MIKEY SMITH: 7 unhinged Donald Trump moments as he overtly meddles abroad’s election
Donald Trump spent the weekend after Thanksgiving meddling in elections and pardoning a drug trafficker – two of the things he claims to hate most in the world
Donald Trump spent most of the last 24 hours meddling in foreign elections, pardoning drug traffickers and tearing up Joe Biden’s work. Meanwhile his Secretary of War might get the new job title of Secretary of War Crimes, and ICE keep arresting the spouses of US Citizens at their final Green Card appointments in order to make their quota – which is cheating if you ask me.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- JPMorgan Chase had a good reason for not funding the ballroom
- Pete Hegseth might either be in trouble, or lots of trouble
- Trump clears Venezuelan airspace for some reason
- And meddles in foreign elections in such a very brazen way
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Trump says he’s cancelled Biden’s orders
Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social this morning that he’s cancelled all Executive Orders “and anything else not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.” Sigh, we’re on this again.
First of all, Presidents can’t cancel executive orders on social media. That has to be done in a subsequent order. That said, he can pretty much rescind any executive order he likes, and doesn’t have to give a reason. But, obviously, the reasons Trump gives here are entirely bogus. To be clear, all presidents use autopens. They have for decades. Trump uses the autopen. The State Department has confirmed there’s no constitutional or legal issue with doing so. It’s an entirely confected conspiracy theory, designed to undermine Trump’s political enemies. There is no evidence that the operators of the autopen under Joe Biden were doing anything but carrying out his orders. Trump, on the other hand, has openly admitted that pardons were signed either by him or by his autopen for a guy he doesn’t know, and whom he knows nothing about. But hey. Take this one with a pinch until we see some EOs of Trump’s own. And if he tries to tear up the pardons, it’ll go directly to the courts.
2. ‘Kill everybody’
Pete Hegseth, the “secretary of war”, is angrily denying claims he gave an illegal order to kill all survivors of a boat sunk by the US military near Venezuela – in an air strike which may in itself have been illegal.
The US has so far carried out 19 strikes on boats in the Caribbean, claiming they were Venezuelan drug boats bound for the US. At least 76 people were killed in the strikes. The UK has reportedly ceased to share intelligence relating to Venezuelan boats in the wake of the strikes, fearing they could be illegal under international law.
And last night The Washington Post published reports that Hegseth had given an order to “kill everyone” on the first boat strike in September – including two survivors clinging to the burning boat’s hull. Military experts told the Post that because there is no legitimate war declared between the US and Venezuela, and because the men posed no imminent threat to the US, killing anyone on the boats “amounts to murder”.
And even if the US and Venezuela were at war, an order to give “no quarter” – to leave no survivors even if they were unable to fight – would be considered a war crime, according to Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer.
The Pentagon says the “entire narrative” in the Washington Post’s story is “completely false.” Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell said: “Ongoing operations to dismantle narcoterrorism and to protect the Homeland from deadly drugs have been a resounding success.”
Shortly after the strike, Trump posted a video of the engagement on Truth social. The 29-second video shows the boat being targeted, but does not show a second strike against survivors.
Hegseth said the story was “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.” He added that the strikes were “specifically intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.”” And that “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
3. Clear the airspace
Meanwhile Trump made an ominous announcement – that could be seen as an indication he’s about to take a drastic action.
The US President posted on Truth Social this morning, warning “airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers” that the airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered closed.
Some have seen Trump’s early morning Truth Social warning as an indication he’s planning to use military force against Venezuela in a bid to overthrow Nicolas Maduro, the country’s authoritarian dictator.
It would be the first unilateral US military action overseas since Trump took office – returned to the White House on a raft of promises not to involve the US in foreign wars.
In effect, the airspace over Venezuela is already rarely used by commercial traffic. Last week the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a security notice warning that the airspace now poses risks to air traffic at all altitudes because of increased military activity and GPS-interference.
As a result, many airlines suspended flights to Venezuela.
On 11 November it was reported that a US naval strike force had arrived in the Caribbean under Trump’s orders.
4. Election meddling
Trump spent much of last night directly and openly interfering in the elections of another country. You know, like he complains about other people doing all the time.
We’re not sure who got him all fired up about Honduras, but he’s picked a winner and so help him he’s going to get his guy.
“If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive,” he wrote on Truth Social. “If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.”
Which is just about as interfer-ey as you can imagine.
5. He’s also going to pardon an enormous Honduran drug trafficker
Trump, again, for no reason one can currently divine other than that both he and Tito are conservatives, announced he would be giving a pardon to Juan Orlando Hernandez, a former president of Honduras, who is serving a FORTY FIVE YEAR sentence in West Virginia for conspiring to import drugs into the US.
You know, the thing Trump keeps dropping bombs on Venezuelan boats for.
Only in Hernandez case, it wasn’t just a boatload of cocaine he was trying to sail into the States, it was FOUR HUNDRED TONS of cocaine, with a street value in the tens of billions – with a b – of dollars.
6. ICE rounding up spouses
According to the New York Times, the spouses of US Citizens – including serving military personnel – are being arrested by ICE agents in San Diego when they turn up for their final interviews for obtaining Green Card status.
Agents are cuffing and locking up people – none of whom have a criminal record, most of whom have jumped through every hoop they need to to secure Green Card status. And once they’re detained and released (after posting a huge amount of money as a bond) – no matter how bogus the detention, apparently – they have to continue pursuing their Green Card through the courts (which have massive backlogs), or else accept deportation. According to the Times, some of the agents involved disagreed with the decision to arrest the spouses, but had been ordered to in order to meet their White House imposed quota.
7. JPMorgan Chase’s CEO gives a…pretty good reason for not funding Trump’s ballroom
Jamie Dimon got asked on CNN why his firm JPMorgan Chase isn’t donating to the Trump vanity ballroom fund, and his answer was refreshingly honest. They don’t want to look like they’re “buying favours” because that might come back to legally bite them after Trump is gone.
“We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world,” he said. “We have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it. So we’re quite conscious about the risk we bear by doing anything that looks like buying favours.”
