They could not only lose their income, but also be sued by someone with deep pockets –the deepest, if Mr Piggy resorted to the DOJ– and become unemployable.

… a cephalodick, you say?

It might be veto-proof, but it sure isn’t pedo-proof! My guess is that, if the vote passes, the DoJ will release edited files that absolve Trump but implicate someone he wants to get rid of.

Japan nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

The penguins will tariff him up.

Yeah… I still have clips of Blackwater’s ‘adventures’ in Iraq. If they’re still as humane and accountable as they were back then, seeing them anywhere is a bad omen.

That’s exactly it. Owners want people desperate, because desperate people work for less. As you point out, they start with “illegals”, but they will eventually come for the old and the disabled too, because some people will have to pick up where Social Security left and care for them and, in doing so, will become even more desperate. Who will risk their job fighting for their rights knowing that not only their own livelihood, but also that of their old mother or their disabled brother is on the line? We need to be clear: this is not about government efficiency or even a crackdown on “illegals”, but a war — the owners’ war on us workers and our kin.

They’ve been manufacturing consent in a similar way in Germany, agitating against immigrants and dubbing some or all people in your situation “Sozialschmarotzer” –“social parasites”–. Under the pretense of fighting those threats they conjure, they’ve been dismantling social security — without DOGE’s viciousness, but bit by bit.

The expression “world economic anchor” is meant literally and factually: the United States are the world’s strongest consumer market and therefore drive demand and economic activity like no other, and, more importantly, the US dollar and Treasuries serve as a reserve currency and asset, respectively, for both central banks and private investors. This arrangement is unfair, in its own macroeconomic ways that have nothing to do with exceptionalism, manifest destiny or cultural superiority, to both the rest of the world, who end up funding the United States, and common US denizens, who suffer from inflated assets.

I think this charade parade is both a play to his MAGA base and a sort of loyalty test to see who in the military goes along with him.

On the one hand, I share your doubt, which is justified in the face of all the deceit and mismanagement that Merz in particular and the CDU and CSU in general engage in and their disdain for the public good. On the other hand, the fact that the Sovereign Tech Fund / Agency survived the German budget crisis gives me some hope that it will at least stay.

Although they could do more, I wouldn’t say they don’t care. For instance, Germany established the Sovereign Tech Agency.

On Reddit someone posted a parody of the whole affair. I believe it was originally posted on r/wallstreetbets, but it has since been deleted.

Donald Trump did indeed write at least the first three sentences back in 2018. I couldn’t find a source for the rest of the quote, but (a) I wouldn’t put it past that man to utter such nonsense and (b) it’s only fair we indulge in some stretching of the truth, given the extent to which he and his lackeys disregard it.

I was thinking about this earlier and I’m scared about what this might mean for the future of the Pebble Mine, […].

Industry executives presumably interviewed or at least consulted by the Financial Times believe the Pebble Mine will be approved:

The Pebble Project in Alaska, a copper-gold project owned by Toronto-listed Northern Dynasty Minerals, is also expected to get its final approval under the new administration, according to industry executives.

Rio Tinto’s CEO certainly expressed optimism about the prospects of the Resolution project, which has been similarly blocked so far:

“I do think that we have really good chances now to progress that project,” said Jakob Stausholm, chief executive of the London-listed miner, in an interview with the Financial Times, which will be broadcast on Wednesday. “We have made a lot of progress.”

Given the current price of copper and its expected future demand, both the Pebble Mine and Resolution are worth a fortune. Given the current geopolitical climate, both are strategically located too. They even sit in red states: Alaska and Arizona, respectively.