Trump and the Art of Extortion
Friends,
Today the Senate Banking Committee will consider Trump’s nomination of economic adviser Stephen Miran to be a governor of the Federal Reserve. Trump would like to get Miran confirmed in time for the Fed’s rate-setting meeting in two weeks.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has asked lawyers for Lisa Cook, the Fed governor whom Trump is trying to fire, to file more briefs as she pushes back against Trump. The law says a president can fire a member of the board only “for cause,” which normally means professional neglect or malfeasance. Trump alleges that Cook has committed mortgage fraud, but she has not been charged with any crime or convicted of any wrongdoing.
If Trump succeeds in getting Miran confirmed and firing Cook, he would be on track to have a majority on the Fed board. He’ll get a chance to name a new chair in May when Jerome Powell’s term ends.
Given everything else Trump is doing, why worry about the Fed?
Control over the Fed will give Trump power over the central bank’s decisions on interest rates.
He says he wants to lower borrowing costs — making it cheaper for America to pay interest on the national debt, for businesses to get loans, and for Americans to buy homes.
But if he controls the Fed and reduces borrowing costs, lenders will correctly assume that the Fed can no longer be relied on to control inflation. As a result, lenders will charge more to lend money — a higher “risk premium” — whether lending to the United States or to businesses seeking commercial loans or individuals getting mortgages.
In other words, if Trump controls the Fed, he’ll end up with the opposite of what he says he seeks. Longer-term interest rates will rise (it’s already starting to happen). And as longer-term rates rise, the stock market will fall (put on your seatbelts, folks).
So maybe lower interest rates isn’t the real reason Trump is so intent on controlling the Fed. What else could be on his mind?
With control over the Fed, Trump also gets the Fed’s power to oversee Wall Street — making the rules that big banks must follow to operate safely and manage risks appropriately. The Fed is also a lender of last resort during crises.
And why does he want these things? Trump operates on such a different plane of policymaking that it’s often hard to understand what he’s doing and why. Let me try to put it together.
Think of all his moves — whether controlling the Fed, or occupying American cities, or unleashing ICE on immigrants, or imposing import taxes (tariffs) on American consumers, or attacking American universities and museums, or shaking down CEOs, or punishing his “enemies” — as motivated by an unquenchable thirst to accumulate bargaining power over every other actor and institution in the world.
The more bargaining power he has, the more he can extort from them the things he most cares about: money and subservience.
We are dealing with a sociopath who is continuously seeking new ways to force others to reward him with personal wealth and total domination.
Money is not enough. He relishes the submission of others. He craves obsequiousness, groveling servility, and ass-kissing. He detests criticism. He wants to get even. He wants a Nobel Prize and his face carved on Mount Rushmore.
His goal is to achieve, or be perceived to have achieved, omnipotence.
Trump’s art of extortion involves finding things that other powerful actors and institutions depend on — research funding for Harvard (and other universities); access to the American market for Canada (and other countries); avoidance of environmental regulations for Big Oil; access to the government for Big Law; federal funding and freedom to operate without federal troops for mayors of “blue” cities and governors of “blue” states; supplies and components from abroad for big corporations.
Then he uses that dependence as pressure points to extort more money and submission.
Control over the Fed gives Trump way more tools for extortion. With control over interest rates, he can get America’s biggest corporations and the world’s biggest nations to bend to his will. With control over the big banks, he can get Wall Street to submit to his whims.
Normal policy debates are over what’s good for the public (hence “public” policy). But we’re no longer in a world of normal policy debate. The central question inside the Oval Office — and among Trump’s enablers in the White House and Congress — is what will enrich Trump and strengthen his dominance over everyone and everything else.
The most important public policy debate we ought to be having is how to peacefully and lawfully rid America and the world of this menace.
This post has been syndicated from Robert Reich, where it was published under this address.
Trump and the Art of Extortion
How to understand his desire to control the Fed (and everything else)Robert Reich
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Czy Trump żyje?
internet szumi spekulacjami na temat zdrowia Trumpa, który na tydzień zniknął z widoku publicznego. Pojawił się wczoraj, podczas konferencji prasowej na rzekomo przełomowy temat: przeniesienie centrum dowodzenia Sił Kosmicznych z Kolorado do Alabamy.
Nieoceniona Connie Willis pisze na FB:
"Trump przemawiał otoczony przez całą grupę swoich ludzi – J.D. Vance'a, Pete'a Hegsetha, Tommy'ego Tuberville'a itp., którzy stali po bokach i tuż za nim, jakby chcieli go utrzymać w miejscu i zapewnić mu stabilność. (Ktoś skomentował, że nigdy wcześniej nie widział takiej aranżacji w Gabinecie Owalnym i spekulował, że do ostatniej chwili nie wiedzieli, czy będzie on w stanie stanąć na nogach podczas tego wydarzenia). Wyglądał na nieco wątłego i opuchniętego, miał zmrużone oczy i był bardziej pomarańczowy niż zwykle, ale nie tak jak na zdjęciach z ostatnich kilku dni, na których wyglądał, jakby był u progu śmierci."
Tymczasem w szatni rezerwowych rozgrzewa się JD Vance.
CW Daily
Remember to Drink Your Ovaltine Okay, so the press conference was a dud, as predicted (see this morning’s post). Or, as Ralphie would say disgustedly in A CHRISTMAS STORY, "A crummy commercial!"....www.facebook.com
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Co mam zrobić, jeśli mój mąż mnie bije? Praktyczne porady dla żon wojskowych
Co mam zrobić, jeśli mój mąż mnie bije?
Praktyczne porady dla żon wojskowych
- Twój mąż-wojskowy przeżywa ogromny stres. Porozmawiaj z nim, spróbuj się wczuć w jego sytuację.
- Nie ujawniaj wszystkich szczegółów w mediach społecznościowych.
- Nie wypada prać brudów publicznie. Posty w mediach społecznościowych mogą zniszczyć karierę Twojego męża.
- Jeśli bicie nie zagraża twojemu życiu, wytrzymaj. Niedługo się to skończy.
- Postaraj się maskować sińce kosmetykami.
- Unikaj jaskrawych kolorów stroju i makijażu. Mogą one sprowokować męża do nowych wybuchów [agresji?].
- Przeanalizuj swoje postępowanie. Czemu twój mąż Cię uderzył? Czym go sprowokowałaś?
- Poproś męża o przebaczenie.
Akademia Komunikacji
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Co mam zrobić, jeśli moje państwo mnie bije?
Spodziewam się epidemii zatruć grzybami i metanolem. Rosjanki zasadniczo nie są z tych uległych.
Już o 8:20 zaczynamy relację "prawie jak live" z dwóch procesów, które mają odbyć się dzisiaj - 2 września 2025 - w budynku Sądu Rejonowego w Białymstoku. Pod budynkiem sądu od godziny 9:00 zaplanowana jest także demonstracja solidarnościowa.
Śledźcie relację, bądźcie z oskarżonymi. Pomaganie nie jest nielegalne. Pushbacki są.
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Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 reshared this.
Hello my #Aotearoa (and other) contacts!
I am involved in several initiatives opposing to recent tide of #authoritarian and #fascist tendencies across the USA and EU. I am looking for a safe-ish place for a domain to have some of them registered in. A domain fight-ba.ck
sounds fine to me. Now, can anyone give me their opinion:
- Is the idea sound, considering political dynamics of #CookIslands?
- What would be the best way to get such a domain registered cheaply and without the hassle of providing "connection with Cook Islands" as official websites state?
Brie Mmm reshared this.
When you meet a cyborg in a #solarpunk world you don't say "whoah, shiny chrome".
You ask "Do you have a good support network for the medical care you need? Does your doctor run maintenance on your prosthesis often enough? Do you need it adjusted?"
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Licho, viq, 8Petros [$ rm -rv /capitalism/*] i cyplo reshared this.
Do you have the legal right to demand that the code that runs your body is #bootstrappable, #reproducible, and #FreeSoftware?
Are corporations or governments allowed to use data that your body generates for profit, advertising, surveilance, or control?
Is there adequate cybersecurity designed into your body?
Are you protected from EMPs and supply chain failures?
Are you allowed to switch doctors at any time and transfer your data?
xs4me2
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Mr. Axis & Allies ✅☑️🐈⬛🥜
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Hm. Has Chris Wright published the calculation how he come to the conclusion? - I made a rough one and come to the rseult that it will be several 100 times more electric energy than we consume primary energy?! ...
Maybe Chris Wright is a genius maybe he is one like Trump ... i'm not unsure.
Snark Week Global
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •I'm assuming human yearly use is ~145 PWh / year.
Also assuming an average solar panel yield of 500 kWh / square meter / year.
(note that typical nominal output (MW) ratings are useless for this yield calculation, because how much MWh did you actually make?)
In my napkin calculation this means you need about 290 billion m^2, so 290 thousand km^2, so about 6 times the Netherlands.
It's a very rough calculation with outrageously lazy assumptions, for my own entertainment.
Eric Schutte
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •What an idiot.
#uspol #RemoveTrump #EpsteinFiles
Sue Nethercott
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •8Petros [$ rm -rv /capitalism/*]
Unknown parent • •Denis Buckley likes this.
Corb_The_Lesser
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Graeme 🏴
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •8Petros [$ rm -rv /capitalism/*]
in reply to Peter Gleick • •8Petros
2025-09-03 09:56:23
Jens Michael B.-Hansen
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Denis Buckley
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Critical Mass Felsberg
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Christian Behrends
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •deepfryed
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •FreediverX
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Asbjornn
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Darth Sandwich 🏳️🌈
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •It seems to be based on this report
iea.org/reports/key-world-ener…
Specifically section 3 Final Consumption which states energy use in electric form is about 20% of the total.
(This is referenced by the Wikipedia article on Electric Energy Consumption en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electr…)
form of energy consumption that uses electric energy
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Arvid Walter
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Blacksmith
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •a recent calculation came out to 50km X 50km of solar would power the entire world.
Obviously needs storage and be spread around, but a bit different.
Niek van Leeuwen
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Fernhead
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Mark Twain
Dizzy
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •Pratik Patel
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •$Alt4You Please add to your photo.
A tweet from Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) Profile photo of a smiling man in a suit and tie in front of an American flag, with a blue check mark and an official-looking badge icon.
The tweet reads:
"Even if you wrapped the entire planet in a solar panel, you would only be producing 20% of global energy.
One of the biggest mistakes politicians can make is equating the ELECTRICITY with ENERGY!"
Beachbum
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •S★m V★rm★
in reply to Peter Gleick • • •