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China has approved dozens of applications to register the Trump trademark, sparking renewed concerns over the deep conflicts of interests between the U.S. president and his business empire. (Photo: AP)
During the campaign Donald Trump pledged that “on day one” as president, he would label China a currency manipulator. Then he didn’t. Then China granted Trump’s businesses lucrative trademarks he has been seeking. Coincidence?
On the campaign trail, Trump repeated again and again that if elected president he would label China a currency manipulator ”on day one.” For example, in an August, 2016 speech in Tampa, he outlined a seven-point plan that included this promise:
I am going to instruct my Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator... Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States will face tariffs to stop the cheating.
China’s currency manipulation has often brought the “price” of their currency down, which means things made in China cost less in international markets than things made in the U.S. Of course, the U.S. has a Wall Street-favoring ”strong dollar policy,” which doesn’t help. either.
If the Treasury Department declares that China is manipulating its currency, this opens the door that can eventually lead to the president imposing tariffs.
So far Trump has not directed his Treasury Secretary to label China as a currency manipulator, and his Treasury Secretary has not done so independently.
According to a Wednesday AP report, China has granted preliminary approval for 38 Trump trademarks that cover “everything from hotels and golf clubs to bodyguard and concierge services.”
The report notes that Trump filed for these trademarks at the same time that he was publicly campaigning that he would penalize China, (hint, hint, wink and a nod).
Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing U.S. jobs. Critics maintain that Trump’s swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises the possibility of conflicts of interest.
Once again, in public Trump was threatening China, but in private his attorneys were asking China to grant lucrative trademarks to his businesses.
A “protection racket” is when gangsters come into a business holding bricks and baseball bats and threaten that “it would be a shame if something happened to your store.” They offer “protection” from such things happening, “for a price.”
What Trump is doing with China has the appearance of corruption. It looks like Trump is operating a protection racket, on the one hand threatening the nation with presidential actions against them and on the other hand asking the nation to grant lucrative trademarks for his businesses.
China did, and Trump didn’t.
Whether this is a quid pro quo exchange or not, it gives the public the appearance that China might be granting Trump’s businesses these trademarks because Trump is president.
The ”emoluments clause” of the Constitution, “no Person holding any Office .. shall ... accept of any present, Emolument .. of any kind whatever, from a ... foreign State.”
This clause, in Article I of the Constitution, stems from concern in the 1700s that foreign states might use gifts to curry favor with U.S. officials. The wording makes clear that a gift doesn’t need to be a bribe to violate the Constitution; accepting any kind of gift without permission is a violation.
China is a foreign state. It just is. An emolument is a “profit, salary, or fees from office or employment.” With this grant of trademarks Trump is receiving a profit. He just is. And Bob’s your uncle.
Whether or not Trump is actually demanding “protection money” from China, this all actually is a foreign government enriching our president. These trademarks are worth millions if not billions of dollars to Trump’s businesses.
Chuck Schumer tweeted about this:
\u201cAre the 38 trademarks China granted the President today his reward for failing to name China a currency manipulator?\u201d— Chuck Schumer (@Chuck Schumer) 1488999247
What Trump is doing here is blatant. It goes far beyond the appearance of impropriety. It is an actual president actually receiving an actual profit from an actual foreign state. It just is. It’s just right there in front of us. It doesn’t matter if Trump was “shaking them down” to get the trademarks granted. It certainly looks that way, but it doesn’t matter, thanks to the “Emoluments clause” of our Constitution.
But so what? Who is going to do anything about it?
What we are seeing is a complete failure of our system to hold Trump accountable. Republicans in Congress continue to protect him. The Trump-appointed, Republican-approved Attorney General will protect him. Republican appointees to the judiciary will protect him. Our system has been taken over by a political party more interested in power than law and democracy and accountability.
The only thing that can stop this is for the public to increase the pressure with continuing rallies, marches, calls, letters, demonstrations, voter registration and voting. And demanding paper ballots and demanding that they all be counted in public like we used to do.
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During the campaign Donald Trump pledged that “on day one” as president, he would label China a currency manipulator. Then he didn’t. Then China granted Trump’s businesses lucrative trademarks he has been seeking. Coincidence?
On the campaign trail, Trump repeated again and again that if elected president he would label China a currency manipulator ”on day one.” For example, in an August, 2016 speech in Tampa, he outlined a seven-point plan that included this promise:
I am going to instruct my Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator... Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States will face tariffs to stop the cheating.
China’s currency manipulation has often brought the “price” of their currency down, which means things made in China cost less in international markets than things made in the U.S. Of course, the U.S. has a Wall Street-favoring ”strong dollar policy,” which doesn’t help. either.
If the Treasury Department declares that China is manipulating its currency, this opens the door that can eventually lead to the president imposing tariffs.
So far Trump has not directed his Treasury Secretary to label China as a currency manipulator, and his Treasury Secretary has not done so independently.
According to a Wednesday AP report, China has granted preliminary approval for 38 Trump trademarks that cover “everything from hotels and golf clubs to bodyguard and concierge services.”
The report notes that Trump filed for these trademarks at the same time that he was publicly campaigning that he would penalize China, (hint, hint, wink and a nod).
Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing U.S. jobs. Critics maintain that Trump’s swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises the possibility of conflicts of interest.
Once again, in public Trump was threatening China, but in private his attorneys were asking China to grant lucrative trademarks to his businesses.
A “protection racket” is when gangsters come into a business holding bricks and baseball bats and threaten that “it would be a shame if something happened to your store.” They offer “protection” from such things happening, “for a price.”
What Trump is doing with China has the appearance of corruption. It looks like Trump is operating a protection racket, on the one hand threatening the nation with presidential actions against them and on the other hand asking the nation to grant lucrative trademarks for his businesses.
China did, and Trump didn’t.
Whether this is a quid pro quo exchange or not, it gives the public the appearance that China might be granting Trump’s businesses these trademarks because Trump is president.
The ”emoluments clause” of the Constitution, “no Person holding any Office .. shall ... accept of any present, Emolument .. of any kind whatever, from a ... foreign State.”
This clause, in Article I of the Constitution, stems from concern in the 1700s that foreign states might use gifts to curry favor with U.S. officials. The wording makes clear that a gift doesn’t need to be a bribe to violate the Constitution; accepting any kind of gift without permission is a violation.
China is a foreign state. It just is. An emolument is a “profit, salary, or fees from office or employment.” With this grant of trademarks Trump is receiving a profit. He just is. And Bob’s your uncle.
Whether or not Trump is actually demanding “protection money” from China, this all actually is a foreign government enriching our president. These trademarks are worth millions if not billions of dollars to Trump’s businesses.
Chuck Schumer tweeted about this:
\u201cAre the 38 trademarks China granted the President today his reward for failing to name China a currency manipulator?\u201d— Chuck Schumer (@Chuck Schumer) 1488999247
What Trump is doing here is blatant. It goes far beyond the appearance of impropriety. It is an actual president actually receiving an actual profit from an actual foreign state. It just is. It’s just right there in front of us. It doesn’t matter if Trump was “shaking them down” to get the trademarks granted. It certainly looks that way, but it doesn’t matter, thanks to the “Emoluments clause” of our Constitution.
But so what? Who is going to do anything about it?
What we are seeing is a complete failure of our system to hold Trump accountable. Republicans in Congress continue to protect him. The Trump-appointed, Republican-approved Attorney General will protect him. Republican appointees to the judiciary will protect him. Our system has been taken over by a political party more interested in power than law and democracy and accountability.
The only thing that can stop this is for the public to increase the pressure with continuing rallies, marches, calls, letters, demonstrations, voter registration and voting. And demanding paper ballots and demanding that they all be counted in public like we used to do.
During the campaign Donald Trump pledged that “on day one” as president, he would label China a currency manipulator. Then he didn’t. Then China granted Trump’s businesses lucrative trademarks he has been seeking. Coincidence?
On the campaign trail, Trump repeated again and again that if elected president he would label China a currency manipulator ”on day one.” For example, in an August, 2016 speech in Tampa, he outlined a seven-point plan that included this promise:
I am going to instruct my Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator... Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States will face tariffs to stop the cheating.
China’s currency manipulation has often brought the “price” of their currency down, which means things made in China cost less in international markets than things made in the U.S. Of course, the U.S. has a Wall Street-favoring ”strong dollar policy,” which doesn’t help. either.
If the Treasury Department declares that China is manipulating its currency, this opens the door that can eventually lead to the president imposing tariffs.
So far Trump has not directed his Treasury Secretary to label China as a currency manipulator, and his Treasury Secretary has not done so independently.
According to a Wednesday AP report, China has granted preliminary approval for 38 Trump trademarks that cover “everything from hotels and golf clubs to bodyguard and concierge services.”
The report notes that Trump filed for these trademarks at the same time that he was publicly campaigning that he would penalize China, (hint, hint, wink and a nod).
Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing U.S. jobs. Critics maintain that Trump’s swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises the possibility of conflicts of interest.
Once again, in public Trump was threatening China, but in private his attorneys were asking China to grant lucrative trademarks to his businesses.
A “protection racket” is when gangsters come into a business holding bricks and baseball bats and threaten that “it would be a shame if something happened to your store.” They offer “protection” from such things happening, “for a price.”
What Trump is doing with China has the appearance of corruption. It looks like Trump is operating a protection racket, on the one hand threatening the nation with presidential actions against them and on the other hand asking the nation to grant lucrative trademarks for his businesses.
China did, and Trump didn’t.
Whether this is a quid pro quo exchange or not, it gives the public the appearance that China might be granting Trump’s businesses these trademarks because Trump is president.
The ”emoluments clause” of the Constitution, “no Person holding any Office .. shall ... accept of any present, Emolument .. of any kind whatever, from a ... foreign State.”
This clause, in Article I of the Constitution, stems from concern in the 1700s that foreign states might use gifts to curry favor with U.S. officials. The wording makes clear that a gift doesn’t need to be a bribe to violate the Constitution; accepting any kind of gift without permission is a violation.
China is a foreign state. It just is. An emolument is a “profit, salary, or fees from office or employment.” With this grant of trademarks Trump is receiving a profit. He just is. And Bob’s your uncle.
Whether or not Trump is actually demanding “protection money” from China, this all actually is a foreign government enriching our president. These trademarks are worth millions if not billions of dollars to Trump’s businesses.
Chuck Schumer tweeted about this:
\u201cAre the 38 trademarks China granted the President today his reward for failing to name China a currency manipulator?\u201d— Chuck Schumer (@Chuck Schumer) 1488999247
What Trump is doing here is blatant. It goes far beyond the appearance of impropriety. It is an actual president actually receiving an actual profit from an actual foreign state. It just is. It’s just right there in front of us. It doesn’t matter if Trump was “shaking them down” to get the trademarks granted. It certainly looks that way, but it doesn’t matter, thanks to the “Emoluments clause” of our Constitution.
But so what? Who is going to do anything about it?
What we are seeing is a complete failure of our system to hold Trump accountable. Republicans in Congress continue to protect him. The Trump-appointed, Republican-approved Attorney General will protect him. Republican appointees to the judiciary will protect him. Our system has been taken over by a political party more interested in power than law and democracy and accountability.
The only thing that can stop this is for the public to increase the pressure with continuing rallies, marches, calls, letters, demonstrations, voter registration and voting. And demanding paper ballots and demanding that they all be counted in public like we used to do.
Democratic lawmakers are vowing to investigate the Trump administration's pressure campaign that may have led to ABC deciding to indefinitely suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
"Enough of Congress sleepwalking while [President Donald] Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance shred the First Amendment and Constitution," Khanna declared. "It is time for Congress to stand up for Article I."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also said on Thursday that he was opening an investigation into the potential financial aspects of Carr's pressure campaign on ABC, including the involvement of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate and is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC," he said. "We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment."
Progressive politicians weren't the only ones launching an investigation into the Kimmel controversy, as legal organization Democracy Forward announced that it's filed a a Freedom of Information Act request for records after January 20, 2025 related to any FCC efforts “to use the agency’s licensing and enforcement powers to police and limit speech and influence what the public can watch and hear.”
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday vowed to fight back against US President Donald Trump's efforts to attack and dismantle liberal and progressive organizations.
Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the Democrats introduced the No Political Enemies Act aimed at protecting organizations' free speech rights from retaliation from the federal government.
During his speech touting the new legislation, Murphy recounted recent actions by Trump and his administration, including the president's threats to "arrest members of the Soros family simply for funding groups that oppose his agenda," as well as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr's pressure campaign to get ABC to fire late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
Murphy then said that the No Political Enemies Act was necessary because "Donald Trump is right now instructing his Department of Justice to go on the hunt for his political enemies" for challenging him.
"Trump is making it 100% clear that he is going to ramp up his efforts to use the power of the federal government to punish his critics," he said. "This is legislation that makes sure that the law is on the side of free speech and the right to dissent."
The proposed law would give political organizations and individuals new tools to combat political harassment from the federal government, and would allow them to both recover attorney fees and more easily file lawsuits against federal officials who abuse their authority for political purposes.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who also expressed support for the legislation, put the stakes facing Americans in stark terms.
"We are in the biggest free speech crisis this country has faced since the McCarthy era," he said. "The murder of Charlie Kirk was a horrific crime, and it's clear that Trump wants to hijack that horrific crime to silence anyone who disagrees with the president about any issue."
Casar, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also took a shot at major corporations who have been caving to the president's demands in recent months.
"As we saw last night, far too many billionaires and corporate-owned media companies are bending the knee: Disney and ABC, Paramount and CBS, the Washington Post editorial board, Facebook," he said. "Let's be clear, the ultrawealthy men who own these companies are making a choice. David Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bob Iger—these men are enriching themselves, auctioning off the United State's First Amendment to a wannabe dictator and tyrant."
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) pointed out that the FCC's pressure campaign on ABC to fire Kimmel is particularly nefarious given that Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate, is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"All of this ties back to money and people enriching themselves, and bending the knee to Donald Trump to make it happen," he said.
The Democrats' proposed legislation comes after Trump announced late Wednesday night that he planned to designate “antifa,” a movement of autonomous individuals and loosely affiliated groups who oppose fascism, as a “major terrorist organization."
It also comes comes days after Trump adviser Stephen Miller began pushing a plan to "dismantle" the organized left using the power of the federal government.
During a recent appearance on Fox News, Miller described the entire left as a "domestic terrorism movement in this country," and vowed "to dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence."
President Donald Trump's Department of Education has announced that it will partner with right-wing think tanks and organizations to develop a new curriculum for “patriotic education” in American classrooms.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration redirected $137 million initially meant for programs aimed at minority students toward what it described as "American history and civics education."
Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Wednesday that the money will be directed toward discretionary grants aimed at K-12 schools that adopt a new curriculum being drawn up by the 250 Civics Education Coalition—a consortium of more than 40 right-wing groups that launched on same day. The goal, McMahon said, was to advance education that "emphasizes a unifying and uplifting portrayal of the nation's founding ideals" in advance of the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026.
It is not Trump's first crack at instilling the nation's youth with a "patriotic education." In the waning days of his first term in office, Trump unveiled the 1776 Report, which, education columnist Jennifer Berkshire recently noted in The Baffler, "was widely panned by actual historians for its worshipful treatment of the Founding Fathers, its downplaying of slavery, and its portrayal of a century-old 'administrative state' controlled by leftist radicals."
While little has been publicized yet about what McMahon's new endeavor will look like, it is known who will be crafting it. The initiative is being led by the America First Policy Institute, a MAGA-aligned think tank that has been responsible for staffing Trump's second administration and has received over $1 million from his political action committee, the Save America PAC. Until 2023, McMahon herself served on the board of AFPI.
In 2022, the group presented a piece of model legislation for a "Civics Course Act" to be introduced in states. It included requirements for students to spend ample time studying the nation's founding documents and figures while banning the teaching of what it called the "defamatory history of America’s founding," which suggests that slavery or inequality are in any way inherent to the nation's institutions.
It also banned the concepts of "systemic racism" and "gender fluidity" and forbade teachers from giving students course credit for engaging with "social or public policy advocacy."
Also included in the coalition is Hillsdale College, a private Christian liberal arts school in Michigan that has proposed its own K-12 curriculum, which Vanity Fair notes "has been criticized for revisionist history, including whitewashed accounts of US slavery and depictions of Jamestown as a failed communist colony."
Another participant is PragerU, the overtly partisan and often factually loose YouTube channel that has been tasked with creating children's educational content in nearly a dozen red states.
The group has produced content venerating figures notorious for practicing slavery, like colonist Christopher Columbus and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Its videos have argued, among other things, that climate change is a myth, that European fascism was a "far-left" ideology, and that Israel has "the world's most moral army."
The pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA will also be involved in crafting the curriculum. Its longtime leader, Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in Utah last week, went on a crusade last year to, in his words, "tell the truth" about Martin Luther King Jr., whom he described as "an awful person," while claiming his signature achievement, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, was a "huge mistake."
An offshoot of Kirk's group, Turning Point Education, said Kirk's assassination has increased its resolve to promote a "God-centered, virtuous education" in US public schools.
The 250 Civics Education Coalition has not yet published a curriculum. But according to the Department of Education, it will be rolling out "a robust programming agenda" over the next 12 months.
During Trump's second term, he has undertaken an effort to purge federal museums and national parks of what one executive order called "improper ideology," which has resulted in the erasure of exhibits and monuments to Black and Native American history. Last month, he lamented that the Smithsonian Museum focuses too much on "how bad slavery was" and ordered a review of the museum's content.
Federal websites, meanwhile, have systematically eliminated many pages that acknowledged the accomplishments of nonwhite historical figures or important events in women's and LGBTQ+ history.
Critics in the education world view Trump's effort to use grants to induce them to adopt his preferred curriculum as an illegal effort to propagandize children.
"The law is clear," said education historian Diane Ravitch in a blog post. "Federal officials are prohibited from seeking to influence or direct curriculum in any way."
Since 1970, the federal government has been barred by law from "any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum" of public schools.
"Civic education is and must be non-partisan," said Ted McConnell, the executive director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. "While the funding is long sought, this is the wrong approach and smacks of authoritarianism."