The Fine Print of Trump Fascism The Trump regime is taking over every major institution in America. Here's how. Robert Reich Jul 31 Friends, Today I want to describe for you the specific mechanism of control the Trump regime is using over the core institutions of America — the media, higher education, our largest corporations, and Wall Street. It's all in the fine print. Start with CBS. It’s now owned by Skydance Media. Under its Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission insisted, as a condition of allowing Paramount to sell CBS to Skydance, that the new owner install an “ombudsman.” What will that ombudsman do? According to Skydance Media’s agreement with the FCC, the ombudsman will “receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS” for at least two years. The agreement doesn’t specify the meaning of “bias,” nor does it define whose “complaints” are to be responded to, nor enumerate what “other concerns” might trigger action. But none of this is difficult to imagine. Trump himself could complain of CBS’s bias or anything else. In fact, he probably will. He already has at least once. If the ombudsman then decides that any complaint of bias or other concern is justified, CBS will have to remedy it. If the ombudsman decides that CBS has not remedied it, Skydance Media’s new president, David Ellison, must do so. If Ellison does not remedy it — or if Trump believes the problem continues, regardless of what the ombudsman decides — the Trump regime can claim that CBS has reneged on its agreement, in which case Skydance’s ownership of CBS could be contested by the FCC. Its stock price would plummet. Note that this method of Trump control is indirect but powerful. The regime doesn’t have to assert control over CBS; it just retains the power to do so. And it’s up to Trump to determine what CBS will have to do to avoid being found to be “biased” or avoid any “other concern.” This mechanism of control is similar at Columbia University, whose new agreement with the Trump regime stipulates a mutually agreed-upon “monitor” who will, like CBS’s ombudsman, respond to complaints about “bias.” Columbia will provide the monitor detailed information about the race of students who are admitted and rejected, including grade point averages and standardized test scores broken down by race. All data related to faculty and administrative staff hiring and promotion practices must be provided to the monitor annually, and hiring data will be subject to a “comprehensive audit.” The monitor is also charged with assuring that the university establishes processes to guarantee “civil discourse, free inquiry, open debate, and the fundamental values of equality and respect.” And the monitor will review data to assure Columbia is meting out discipline without regard to a student’s immigration status. The monitor’s decisions are advisory. If the Trump regime is dissatisfied with the monitor’s decision or feels that the university is not acting in accordance with it, the Trump regime reserves the right to open a new investigation of Columbia and possibly revoke current or future federal research funds. Just like the CBS agreement, the Columbia agreement gives final power to the Trump regime. It allows the regime to maintain control over Columbia by holding a cudgel over the university. As Linda McMahon, Trump’s secretary of education, told Fox Business, “This is a monumental victory for conservatives who wanted to do things on these elite campuses for a long time because we had such far-left-leaning professors.” Or consider the Trump regime’s agreement allowing Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel. During his 2024 campaign, Trump denounced Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel as a threat to American manufacturing. “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “As President, I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!” On resuming office, though, Trump approved the deal. But this was after forcing Nippon Steel to give a “golden share” to the Trump regime — essentially giving Trump veto power over strategic decisions by the company. You see the pattern? Veto power over strategic decisions. Ombudsmen. Monitors. They’re all mechanisms for giving the Trump regime power to prevent these institutions — a television network, university, or corporation — from doing something that the Trump regime doesn’t want it to do. But because that power is held in reserve, Trump doesn’t have to display it. The heads of these institutions will do all the work for him; they’re likely to go out of their way to avoid offending the regime. The potential chilling effect is enormous. It’s much the same with major law firms that have surrendered to Trump. And with ABC. And with Jeff Bezos’s control over The Washington Post’s editorial page — which appears to be motivated by fear that Trump might retaliate against Bezos’s other businesses unless Bezos forces the Post to toe the line. It’s the same even with Wall Street. “I have been working on multiple deals where I have people inside the White House telling me what I can and can’t do,” a top dealmaker involved in mergers and acquisitions unrelated to the government recently told the Financial Times. “It’s a level of intrusion I have never experienced before.” Note these words: A level of intrusion I have never experienced before. That from a dealmaker on Wall Street! The words apply to more and more institutions in America that used to be free from government control. This level of intrusion inhibits public criticism of Trump, which is what Trump wants. It also deters so-called “conservative bias” in university hiring, however the Trump regime wants to define it. It eviscerates whatever Trump dislikes, such as corporate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs, or transgender women in women’s sports, or contracts with people or institutions against which Trump holds grudges. In short, this level of intrusion gives the Trump regime potential control over almost every institution and organization in America, every aspect of American life — but indirectly, quietly, and as a default if the leaders of the institution go too far. I’m old enough to remember when conservative Republicans stood for limited government and accused Democrats of wanting too much government. No longer. We’re now at a point in American history when a so-called Republican regime in Washington is extending its control far beyond the wildest dreams of the most left-wing of Democrats — or even socialists. But this control is not exercised publicly. It’s behind the scenes. It’s found in the fine print. And it is personal. It depends on Trump’s whims. This is what fascist control looks like, people. By the way, my memoir of my life and times, entitled Coming Up Short, will be out next Tuesday, August 5. If you wish, you can preorder here from Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores, or find it wherever books are sold. I wrote it to share what I’ve learned about stopping bullies — at a time in American history when we’re dealing with an authoritarian bully who is encouraging bullying throughout the nation and the world. I hope you find it helpful for understanding how we combat the bullies. And why I believe so passionately that we will.

Think about it: Chips, Tech, and Steel

Chips, Tech, and Steel

How to get “American” corporations to act in America’s interest?

ROBERT REICH APR 4

Friends,

Tokyo-based Nippon Steel Corporation’s new CEO says he’s pressing on with its $14.1 billion acquisition of United States Steel Corporation.

But President Biden thinks U.S. Steel should be “domestically owned and operated.” Why? Presumably because it’s important to national security that America has its own supply of steel on American soil.

The specific outcome depends on negotiations between the Biden administration and Nippon Steel. Nippon now says it will bring new technology to U.S. Steel to make it more innovative and competitive.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has agreed to give giant chipmaker Intel $8.5 billion in grants and $11 billion in low-cost loans to help it push ahead in computer chip design and manufacturing. Why? Because, as the Commerce Department said in its March 20 announcement of the deal, “leading-edge logic chips are essential to the world’s most advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, and this proposed funding would help ensure more of those chips are developed and made domestically.”

But on its website, Intel proudly proclaims it has spent $152 billion on stock buybacks since 1990. What’s to stop it from using some of its federal subsidy for more buybacks? Although the legislation authorizing the subsidy prohibits its use for stock buybacks, it doesn’t bar Intel from using the subsidy to free up Intel’s own funds, which Intel could then use for buybacks. Which is why Senators Chris Van Hollen and Elizabeth Warren are pushing for regulations to be tightened.

Also essential to America’s security and technological lead are giant tech platform monopolies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. But how “American” are they, really? Apple boasts that its products are “designed” in the U.S., but they are mostly made in China.

More troubling is that these companies are exploiting their monopoly power at the expense of both consumer privacy and potential innovators who are their competitors. So rather than subsidize them or protect them from foreign competition, the Biden administration is suing several of them for violating antitrust laws.

How to make sense of this seeming mishmash?

Back in 1990, I wrote a piece in the Harvard Business Review titled “Who Is Us?,” asking whether “us” was American-based corporations — which were already producing and selling stuff all over the world — or American workers.

My answer was American workers. I argued that if foreign-based companies create good jobs in America — jobs that enable American workers to understand critical technologies and continue to improve on them — the national identity of the corporation doesn’t matter.

By the same token, if U.S.-based companies — seeking to maximize their shareholders’ returns — outsource critical jobs abroad, they undermine the capacity of Americans to innovate.

I also argued that picking “national champions” that are supposed to serve both America and their shareholders was not the way to build the technological prowess of the American workforce. Better for America to invest in the skills of American workers directly — giving them access to the best possible technical education — and negotiate with foreign companies to do their critical work in the United States, with Americans.

As it happens, this looks a lot like the Biden administration’s emerging industrial policy.

Today — far more than was the case in 1990 — just about all big corporations are global, regardless of the nation in which they’re headquartered. They’re doing everything everywhere, and they’re actively and aggressively playing off countries against each other.

As my former American Prospect colleague Bob Kuttner has written, Biden’s industrial policy would be an easier sell if American-based corporations were better domestic citizens — if they didn’t bust unions and export jobs; if they didn’t collude at the expense of consumers; in short, if they gave more of a damn about America.

Yes, and if pigs could fly.

It’s not going to happen. American-based corporations exist to maximize shareholder returns, and CEO pay is linked to those returns.

So, the Biden administration — indeed, every American administration — has no choice but to negotiate with big global corporations, wherever their headquarters happen to be, on behalf of America.

That means negotiating with Nippon Steel to condition its purchase of U.S. Steel on taking whatever steps necessary to protect American national security and improve the technological prowess of U.S. Steel.

It means negotiating with Intel to condition federal subsidies for Intel on Intel’s doing the critical stages of chip manufacturing in the United States, and not frittering away those subsidies on stock buybacks.

It means negotiating with America’s big tech monopolies to share their operating systems and other key technologies with smaller American businesses so they don’t stifle innovation.

In other words: It means actively negotiating with global companies to protect and advance the interests of America — as the condition for merging, gaining federal subsidies, avoiding antitrust litigation, even keeping access to the American market.

Yes, this means a highly activist government. But what choice do we have? Big global corporations, even if headquartered in the United States, have no inherent patriotism. They’ll do whatever they can do — and wherever they need to do it — for their shareholders. Hence, the U.S. government must negotiate with them on behalf of America.

POLITICO Nightly: Why Democrats can’t take the win on U.S. Steel

 

BY GAVIN BADE A sign at the entrance of U.S. Steel's Great Lakes Steel Plant seen on Sept. 12, 2023 in River Rouge, Mich. | Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for Industrious Labs STEEL DEAL POLITICS — This week could have been a huge victory lap for Democrats and the Biden administration’s industrial policy. Instead, fear of Trump’s megaphone has them stumbling for a coherent message. On Monday, U.S. Steel announced it would be acquired by Japan’s Nippon Steel for over $14 billion. The deal puts an end to months of negotiations over the fate of the moribund U.S. industrial giant, but it has ignited a firestorm in Washington. On its face, the steel deal could show the strength of the U.S. industrial economy under Biden. The president’s infrastructure package and Inflation Reduction Act both contained huge incentives for construction firms to buy American-made steel for new bridges, factories and clean energy products. And Biden has kept Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum in place for most of the world, protecting U.S. Steel and other domestic producers. Those policies helped turn U.S. Steel — considered a hollow husk of the American industrial economy only a few years ago — into a highly investable asset. Nippon is paying a 40 percent premium on U.S. Steel’s stock price in the purchase, and the deal is the Japanese smelter’s first major foray into the American market. Global firms don’t do that without expectations of hefty returns. That could be cause for celebration: a venerated industrial firm from one of our most reliable allies is paying a huge premium to access the fruits of America’s new economic policies. Encouraging foreign investment in the U.S. has always been one of the stated goals of Biden’s new industrial policy — a reversal of decades of outsourcing — and here’s a chief example of the policies paying off for workers and investors alike. Instead, Rust Belt Democrats are running in the other direction — seemingly scared by the simple fact that Nippon is a Japanese company, and not American. Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey have urged Biden to block the deal on national security grounds. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — facing a tough reelection next year — has lamented that the company wasn’t sold to U.S.-based Cleveland Cliffs instead. Moderate and progressive Democratic House members across the Midwest have piled on, as has Biden’s former economic adviser Brian Deese. Biden, who must run the industrial swing state gauntlet of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to win reelection, has been listening. Late Thursday afternoon, the White House weighed in with a statement saying that the president believes the planned purchase deserves “serious scrutiny” because of potential national security and supply chain concerns. Most of these arguments are wrong-headed. A deal with Cleveland Cliffs, for instance, was on the table months ago. But the U.S. company was handily outbid by its Japanese opposition — offering $35 per share to Nippon’s $55. Any deal with Cleveland Cliffs likely would have raised antitrust concerns — the combined company would have owned 80 percent of U.S. blast furnace capacity — and could have resulted in redundancies and layoffs due to the firms’ overlapping footprints. The national security concerns are even thinner. When Trump invoked national security arguments to impose tariffs on imported steel in 2018, the goal was to protect domestic production, not shut out any foreign ownership. The Japanese government is also among the most steadfast U.S. allies in the world and a crucial regional bulwark against China. Union concerns do give some pause. The United Steelworkers had previously supported an acquisition by Cleveland Cliffs and has spoken out against the Nippon deal. But their current contract with U.S. Steel stipulates that any new buyer must agree to a new labor agreement before completing the acquisition. If Nippon is so hungry for a deal that it will pay a 40 percent premium, some concessions to the union don’t seem out of reach. So, why the outcry from Democrats? Trump’s specter lurks behind all of these policy discussions, even though he and his allies have yet to weigh in on the deal. Still chastened by Trump’s 2016 victory in the industrial Midwest, Democrats have bent over backwards for years to appear more “America-first” than the 45th president. That’s the main motivation behind Biden’s aggressive manufacturing policies in the IRA, his preservation of Trump’s tariffs on China, and his decision — with hefty pressure from Midwestern Democrats — to pull back on Indo-Pacific trade talks last month in San Francisco. The November elections chastened Democrats even further, after voters in a rural Michigan town threw out their local government due to its support for a Chinese-owned battery factory — despite the thousands of jobs it promised an impoverished region. The subtext is the same when it comes to the U.S. Steel deal. Even when the economics could be on their side, Democrats are so afraid of appearing like Clinton-era globalists that they will disavow any investments that come with a foreign flag — even one of our closest allies. Those protestations won’t protect Democrats from GOP attacks. In Pennsylvania, Casey has already been fending off accusations that he’s soft on China from his Republican challenger David McCormick – despite the fact that Casey is one of the most hawkish Democrats on China and has worked for years to increase oversight of American banks’ activities in the Chinese economy. If Democrats are to recapture the economic narrative, they might do well to take a page from Dan Kildee, the labor-friendly, veteran Democratic congressman from Flint, Michigan, who is retiring next year. “What we’ve learned is you make the right decisions about the right policies, no matter what [Republicans] are going to turn it into a political question,” Kildee said when asked last week about trade policies in Congress. “So, just do the right thing and we’ll handle the politics later.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at gbade@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @GavinBade. PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off next week for the holidays but back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 2.   GLOBAL PLAYBOOK IS TAKING YOU TO DAVOS! Unlock the insider's guide to one of the world's most influential gatherings as POLITICO's Global Playbook takes you behind the scenes of the 2024 World Economic Forum. Author Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground in the Swiss Alps, bringing you the exclusive conversations, shifting power dynamics and groundbreaking ideas shaping the agenda in Davos. Stay in the know with POLITICO's Global Playbook, your VIP pass to the world’s most influential gatherings. SUBSCRIBE NOW .     WHAT'D I MISS? — Senate returns dozens of nominations to Biden to restart process in 2024, including Julie Su: The Senate sent back more than 50 nominations to President Joe Biden as it wrapped its work for 2023 on Wednesday, most notably that of acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. Those nominees will have to be resubmitted by the president and begin the Senate confirmation process anew, since the chamber didn’t approve them within the calendar year. The positions range from Cabinet-level posts like Su’s to appeals court judicial nominees to ambassadors, but also less visible roles like ones on the Merit Systems Protection Board and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. “It is clear Ms. Su lacks the necessary votes for confirmation,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee. “I urge President Biden to put forward a nominee who is committed to fair enforcement of our nation’s labor laws and is capable of being confirmed in the Senate.” — Giuliani files for bankruptcy: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in New York today, as legal bills from his failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election for former President Donald Trump pile up. The filing comes days after Giuliani, 79, was ordered to pay $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers who said their lives were upended after the former Trump lawyer falsely accused them of manipulating ballots during the 2020 election. — Harvard president Claudine Gay facing new plagiarism accusations: Harvard University President Claudine Gay is facing new plagiarism accusations as the news media and conservative activists scrutinize the academic record of the leader of America’s oldest university. An internal review from Harvard Wednesday night announced that while her actions did not rise to the level of serious wrongdoing under the university’s rules, Gay still used “duplicative language without proper attribution” in the writing of her 1997 dissertation, according to the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. The university told the paper that Gay, who earned her doctorate from Harvard in political science, would submit three additional corrections to her dissertation in response. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 COLORADO CALL — Top officials with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Colorado Republican Party spoke today to discuss plans of action after the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to throw the former president off of the Republican primary ballot, reports POLITICO. The call, which involved Clayton Henson, a former White House aide who has been a liaison between the Trump campaign and state parties, was confirmed by Dave Williams, the chair of the Colorado GOP. Williams said that the Colorado GOP will appeal the Colorado court’s decision — holding that Trump was invalidated from appearing on the ballot because he’d incited an insurrection on Jan. 6 — to the Supreme Court. Depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, he said, the party would ask the Republican National Committee for a waiver to hold a caucus instead of a primary election. VEEP TOUR — Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Nevada and South Carolina next month, two of the earliest states on the Democratic presidential calendar, where she’ll court voters she and President Joe Biden hope to win over, reports the Associated Press. Harris will meet with members of the powerful casino workers’ Culinary Union in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, which offers one of the most powerful endorsements in Nevada Democratic politics, the White House said today. Three days later, she plans to head to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, home of the Democrats’ leadoff primary, to address an annual women’s retreat of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest historically Black denomination in the U.S. Harris has been touring the country to tout the administration’s accomplishments, most recently angling to energize younger voters during a multi-stop college tour. Next month she plans to embark on a nationwide series of events to rally voters to give Biden a second term and regain full control of Congress. AROUND THE WORLD Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, participates in a virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting, on Nov. 22, 2023, at the Pentagon in Washington. | Cliff Owen/AP THAWING RELATIONS — Gen. C.Q. Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to his Chinese counterpart Gen. Liu Zhenli this morning, ending a nearly year-and-a-half impasse between the two militaries, the Pentagon announced, reports POLITICO. Brown is the first senior U.S. military official to speak with his Chinese counterpart since the two countries’ leaders agreed in November to resume military communications after China froze all talks in retaliation for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022. The two spoke during a video teleconference this morning, according to the Pentagon. Brown and Liu, China’s chief of the Joint Staff, discussed “the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication,” according to a readout provided by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown “reiterated the importance of the People’s Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.” GLOOM AND DOOM — European leaders are increasingly concerned by the stalemated war in Ukraine, and with allies’ struggles in keeping ahead of new Russian arms production, reports POLITICO. A year that began with promises of a huge Ukrainian counteroffensive to match last year’s surprise push through hundreds of miles of Russian-occupied territory devolved into a bloody, yard-by-yard fight across hundreds of miles of front, that saw little territorial gain despite a massive human cost. “Russia has the capability and the ability to go on with this war for years,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said during a visit to Washington this week where he signed a new defense agreement with the U.S. “Many are overestimating that the West is winning this, that Ukraine is winning.” This month, Häkkänen’s government announced it is doubling its production of ammunition, committing to send much of it to Ukraine as it struggles with thinning supplies from Western allies and the slow buildup of production capabilities in the U.S. and Europe. He declined to disclose how large the new output will be, or identify the exact munitions that will be involved. With about $25 million in seed money from the government along with multiyear contracts to guarantee that the work continues in the coming years, the project is also being funded by new investments from NAMMO, the Norwegian defense firm with a large presence in Finland. The production increases will reach their peak by 2027. Public and private investments, plus long-term purchase contracts will total $1.3 billion from 2024 to 2030. Those kinds of long-term contracts have proven a major hurdle for American and European governments, which have been reluctant to make guaranteed commitments to defense spending in future years. But without them, even some major defense companies have been reluctant to invest their own money in weapons critical to the war in Ukraine, fearing that the resolve of governments will eventually falter.   POLITICO AT CES® 2024 : We are going ALL On at CES 2024 with a special edition of the POLITICO Digital Future Daily newsletter. The CES-focused newsletter will take you inside the most powerful tech event in the world, featuring revolutionary products that cut across verticals, and insights from industry leaders that are shaping the future of innovation. The newsletter runs from Jan. 9-12 and will focus on the public policy-related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the show .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 65 percent The percentage of Americans who say they always or often feel exhausted when talking about politics, a record dissatisfaction that comes at a time in which only 4 percent of U.S. adults say that our political system is working “extremely well” or “very well” according to Pew Research Center. RADAR SWEEP CHAPLAIN PD — Meet the Los Angeles Police Department Chaplain Corps, 47 volunteer chaplains across multiple faiths aimed to build camaraderie within the police department and trust within their community. In first responder jobs where trauma is a near daily experience, LAPD has recruited Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Toaist, Protestant and Interfaith leaders to be a listening ear in the department. The corps is just one instance in the trend of law enforcement bringing spiritual leaders into the force — there are more than 600 chaplains in police departments across 32 states, according to the general director of the United States Chaplain Corps. In this story for CNN, Mike Valerio looks at the members of the LAPD Chaplain Corps — including a motorcycle riding monsignor — and how the group is trying to destigmatize mental health issues in their police departments. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1989: Demonstrators, protesting the United States military action in Panama, congregate outside the Federal building in Chicago. The protesters, made up of Central American human rights groups, were allowed to march inside the building for several minutes, then were forcibly removed when they refused to leave on their own. | John Swart/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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