking here. I'll go chew on a used kitchen sponge as penance.

[malchior]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

Probably none. Foxconn has done this several times already to different governments (here in the states and at least once in Brazil). Their playbook is to butter up the pols with big promises to get a tax break. The actual plan is usually way more modest and once they get the tax break they execute the original plan. It is a bait and switch.

The theory I've seen is that they really wanted to set up a tech R&D hub outside California since wages are high there. Foxconn likely posited that Wisconsin wouldn't give them tax breaks to bring the estimated 500-1000 R&D jobs versus 13K factory jobs. So they made up the factory story to get the break codified then say...take the 1000 jobs or you get nothing.

The evidence for this? The fact that they've pulled this routine before. In fact, people predicted this outcome when Trump announced it. The Foxconn explanation for the change is that after further analysis they concluded they couldn't be competitive building LCDs in the US. That doesn't hold any water. What changed? Absolutely nothing. Some modest wage increases. One of the CNBC analysts this morning was laying into Walker and Trump for falling for this garbage again.

[Enough]

I kind of wonder how much of it is due to the Huawei situation as well.

Probably none. Foxconn has done this several times already to different governments (here in the states and at least once in Brazil). Their playbook is to butter up the pols with big promises to get a tax break. The actual plan is usually way more modest and once they get the tax break they execute the original plan. It is a bait and switch.

The theory I've seen is that they really wanted to set up a tech R&D hub outside California since wages are high there. Foxconn likely posited that Wisconsin wouldn't give them tax breaks to bring the estimated 500-1000 R&D jobs versus 13K factory jobs. So they made up the factory story to get the break codified then say...take the 1000 jobs or you get nothing.

The evidence for this? The fact that they've pulled this routine before. In fact, people predicted this outcome when Trump announced it. The Foxconn explanation for the change is that after further analysis they concluded they couldn't be competitive building LCDs in the US. That doesn't hold any water. What changed? Absolutely nothing. Some modest wage increases. One of the CNBC analysts this morning was laying into Walker and Trump for falling for this garbage again.

This. I recently listened to a podcast on this and they chronicled in depth the multiple times Foxconn has pulled this crap.

[malchior]

Check out the 2nd video. The 1st is hardly pounding on a table. It is a little weird to be fair. Anyway he claims that we have the money and we are building the wall. Just nobody talks about it. Sure thing Donald.

[Paingod]

Motherfucker is completely mental.

"We've got the money, we're building the wall, they just don't report it..."

Holy. Shit.

[YellowKing]

One wonders what the bar is set to in order to remove a President for mental issues, if this doesn't qualify. Flinging feces?

[LawBeefaroni]

One of the CNBC analysts this morning was laying into Walker and Trump for falling for this garbage again.

Walker didn't fall for anything. He gets his regardless. How much of that $4.5B payout do you think it would take to buy his venal ass? Same for Trump.

And it is a payout, since Wisconsin already has tax exemptions for manufacturing so the "tax break" is in the form of a payment to Foxconn.

[hitbyambulance]

President Trump later called the project “the eighth wonder of the world."

Trump actually called it that?

grade-A dork.

[malchior]

WH Suspends Security Office employee after she files an EEOC complaint against Kline. (Kline being the supervisor who overrode all the WH security clearance denials that were reported over the last couple of weeks).

The story gets into it but the summary is that the employee (Newbold) filed the complaint after Kline moved files she needs to do her job out of her reach and told her to ask him or others to help her out. She has a rare form of dwarfism. That account was corroborated by individuals on record with the reporters. Thereafter she was suspended 2 weeks for insubordination. Only the best people at the White House. Kline sounds like he fits in well as another bottom feeder orbiting Trump. It never ceases to amaze how petty everyone in this administration is.

[Holman]

So whistleblowing is now "insubordination."

[Skinypupy]

I’m heading completely off the grid for 4 days.

I fully expect us to be at war with Mexico (or some other predominantly brown country) by the time we get back.

[pr0ner]

I’m heading completely off the grid for 4 days.

I fully expect us to be at war with Mexico (or some other predominantly brown country) by the time we get back.

We've always been at war with Eastasia.

[malchior]

So whistleblowing is now "insubordination."

I think the headline is unfortunate - the story indicates they went after her at the beginning of December...before the Kline story broke. It seems more like flat out retaliation for the EEOC complaint.

[Smoove_B]

With his repeated insistence for funding The Wall (tm), I'm beginning to think the Trump family has some shell companies tangentially involved in general construction or concrete. Here's hoping some forensic accountants can figure it out.

[$iljanus]

With his repeated insistence for funding The Wall (tm), I'm beginning to think the Trump family has some shell companies tangentially involved in general construction or concrete. Here's hoping some forensic accountants can figure it out.

Or perhaps some Russian oligarchs have made some strategic investments in some construction or building material companies...

[Smoove_B]

Also possible, good call. I mean, I know he's a moron, but his laser-focused insistence on The Wall(tm) is beyond reason. I refuse to believe it has anything to do with keeping campaign promises or improving his approval ratings with his base because he's eerily fixated on this project. Maybe he thinks it'll have Trump branding on it and it'll be around long after he's gone. Or maybe it's the last ditch effort of a racist septuagenarian to save America as he's looking at the clock. I'm at a loss.

[malchior]

Agreed that the wall stuff is bizarre and he does seem fixated. However, he did take some time to focus on another favorite thing which is lying about what people say to him so that he doesn't seem as incompetent. Aka that his intelligence chiefs are misunderstood and totally agree with him or something. In this case, I find it a tad hard to believe intelligence chiefs say they were "misquoted" about stuff that is on camera. Call it a strong hunch. Fucking moron.