BY MATT BERG & CROOKED MEDIA |
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Oh dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?”
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Donald Trump’s decision to fire the person in charge of America’s jobs data makes it harder to predict and avoid the next recession, the Biden administration’s top labor official told What A Day.
- Picture yourself as a sailor on the Titanic’s ill-fated voyage, sometime before it struck an iceberg and sank to the ocean floor. One bright morning, you spot something big and menacing in the waters ahead. You immediately tell the captain. But instead of changing course, the captain dresses you down, sends you to swab the deck, starts looking for someone else to replace you, and orders full steam ahead!
- That’s basically the move President Donald Trump pulled on Friday, if you think of that big ship as the U.S. economy. Trump summarily fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer shortly after weak jobs numbers signaled danger ahead for American economic growth. He’s planning to announce a replacement this week, and fears are now rife that Trump may insist the next guy pump out nonsensically happy economic data to please the boss — while the country cruises blindly toward peril.
- “The impact of having somebody in there who is admittedly making shit up to allow the president to look good when his policies are failing is devastating to American credibility, American security, and again, to the people of the United States,” Julie Su, who was Biden’s acting Labor secretary, told What A Day.
Are we headed toward a recession? Well, if you can’t trust the economic data… who knows?
- The dismal figures that prompted Trump’s tinpot tantrum suggest tough times lie ahead. But… if the future numbers are tainted, how will we know when a recession is coming? “I wish I had a comforting answer to that,” Su said. “I do not.”
- Accurate economic data allows responsible leadership to change course when there is danger ahead, Su pointed out. But Trump has shown no interest in backing away from his trade war, which economists warn could hurt growth and drive up prices, or other policies. “I think it's shameful on the world stage that the things that made us the gold standard are being destroyed by this administration,” she said.
- Trump promised on the campaign trail to lower prices and bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He’s failing on both accounts. But instead of adjusting his plans, he’s hiding the evidence, Su said. Eventually, reality will win out, and phony numbers won’t be able to hide the economic truth. “He's failing, and people are, and will continue, to feel it.”
- Critics of Trump’s firing have pointed out the parallel between this decision and similar moves by the strongmen leaders in Turkey and Hungary. It looks like a move to stifle dissent — or a nonpartisan official’s unflattering report — in an attempt to paint the U.S. economy as sunshine and rainbows, instead of a flaming dumpster fire, critics argue.
“He’s not just following the authoritarian playbook,” Su added. “He is rewriting it in the United States of America.”
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Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) ordered the arrest today of dozens of Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to delay Republicans’ redistricting flagrant gerrymandering.
It’s the latest escalation of a political battle initiated by Donald Trump intended to allow him to keep control of the House in next year’s midterms.
There’s just one problem with Abbott’s move: The warrants only apply inside Texas, and the targeted Dems have fled the state to places like New York and Illinois. Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) vowed to “do everything we can to protect every single one of them.”
If Democratic state lawmakers happen to return to Texas, the cops have orders to haul them back to the capitol, where their absence has forced Republicans to halt the session aimed at redrawing the state’s political lines. No criminal or civil penalties will result.
So far, Texas Democrats show no sign of backing down. “He's trying to get sound bites,” Houston Rep. Jolanda Jones told reporters during a press conference in New York today. “He has no legal mechanism.” |
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More than a dozen House Democrats have signed onto a letter that would call for the U.S. to recognize Palestinian statehood, as even moderate Democrats begin to shift their stances on the country. It underscores a growing divide in American politics, as Democrats move away from Israel and Republicans largely continue to support the country. Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Some tourists to the U.S. may soon have to temporarily hand over $15,000. Visitors from countries with high rates of overstaying their visas will face the highest bond fees, which will be refunded until they leave, according to the State Department. The 12-month pilot program is expected to start this month. Frankly, I’m starting to feel like the Trump administration should start paying out $15,000 to those who choose to stay here despite this kind of bullshit.
Trump gushed over Sydney Sweeney and her controversial American Eagle ad after learning that she’s a registered Republican. “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there,” reads a real social media post from the president of the United States. “It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is running for governor in South Carolina. She was once a staunch Trump critic, before landing a 180-backflip-somersault to become an unpredictable, firebreathing MAGA transphobe. “She’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates,” one political consultant said. “You never know what Nancy Mace you’re going to get.”
Loyalty from Tesla buyers plummeted after Elon Musk endorsed Trump and took a chainsaw to the federal government, according to new data. But Tesla’s loyalty to its deranged chief executive hasn’t wavered, apparently: The car company’s board handed Musk 96 million shares of stock — equivalent to $30 billion. |
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LET'S MEET, IRL
We have some VERY cool news to share. The folks here at Crooked Media and Vote Save America are hosting our first-ever CROOKED CON. CROOKED CON is a chance to join America’s smartest organizers and least-annoying politicians to strategize, debate, and commiserate about where we go from here (hopefully up). Crooked will be in Washington DC for two days, starting with Pod Save America LIVE at The Warner Theatre on Thursday, Nov 6th. Then, on Friday, November 7th, Crooked will be joined by some of the most influential names in politics for a FULL DAY of conversations, workshops and live pods as we all figure out how to build the big pro-democracy movement we need to defeat rising authoritarianism before or maybe after it’s too late.
Tickets are on sale NOW. Head to CrookedCon.com for tickets, lineup announcements, and more. And we have a discount code that you can use to buy your Nov 7 ticket early. It’s FREEDOMANDCONTENT — one word, all caps. Discount tickets are limited so act fast.
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Imagine getting dunked on by critically acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates. Welp, that’s exactly what happened to Alan “Pierogiless” Dershowitz, when Oates reacted to What A Day’s report on his Martha’s Vineyard farmers market tribulations. “This melodrama could be avoided if Dershowitz moved to a community in which persons like him are more welcome: not ultra-liberal Martha's Vineyard but, for instance, Palm Beach / vicinity of Marga-go-go. Any retirement village in Florida,” she tweeted. “He must enjoy the tension, the frisson of dislike among his neighbors & the thrill of possible litigation, life's-blood of conscienceless old lawyers.”
Pope Leo told a million Catholic kids attending Mass in Rome that they’re “the sign that a different world is possible … where conflicts are not resolved with weapons, but with dialogue.” He expressed support for children suffering in Gaza and other conflicts. “Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are,” he urged the crowd.
A volcano erupted for the first time in at least 400 years in eastern Russia. It’s too remote to pose a danger to anyone, and scientists think it might be linked to last week’s massive earthquake that caused tsunami warnings as far away as California. The video of the aftermath is another reminder of how cool and unpredictable our planet is.
The Seattle Krakens mascot is safe… after he escaped a charging grizzly bear while filming a promo on a river in Alaska. Serious props to the mascot for not panicking and running away at full speed. As you see in the video, he calmly ambles away, like you’re supposed to. “I want to blame it on Buoy,” said Kraken forward John Hayden, using the mascot’s name. “They were pretty interested in his whole look. We got out of it okay, but it was a close call.”
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