Latest / 5 minute updates on the latest Trump actions by Prof Christina Pagel / A week of attacks on truth, institutions, and integrity

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A week of attacks on truth, institutions, and integrity · 5 minute updates on the latest Trump actions by Prof Christina Pagel

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So today I'll cover how over the last week,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: the Trump administration has attacked its perceived enemies, suppressed
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: the truth while putting out lies, and continued with corrupt practices.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, starting with attacking enemies.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: So firstly, the National Science Board
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: is the National Science Foundation's governing body, and its role
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  SPEAKER_00: is to advise the administration and Congress on national science policy.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: It has authority to oversee the actions of the 9 billion
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: National Science Foundation budget.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: It sets policy and it personally approves large expenditures.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Last week, Trump suddenly fired
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: all 24 members of the board, which is unprecedented.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: He also went after the Supreme Court
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: on TruthSocial for not doing his immediate
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: bidding on a variety of cases, such as birthright citizenship or tariffs.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: He went after both
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  SPEAKER_00: the Democratic appointed judges and the Republican appointed judges.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then he attacked The New York Times and CNN for negative coverage
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: on the Iran war.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not very convincingly writing for those people.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Fewer in number now than ever before that are reading
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: the failing New York Times or watching fake news CNN.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: The thing I am anxious to end the war,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you would even call it that with Iran.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Please be advised that I am possibly
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: the least pressured person ever to be in this position.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and Trump
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: today said it might be closed for months,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: which would have disastrous consequences for the whole world.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: The FBI began investigating a New York Times
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: The FBI director, Kash Patel, and his practice of using FBI
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: and transportation.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: FBI agents apparently looked through databases
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: for information on the reporter, and recommended moving forward
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: to determine whether she broke federal stalking laws.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So those actions have prompted concerns
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: that the FBI inquiry was really just a retaliation for an article
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: that she wrote that Patel and his girlfriend didn't like.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the Pentagon got rid of the independent
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: watchdog of the US military newspaper, the Stars and Stripes,
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: but gave no reason.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then a kind of slightly obscure one.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it matters, is the United Soybean Board.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the United Soybean Board is a 77 member body of volunteer farmers
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: that oversees how soybean farmers mandatory industry dues,
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: which is over $100 million a year, are spent on research
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: and promotion for the industry.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Members are nominated by their fellow farmers in each state
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: and formally appointed by the Agriculture Secretary.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And historically, that's literally just been the
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: the agriculture sector of the USDA, the Department of Agriculture.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Agriculture just gives a rubber stamp to their nominations.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: But last week, the Trump administration rejected
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: all four women farmers chosen by their peers to represent them.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: and three of those women suspected that was because they were women.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, among 40 new and reappointed
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: directors to the board, none were women.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we now have out of the 77 member board, only
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: five women on it, which is the lowest in at least a decade.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Moving on to US allies.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: An internal Pentagon email reportedly outlined options
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: to penalize NATO allies
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  SPEAKER_00: that were perceived as unsupportive of the US war in Iran.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this includes potentially suspending Spain entirely from NATO
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: and reassessing the US support for Britain's claim
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  SPEAKER_00: to the Falkland Islands.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then sticking with the UK, Trump also threatened
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: to impose a big tariff on the UK if it doesn't drop its
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: digital services tax on US social media firms,
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  SPEAKER_00: so the digital services tax is big new legislation in the UK
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  SPEAKER_00: that targets companies whose worldwide revenues
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  SPEAKER_00: from digital activities exceed 500 million pounds,
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  SPEAKER_00: with more than 25 million of those coming from UK users.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what Trump said is we've been looking at it
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  SPEAKER_00: and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK,
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: so they better be careful.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now suppressing truth and spreading lies.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So firstly, the centers for Disease Control,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: the CDC has decided not to publish a report showing
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: that last season's Covid vaccines reduced hospital visits.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So the report, which had cleared the CDC's
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: internal scientific review process, was first delayed.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's been decided they're just not going to publish
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then the administration has been accused of covering up
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: the extent of damage to its bases and military assets in the Gulf,
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: where Iran has apparently caused billions of dollars in damage.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So this is raising questions
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: about the Trump administration's transparency
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  SPEAKER_00: regarding the potential costs for repairs, and especially
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: as private briefings of politicians regarding that,
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: that damage and potential costs have also been sparse.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: What else happened is that last week, Virginia passed a ballot to allow
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: redistricting ahead of the midterms, which will give more seats
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: to the Democrats in the midterms.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Trump was furious, and he basically continued to promote
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: false claims that the Virginia ballot was fraudulent.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: He tied it to mail in ballots with no evidence,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then threatened to use the courts to overturn the referendum.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So far, he's tried, but has been unsuccessful.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Trump and his aides have also tried to chase vote rigging
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  SPEAKER_00: claims more directly.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So despite repeated findings of zero evidence
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  SPEAKER_00: for any vote rigging or any faulty machines that could be used for voter
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  SPEAKER_00: fraud, Trump and his aides are continuing
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: to try and find evidence to support their conspiracy theories.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then, in a really kind of bizarre moment, RFK junior,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: the health secretary, decided to defend Donald Trump's
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: wrong percentage calculations on prescription drug discounts.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Trump has claimed that he has secured discounts of anywhere
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: between 400, 1000, 1,500% on prescription drugs.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a price
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: discount cannot be more than 100%, which reduces the price to zero.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So a 50% discount reduces it by half.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: 100% reduces it to zero.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot have more than 100% They then double down on it
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: the next day, with both RFK and Trump
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: saying that it's just a different way of calculating percentages.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a different way of calculating percentages.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wrong way of calculating percentages.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just another way, perhaps minor, but it matters.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's another way of just direct misinformation and claims
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: that black is white.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, in a rather sinister move, the US government released
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: a State Department memo in a case challenging and immigration policy.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And really, what they're trying to do is they trying to target the visas
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: of non-citizen researchers, advocates, fact checkers, and anyone
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: working kind of trust and safety and trying to get basically
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: prioritize them for deportation, and then finally just coming on
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: to corruption.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So firstly, a top envoy to Trump
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: asked FIFA, which is the international football
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: body to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup this
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is both corrupt and also really stupid and Italy
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: has already said it does not want this.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: They failed to qualify.
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  They don't want to come in
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  SPEAKER_00: on this kind of weird tit for tat just to have a go at Iran.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Traders also placed a series of bets worth over $400 million on a drop
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: in crude oil prices, just 15 minutes before Donald Trump
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: said he would extend a ceasefire with Iran last week.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the third time this month, and the fourth time
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: since the Iran war started that large, well-timed bets
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: on the oil price had been made just before major announcements by Trump
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: on the Iran war.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's definitely some kind of insider trading going on
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sticking with the military, Trump's son, Eric Trump, boasted
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: of winning a $24 million Pentagon contract
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: with Foundation Future Industries for a new military robot.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Eric Trump is the chief strategy adviser to Foundation
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Future Industries.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then, as I'm sure you all know, there was an attempted assassination
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: of Trump at the white House Correspondents Association dinner
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: last week.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And just to reiterate, political violence is not okay.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the issue is that the Trump administration and Republicans
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: have been trying to use
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: that assassination attempt to further Trump's ballroom building.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: So first, the Department of Justice tried to use that
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: to pressure the National Trust for Historic Preservation
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: to drop its lawsuit seeking to halt the construction of Trump's ballroom.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then Republicans in Congress pushed for legislation
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: to fund and speed up the construction of the ballroom.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: They cited increased security concerns.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's really not clear what they are.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Neither Trump nor the White House hosted Saturday’s dinner,
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: which had about 2000 guests.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Trump has previously said that the ballroom would be paid for
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: entirely by private donations at the cost of about $400 million.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But now, suddenly, taxpayers are on the hook, potentially.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: So all these actions and more are available on Trumpactiontracker.info.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Go check it out and I'll be back in a week or so.