The Week that Was ...
Ending Sunday, February 2, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of The Week that Was, my rundown of what happened last week, curated, in the loosest sense of the word, for your reading pleasure, or displeasure.
The theme of this edition of The Week that Was is A Shit Ton of Shit Is Happening. Because of that, I am switching to a chronological approach.
Many of the links below have paywalls. I’ve tried to put in the gist of the stories. Note the sheer nonchalant banality of so much of what MAGA people say.
1. Photo of the Week: Welcome to Gaza
© Omar Al-Qatta AFP Getty Images
2. Monday, January 27, 2025
Tariff Watch
The government of Colombia refused to accept deportations on military flights of Colombian citizens who were loaded onto planes in shackles in view of cameras. The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, issued a stirring defense of Colombia.
Trump threatened 25% tariffs. President Petro responded in kind. And then, faced with a significant loss of business for his countrymen, he decided to accept the deportations. Petro put his country’s wellbeing first.
Colombia Agrees to Accept Deportation Flights After Trump Threatens Tariffs
Financial Markets
Okay, well, China, meaning the PRC, the People’s Republic of China, is not going away because Trump and the US establishment feel it’s a threat. In fact, in what may be another case of that pesky Law of Unintended Consequences, a Chinese AI startup, DeepSeek, seems to be able to outdo US-based Nvidia, which was the hope to end all hope for the US tech sector. Did US export restrictions have something to do with this? Quite possibly.
And, alas, this morning the sell-off of overvalued US stocks is extending to infrastructure and construction. And guess what: Nvidia’s overvaluation may be to blame.
Markets latest: Wall Street tech stocks head for $1tn sell-off as DeepSeek rattles investors
“… on January 23rd the Securities and Exchange Commission, America’s main markets regulator, altered its guidance so that financial institutions no longer have to account, on their own balance-sheets, for crypto assets held on behalf of customers.
Will America’s crypto frenzy end in disaster?
Gaza
These are incredible and heartbreaking photos.
© Hatem Khaled Reuters
Omar/APAImages/Shutterstock
© Ramadan Abed Reuters
© Abdel Kareem AP
In pictures: Gazans march north after Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Expulsion
“’It’s not like you just flip a switch and just immediately start rounding people up [emphasis added] and sending them to the border,’” says John Torres, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director during the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations.”
What it would take for America to deport 11mn immigrants
“Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website.”
Trump administration shuts the White House’s Spanish-language website and social media
Department of Wishful Thinking
“Trump’s skills should not be underestimated, of course.”
Peak Trump? More like ever deeper lows.
3. Tuesday, January 28, 2025
The Power of the Purse: It Used to Be in the U.S. Constitution
Trump decided to cancel all government funding he didn’t like. Of course, appropriations are passed by Congress, and spending bills must start in the House of Representatives.
This seemed illegal. Unconstitutional. Or at least it used to be.
Trump freezes federal grant payments in surprise move
And it was.
Trump’s Freeze on Grant Funding Temporarily Halted by Judge
Musk was behind this. It was virtually the same as his email to Twitter employees in 2022.
Trump offering buyouts to all federal workers
Politics: MAGA, and non-MAGA
“Zoom in: A coherent Democratic counteroffensive is starting to emerge.”
I sure hope so.
Democrats bite back against Trump's purges and freezes
Republican Strategy for 2026
This Republican strategy is worth watching, unfortunately.
“House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is convinced his best path to avoiding a midterm rout runs through Texas' Rio Grande Valley and California's Central Valley.
Why it matters: That means pumping real resources into a handful of predominantly Hispanic districts.
Driving the news: National Republican Congressional Committee chair Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Chris Winkelman, who leads the House GOP's top super PAC, briefed lawmakers on their emerging strategy at the GOP retreat in Doral, Florida.
Hudson has previewed his plan for Hispanic seats before, but this was the first time he and Winkelman laid out in detail their plans to pick up seats together.”
The problem? The Trump tariffs, as they are now being called. The tariffs will greatly affect the Rio Grande Valley in particular. Much more than Mexico. Laredo is the single largest port of entry in the United States. Unless you have seen the border region, you just cannot imagine the scale of the trade. Literally 80% of the vehicles on the interstates in the area are eighteen wheelers.
The other problem? The Democratic Party Establishment’s strategy with Latino voters seems to be, “You’re supposed to vote for us.”
Mike Johnson's Hispanic valley strategy
Immigration and Expulsion
Please note if you enjoy eating.
“They’re not going to show up for work and that means crops will remain in the field and not be harvested and probably lost at that point,” Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot told NBC Bay Area News earlier this month, adding that scarce produce could lead to higher food prices.
Can the Central Valley’s agriculture industry survive the Trump administration?
“The thing is, I don’t believe that Trump could pursue a limited, restrained crackdown on immigrants even if he wanted to. If you incessantly make the false claim that millions of criminal migrants are fueling a vast crime wave, if you make it clear that respecting the rights of the accused is a liberal, DEI thing, of course some ICE and Border Control agents will run wild. Basically, anyone with brown skin will be at risk of at least temporary detention.”
The Deportation Nightmare Begins
“The new Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, announced that she was on hand in the city to witness the arrest of an unauthorized immigrant connected to criminal activity.”
Homeland Security Begins Immigration Enforcement Operation in New York
“The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) has called for an "emergency" meeting of member states after the tariff standoff between the United States and Colombia on Sunday. "Migration" and "Latin American and Caribbean unity" are two of the three topics listed on the agenda, the other one being "Environment."
The Florida legislature has wearied of Governor Ron DeSantis’s posturing. No word about how they feel about his posture itself, enhanced by wearing lifts.
“I don’t need to get lectures on supporting Trump from Ron DeSantis,” state Sen. Randy Fine (R) said in an interview. “The last I checked a year ago, he didn’t think Trump should be president.”
The crux of the matter:
“It is an insult to name such a weak bill after President Trump, who has been so strong on this issue,” DeSantis wrote.
He said that by placing enforcement authority in the agriculture department, “it ensures that enforcement never actually occurs. In short, it puts the fox in charge of the hen house.”
In other words, the Florida legislature is doing what it can to protect Florida’s farmers from Trump’s expulsion polices.
In rare move, Florida Republicans defy DeSantis on immigration
Mexico
The go-to source for news about Mexico. Appearing every Tuesday.
Financial Markets
“Even after Monday’s dip, the disjunction in valuations between Big Tech — sometimes referred to as the Magnificent 7 of Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla, Meta and Alphabet — and the rest of the stock market remains staggering. The Magnificent 7 still constitute more than 30 percent of the market capitalization of the S&P 500 (up from just under 10 percent a decade ago).”
I Study Financial Markets. The Nvidia Rout Is Only the Start.
Hypocrisy Watch
“’I don’t need to get lectures on supporting Trump from Ron DeSantis,’ state Sen. Randy Fine (R) said in an interview. ‘The last I checked a year ago, he didn’t think Trump should be president.’ ….
“Republican legislators also want to remove immigration enforcement powers from the governor’s office and instead hand that authority — along with $500 million — to the state’s agriculture commissioner, an elected official.”
Why? Florida’s farmers need the labor of undocumented people to pick their crops.
In rare move, Florida Republicans defy DeSantis on immigration
Ludicrosity
This is important. Remember, you can never take anything a conservative says about anything which is even vaguely political. Explanation below this paragraph.
“… let’s trace the thread: This fanfic scenario first surfaced via an August cover story of the print edition of tabloid In Touch Weekly, claiming to expose “The Truth About Jen and Barack!” (A spokesperson for In Touch did not respond to Vanity Fair by press time.) The cover further claimed: “Michelle betrayed as Aniston steals her husband’s attention,” and helpfully added bullet points that read: “They’re obsessed with each other” and “Power circles in Washington and Hollywood can’t stop gossiping!” (It’s worth noting that In Touch is under the umbrella of A360 Media, formerly known as AMI, which came under fire for the catch-and-kill operation at the National Enquirer to protect Donald Trump’s reputation.”
In the pre-pandemic days, someone I knew from a meditation group told me that there was an epidemic of Hep C in San Francisco because of the “ban” on plastic bags. You see, homeless people collect plastic bags to shit in.
I investigated. It turned out that story originated with a blogger in San Diego and was amplified by a local Fox affiliate. Of course, there was no scientific basis.
I told some friends the story. They all said something like, “I didn’t know that.” I explained that indeed they didn’t know it, because it didn’t happen.
The interesting part is that they were inclined to believe it. Most of us, when someone tells us something, think that the other person has real information. But conservatives don’t have real information. They have obsessions.
No, the Obamas Are Not Divorcing. But MAGA World Infected the Culture With an Absurd Rumor
4. Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Financial Markets
“In addition, the decision comes against a volatile political backdrop.”
I’ll say!
Fed holds rates steady, takes less confident view on inflation
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the U.S. central bank, saying they ‘failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation” and have done a ‘terrible job on Bank Regulation.’ ….
“Trump said he would bring down costs himself, rehashing a number of his economic agenda items including ‘slashing Regulation’ and ‘reigniting American Manufacturing.’”
Right.
Trump accuses Fed, Powell of creating inflation on heels of rate decision
Whoops!
“The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinded a memo Wednesday that had ordered a ‘temporary pause’ on federal funding and unleashed major confusion across the country.”
“Why it matters: It's an astonishing reversal by the Trump administration, a day after top officials defended the funding freeze ….”
White House rescinds Trump's funding freeze after massive backlash
Immigration and Expulsion
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the construction of a detention camp with 30,000 beds at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, outlining plans for a site outside U.S. territory where immigrants caught in his expanding deportation campaign could be sent.”
Trump to build mass detention camp for deportees at Guantánamo Bay
Germany
“Unlike U.S. conservatives, who rail about the evils of government debt, then pass budget-busting tax cuts which they claim will magically pay for themselves, the Germans have been serious about fiscal austerity.
“Back when we were listening — or, in Robin’s case, not listening — to [Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Finance Minister at the time] Schäuble’s sermon, many policymakers had bought into the notion that fiscal austerity would actually promote growth by increasing business confidence. At the time, I derided this view as belief in the ‘confidence fairy.’ And Tinker Bell certainly hasn’t come through for the Germans.”
You Can’t Go Home Again
“When I left America last spring for a safer home for my family and a better quality of life, I thought the hardest part would be adapting to life in the Netherlands. Learning Dutch, navigating the health care system, building a new community — these were the challenges I’d prepared for. Nobody warned me that coming back would be what left me in tears.”
5. Thursday, January 30, 2025
Department of Growing a Spine
“Top congressional Democrats smell blood over President Trump's federal spending freeze.”
I sure hope so.
Democrats pounce as Trump retreats on federal spending freeze
Financial Markets
The Hedge Fund guys are starting to worry about crypto. Pretty soon, they’ll be figuring out how to do a big short.
The fund “has never seen a market like this”, wrote Elliott, referring to the speculative investor frenzy it believes is currently gripping financial markets.
“Crypto is ground zero” for the speculative surge across markets, not only due to the size it has grown to but also because of its “perceived proximity to the White House”, it added.
Hedge fund Elliott warns White House is inflating crypto bubble that ‘could wreak havoc’
Political Economy
Cook those books!
“House Republicans are actively exploring how they can score the deficit cost of extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts by using multiple sets of accounting standards.
“Why it matters: Depending on the standard, the cost of extending Trump's signature Tax Cut and Jobs Act for 10 years could be $4.6 trillion ... or $0.”
House GOP explores alternative math on Trump tax cuts
Trump’s Appointees
Muskonomics.
“’What guarantee does an employee who might take this offer have of actually receiving payment? When there is government immunity, no budget, and Congress can declare this illegal?’ said Sheria Smith, head of the union that represents Education Department employees.
“Those fears may have merit: Musk’s companies have reneged on commitments to workers in the past.”
Musk team’s push to gut federal workforce bypassed key Trump officials
Germany
“Olaf Scholz, the SPD [Social Democratic Party] chancellor, compared Mr Merz to Viktor Orban, Hungary’s strongman, and called his decision to accept AFD [Alternative for Germany] support ‘unforgivable’. The Greens’ Robert Habeck spoke of a ‘steep path to the abyss’.”
Now, if those “progressive” leaders can only remember that the big issue behind all of this is economic inequality.
A day of drama in the Bundestag
6. Friday, January 31, 2025
Tariff Watch
Paul Krugman wrote this before the tariffs were official.
“As far as I can tell, there’s a real possibility that Trump’s new tariffs will face a court challenge, and that he will lose. I’m not an expert on trade law, but I do know a bit, and this looks flatly illegal to me.
“But even if these tariffs are blocked, or Trump finds some way to declare victory and call them off, the damage will be immense.”
The End of North America: Trump pulls the trigger on tariffs
Trump Watch: Court Cases
There is hope, for a while at least.
“A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to keep taxpayer dollars flowing to 22 Democratic-leaning states for all congressionally approved government programs, including those that could run afoul of President Trump’s ideological tests.”
A federal judge ordered the White House to keep money flowing to 22 states.
“Emil Bove, the acting No. 2 official at the department, offered no evidence those targeted had done anything improper, illegal or unethical. Instead he cited a legal technicality.
“Those informed of their dismissals had been hired to investigate the Jan. 6 riot as the office struggled to manage what became the largest prosecution in the department’s history.”
More than a dozen prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s offsice in Washington were dismissed.
Response to Trump
A nod to the Surplus Value of Wages.
“Colombia’s president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the United States to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.
“’Wealth is only produced by the working people,’ Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on the X platform. ‘Let’s build social wealth in Colombia.’”
The thing that Trump forgets is that other people have brains. They’re not going to do what he wants.
Colombia’s president calls for migrants to leave jobs in the US and return home
7. Saturday, February 1, 2025
Trump Watch
“The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is not a government department, but a team within the administration. It was put together at Mr. Trump’s direction by Mr. Musk to fan out across federal agencies seeking ways to cut spending, reduce the size of the federal work force and bring more efficiency to the bureaucracy. Most of those working on the initiative were recruited by Mr. Musk and his aides.”
Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Full Access to Treasury’s Payments System
Genocide Watch
It’s hard to think of anything that could be more destabilizing to both Jordan and Egypt than this Trump move.
“A broad group of Arab nations on Saturday rejected an idea floated by President Trump for Gazans to be moved to Egypt and Jordan, saying in a joint statement that such a plan risked further expanding the conflict in the Middle East.”
Arab nations reject Trump’s suggestion to ‘clean out’ Gaza.
Tariff Watch
Trump says he’ll place tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday
And there is more to come:
“The president said he would also “absolutely” impose tariffs on the European Union, saying that it had “treated us so terribly.” He added that the United States would eventually put tariffs on chips, oil and gas — “I think around the 18th of February,” he said — as well as later levies on steel, aluminum and copper.”
Live Updates: Trump Imposes Steep Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China
8. Breaking News on Sunday, February 2, 2025
Governance and Nongovernance
Whew!
“The Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday morning that its primary system for sending real-time safety alerts to pilots was operational again after being down for several hours.
“’The NOTAM system is online and operational,’ the F.A.A. said in a statement, referring to the notification system. “’There were no operational impacts in the National Airspace System.’”
F.A.A.’s Main Warning System for Pilots Is Restored After Outage
9. Apocalyptic Photo of the Week
© Damian Sánchez/Reuters
Look at the US/Mexico border! The hordes are pouring in.
Except this photo, which appeared in The Financial Times on January 18, 2025, was taken nowhere near the that frontier. As anyone who has been anywhere near the over 2000-mile-long US/Mexico border can tell you, that area is relatively dry. By relatively dry, I mean it doesn’t rain that much, and, due to the latitude, increased evaporation occurs. This “relatively dry” characterization applies to the entire region, except the parts that are semi-arid. Of course, much of it is desert. For example, the Sonoran Desert. Those areas are desert, as the name implies. None of this is difficult to know.
Sonoran Dessert, from the Arizona side. Credit: Googlemaps.
So where was that photo of the scary refugees taken? One clue: The photo is credited to Damian Sanchez of Reuters.
Another recent photo, from December 3, 2024, was credited to the same photographer:
© Damian Sánchez/Reuters
Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico, is about 269 miles from the Guatemalan border. And it’s about 1,800 miles from the U.S. border.
So, The Financial Times ran an article about the “border crisis” on the US/Mexico border and used a photo from the Mexico/Guatemala border.
Nice work, if you can find it.
10. Mexico Copes with Its Biggest Baddest Foe: The Neoliberal Press
Christine Murray of The Financial Times does it again! It’s not enough to report falsely or just cluelessly. The headline:
"Mexico races to prepare dozens of shelters for Trump mass deportations."
Then, in the fifth paragraph: "Two people with knowledge of the plans said the federal government provisionally hoped to open 25 shelters, each with capacity for 2,500 people, to receive deported Mexicans, but was keeping the plan quiet and flexible as numbers remain uncertain."
In the 14th paragraph Murray gets to the fact that Obama was the great deporter:
"The US has carried out deportations for much of its history, with a record number removed in the fiscal year 2012 under President Barack Obama, [emphasis added] when ICE deported more than 409,000 people. In fiscal year 2024, Biden removed more than 271,000 people, according to US government data."
Then, in the 18th to the 20th paragraphs (to be sure, short paragraphs):
"Numbers may not spike immediately, as Trump faces challenges including a lack of detention space, flights and co-operation from some police forces.
Chad Wolf, Trump’s former acting secretary of homeland security, suggested an initial aim could be exceeding Obama-era levels of deportations.
“My guess is if they can beat that in the first year, then that’s a win,” he told the FT. “They’re going to have to scale it to a place where it hasn’t been scaled before . . . all that’s going to take time.”
But the best part is the photo. That is not from Mexico's northern border. Most likely, it's from Chiapas, and was taken weeks or months ago.
Mexico races to prepare dozens of shelters for Trump mass deportations
Bravo!