The corrupt rot of Trumpism
by digby
Paul Krugman makes an important observation. (Via twitter)
Trump threatened a vulnerable nation by withholding aid, using the threat to extract help against his domestic rivals. What’s not being widely noted is that the same thing is happening to U.S. corporations
Even as the impeachment hearings were going on, Trump made a bizarre appearance at an Apple plant, making a series of false claims about both Apple and his own policies. And Tim Cook just stood by silently
Why the acquiescence? Trump’s tariffs aren’t being applied uniformly; there have been many “exclusions” based purely on the administration’s judgment. Apple wants some of those
If you don’t think political support for Trump is crucial for getting tariff relief, I have a degree from Trump University you might want to buy. In fact, Chad Bown, the go-to guy on the trade war, warned about this months ago
And does anyone really believe that it’s just trade policy? Amazon may not be able to prove that it was denied a Pentagon contract because Trump hates the Washington Post, but does anyone really believe that the process was squeaky clean? washingtonpost.com/technology/201…
It’s hard to feel sorry for big corporations, but they aren’t the real victims here. The Ukrainification of corporate America is yet another front in the assault on democracy
