Suspicious Cat smells some possible streamlining and downsizing afoot.
Not only has President Trump announced the nomination of Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, but he has also announced that Lutnick will carry the role and “responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative” (USTR).
Perhaps in the second term President Trump and Howard Lutnick are going to fold the USTR into the Dept of Commerce? Interesting.
Hopefully, Howard Lutnick, like Wilbur Ross, will keep the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocked from influence over the upcoming trade discussions and potential trade agreements. We note that former USTR Lighthizer was part of the transition discussion, and it seems odd his name has not surfaced…. yet.
Regardless, Howard Lutnick is an excellent choice for all the reasons previously outlined.
Now we have a slight problem of how to label the MAGAnomic Trade Wolverines for the second term. lol
I still suspect there will be a global division of responsibilities with a lead facing Europe and another trade lead facing Asia. One thing is certain, President Trump will personally direct every aspect of the trade negotiations.
It will be interesting again to watch this unfold.
I shall order extra winnamins for Suspicious Cat.
I never understood why the USTR wasn’t folded into Commerce anyway.
It just seemed kinda logical to me.
Commerce = Trade and vice versa.
It does seem those two roles are redundant, but then again, there may be some nuanced details I don’t know or understand
More bureaucrats means more corruption. The deep staters thrive on having control. Think Dr. Fauci — he ran the show and not the people the elected officials appoint.
THIS is why they can’t allow Trump to run the government, because the government is run by “permanent Washington” and they will not accept any other way.
To presume omnipotence is to grant omnipotence.
There gonna have to.
Its a new day, and theur shizzle ain’t nearly what they think it is.
Ah, but Pres. Trump is the master at putting trade teams together. And they can’t stop him from doing so now.
Someone on Kudlow gave Lutnick high praise for what he did to restore business as usual after 9/11 on Wall Street.
Although I don’t know if you can replace Wilbur Ross & his explanation on why Campbell Soup was only going up a cent or two at 7-11.
This Time, Team Trump Wants Tariffs
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/this-time-team-trump-wants-tariffs/
And from what I’ve read about Lutnick, he’s on board with the tariffs. More importantly, he has a thorough understanding on how to implement them to our benefit.
One does not need a thorough understanding of the implementation of tariffs on imports, if one understands their origin as THE source of funding for the Federal Government.
Taxation of the citizenry is simply theft.
Trust God. Fear not.
Slainte David
Howard Lutnick Appointed Commerce SecretaryState of the Union: The Cantor Fitzgerald CEO is a strong advocate for expanding tariffs.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/howard-lutnick-appointed-commerce-secretary/
well I don’t think anyone in the ADM should hold two jobs………period We have too much work to do. Let’s hope this is just a small bump in the road
Wow! What a take on a piece of excellent news….
Perhaps you should send a letter with your thoughts on who should do what to President Trump. I am sure he would enjoy your wise counsel 🙂
Touche
your concern is noted. Again, there is much work to do in case you didn’t notice it.
What concern?
None was displayed!
😃 😀 😄 😁 🤣 😂 😃 😀
Try harder.
wvgal57 has been around here for a piece and should be able to speak her mind without disparagement. True wisdom and strength naturally display with modesty and grace.
I replied to Observer SC who also had an opinion I agreed with.
I showed no concern as was falsely asserted in a reply to that.
Try Observer SC. Let’s get his/her take.
I don’t know, BK, I guess I just don’t like
emoji’s.
always the same ones who rear up too 😉 .. I’ve noticed that. I will say again, wearing two hats never accomplishes anything but two sorry jobs. That MY life experience. Donald Trump would be probably the ONLY person I know who could do two or even three jobs with expertise. He’s the most accomplished person I have ever had the privilege to know and watch. There is no other, hence my problem with this appointment. He may be moving it in a different direction but Trade is VERY important.
My experience as well. In fact, in my little inconsequential role, I tend to wear 2 1/2 – 3 hats every day, which means I wear none of them very well. In this case, though, I’m thinking the implication is that the two positions may just need one hat. I will defer to Mr, Lutnick if he chooses to don it; he’s a far better choice for the position(s) than I. Buckle up, my friend – what has been normal or prudent is about to get blown the hell up.
and has mostly always been on the wrong side……….
Well rather than a bunch of overpaid employees rearranging their desk or taking three hour lunches. Maybe they can be held accountable for their job and actually work really hard. Or they can decide to retire.
Maybe the American people and Donald Trump feel like we’re spending too much money on paying federal employees.
Maybe that’s why Trump got elected.
Joining together Commerce and Trade could also be a way to allow a trade representative, i.e., Lightizer, to focus fully on his previous tasks without the need to also deal with the heavy bureaucratic workload of a sizable department.
Just a guess!
After already spending his time as a magnificent trade rep during Trump I, I can easily imagine this joining together of bureaucratic responsibilities within the Commerce Department as both a personal recommendation of Lightizer’s, as well as his condition for accepting the exhausting duties of his previous post.
your concern is noted
LOL! My concern?
I hope you have a good evening… and relax. You are going to bust a blood vessel with the amount of angst you seem to carry.
IKR?!
😂
you seem to be the one who has “angst” at everything I post. I rarely interact with you, you always come after me. Maybe try the beaches there in SC, I love Myrtle, actually have a condo there.
Are you talking about President Trump as well? I believe these men and women he has chosen are capable of walking and chewing gum At the same time. The whole point of Conservative MAGA is to scale back this monstrosity of bloated government l
On PDJT giving some of his appointments two hats to wear, I think this may be a stealthy part of his strategy we are goung to have to watch play out.
Is he naming them as nominees (one title) while simultaneously naming them with a second title, that isn’t subject to confirmation, and which CAN give them the same authorities?
That would make any attempts to block their nomination a waste of effort.
And, he still has the “Czar” card to play, the temporary appointment, the recess appointment and of coarse the bullynpulpit and the American people….he has had a lot of time to think about this, and come up with a layered atrack plan, to negate the Decepticons attempts to hamstrung his admin through abusing the confirmation process.
MAGA is all enlisted until the conflict is o’er!!
Is it possible this “second job” is a doorway by which the Commerce Secretary is able to offer input into the deliberations, possibly have quick access to required data or even offer alternatives for trade?
perhaps .. we will find out. FAIR trade is the key to any of this. That and drill baby drill.
The excitement is uncontainable….
I sense that Sundance is thrilled!
Government Efficiency!
tee hee…
The one fantastic thing, of many, Trump did in his first term is donate his entire salary. He didn’t get paid.
That should’ve been an example to all the blood sucking D.C. inhabitants.
We are on to you!
#TERM LIMITS
#BAN LOBBYISTS
Ban bribes!
he better take his salary this time around and I’m sure he’s had a raise as most govt jobs get raises every year. No more giving it back, not after what they have done to him
I think if they ban lobbyists, the government grifters will limit their terms on their own. Add to that, no stock trades by government employees or their families.
Absolutely!
Get in Government, get out of the market!!
Furthermore, I consider that the Derp State MUST be destroyed!!
Winning again…. this is almost becoming too much for a 77 year old Grandmother Christian Patriot Constitution lovin’ woman
Emphasis on ‘almost’. 😊
We all gotta go sometime . . . pedal to the metal VSGGEPDJT!!!
Smiling is always good…for the body and the soul.
😊 😊 😊 😊 😊
I have been feeling really good lately!
Smiling and winamins👏👏
Keep Suspicious Cat’s winnamins coming…
Yep. Carbon credits and brain implants. I’m gonna need some more winnamins.
it looks like the surveillance state has quietly been forming underneath Trump
they can scramble around setting it up and getting it in place for the next administration to implement.
of course its for our safety to find those criminal illegals or democracy or something
I swear I need to find the next country to move to
this one will be fubar soon
Always loved the Trade Team 1.0 Wolverines photo.
Looking forward to the full Trade Team 2.0 photo!!
MAGANOMICS!
Maybe it matters that Lighthizer is a CFR member; maybe not.
Based on the joyful visage of Mr. Lighthizer when he was in the midst of accomplishing great things for America during the first Trump Administration, I would venture to guess that he is perhaps just a sustaining member of the CFR, maybe enough to get the monthly magazine and be up on their latest initiatives. 🙂
he was a great trad rep. I hoped we would get him to return. Still hopeful.
I hope he mentored others…..for the future of the nation.
I would like to see the good parts of the Department of Education folded into Dept. of Commerce. The good parts are the collecting of testing and other metrics (census, bureau of labor statistics, …).
For the sake of apprenticeships and industry reshoring preparations, metric monitoring makes sense.
Your point worth consideration.
How about putting those parts of Dept. of Education
into the Department of Labor……
Interesting that Department of Labor and
Department of Commerce ….was once one entity
Department of Labor and Commerce.
Department of Education =Department of Labor.
💥An educated and well trained workforce.
Instead of pandering to Teachers Unions, colleges
that give out worthless paper degrees and
micromanaging what should be done on State level.
Focus on stats, and metrics, then focus on
recommending/implementing changes that
would better educate and train our
workforce to fill the appropriate gaps.
Promote apprenticeship programs
and STEM, as example.
I like your suggestion. I just see it at
Dept. Of Labor instead of Commerce.
Optimal would be fold the good parts of
Education, Commerce and Labor into one.
Just thinking and throwing out ideas. 💡
🤷♀️ 💁
Good ideas too!
I miss Wilbur Ross. I so admired the man taking on so much instead of taking it easy.
Trump has had 4 years to plan this.
Maybe It was Gods will to have him lose (stolen) the 2020 elections.
I won’t pretend to know what’s in store but this is gonna get very interesting.
We certainly wouldn’t have all exposed that we now see. And, our LORD doesn’t make mistakes. Our steps are ordered.
Continued BLESSINGS…and PRAISES!
There are no coincidences.
I know my faith is shaken at times because of fear but I know God is always in control.
Perhaps the Trump transition team believes that once the Marshall plan blocking reciprocal tariffs is removed, the trade team representatives can work from a central office in the
US. Cause you know the European nations are going to come flocking to the US rep’s to get the best deal they can. That and Japan. So maybe USTR and Commerce only need one guiding hand/boss. 😎😁🤷🏼♂️
This is excellent, but I do wonder where that leaves Robert Lighthizer, former USTR under #45?
Lighthizer was loyal and very much a promoter of PDJT’s tariff strategy and policies. Unless there was some scandal I missed, I think Lighthizer should be involved in some critical economic role in the #47 Admin. He’s 77 but still can contribute a few years of productive guidance…
lets hope. He is the REAL deal and he was excellent and loyal
I love it!!!!
How it normally works: They appoint friends and “clients” to lead agencies and the entrenched (deep state) people already know what they are doing and will continue doing what they have always done.
How Trump wants it to work: Install people who know what they are doing to be leaders and expect them to lead.
See the clash? The people who are expected to follow their appointed leader will not because they believe THEY are the leader.
Well the folks that don’t want to “follow the appointed leader” certainly have the option of finding work elsewhere.
What if Robert Lighthizer or Wilbur Ross became Ambassador to BRICS? 🤭
DUDE!
USTR is a small agency that is notoriously nimble and effective (not mired in red tape). This is because it has a slew of statutorly-created delegated authorities built up largely starting with the Trade Act of 1974. USTR can act much more quickly and independently that its massive sister agencies, the Departments of State and Commerce.
In fact, folding USTR into the Commerce Dept has long been a goal of (mostly leftwing) anti-free trade activists, because they studied the laws and understood that folding USTR into a larger department like Commerce would *slow everything down* and possibly grind it to a halt. Which is why the Executive and Congress have always shot down an effort to fold it in. It’s something new administrations often think at first blush might be a good idea, and then they soon abandon it – realizing they, too, want the tools and authorities delegated to USTR.
I’m not sure what Trump’s doing here. But if he wants to use tariffs and trade agreements as a key feature in his economic policy, folding USTR into a larger bureaucracy likely would be counter-productive. It would be sort of anti-DOGE.
By “independently” I mean subject to *Executive* policy and prerogatives. It is less mired in processes attached to Congress and the broader administrative state (e.g., running an “inter-agency” process).
Neither of those positions are under Congress.
They are both under the purview of the Executive Branch.
In fact, the USTR is a direct office underneath the Office of POTUS.
By folding USTR in Commerce, Trump has a direct report to him that tied Commerce and Trade together as they should be.
This is the very definition of efficiency.
Both Congress and the Executive claim responsibility over international trade under the Constitution. This has evolved into an interpretation that it is a “shared” area of authority. This is why the delegated authorities and procedures set out in the Trade Act of 1974 and all of the implementing legislation is so important. Both Congress and the Executive have cooperated to give USTR a bunch of authority to act. The executive sets the policy. The Congressional Trade committees have a nod. The whole Congress gets an up-or-down vote on finished agreements. That’s basically the formula, as set out by statute. It’s deliberately streamlined, and actually not very democratic, with a little “d.”
USTR already answers largely only to the Executive. Congressional Trade committees have a bit of influence. Congress writ large has basically no say. There’s practically no “inter-agency” process which massively slows things down. Not perfect, but about as efficient as government gets. This is by design — both Congress and former Executives have been happy to empower USTR, because traditionally it has done the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce. Former Presidents and Uniparty elected officials have always been happy to let this happen because they to served the Chamber of Commerce. This is why we always got crappy trade agreements.
A broader point: it’s incorrect to think that the Executive to do whatever it wants to executive agencies because they’re in the Executive Branch. It’s true the executive has broad authority about how they’re organized, policies, etc. But Executive agencies largely are created to carry out things that have been legislated or which are subject to Congressional mandates. Congress does have some skin in the game on some matters. Yes, there’s a lot the President can do on his own. But we shouldn’t get this simplistic notion that Congress can be totally sidelined on the work of the administrative state. It’s not that simple.
The Supreme Court disagreed this year – Cievron.
I’m not arguing against the theme of your point. I’m talking about USTR and international trade, specifically, and how Congress and the Executive interact as required under the Constitution and statutory framework. The President can’t unilaterally “fold USTR into Commerce” and still carry out the functions of USTR, because those are governed by statute specifically applicable to USTR.
The Supreme Court “Chevron” precedent (I assume “Cievron” is a typo) had to do with judicial deference to agency interpretations of their own governing statutes. In general, agencies were left alone to “creatively” interpret the statutes they were charged with implementing and abiding by — which lies at the heart of why people think/thought the “administrative state” had become unaccountable. Under the Chevron precedent, they were largely free to interpret their statutory charges and mandates how they wished, which over time seemed to have strayed and expanded from what Congress intended. But the court wasn’t helping to reign them in, and instead showed deference to “agency interpretations.”
That is not the issue here. If anything — referencing the Chevron case underscore my point which is that these executive agencies are largely created and governed by *federal statutes* — ie the work of Congress. Many agencies would not exist without legislation creating them and defining their mandates. A President can’t reshape an agency in a way that usurps or defies Congressional prerogatives, as expressed through legislation.
A real misunderstanding seems to be growing in this community about how the Executive and Congressional branches interact.
He isn’t a king. For those who think this will be easy…………the RINO’s and UNIparty are still thriving and alive, snarling, and snaking along. Nope, this won’t be easy by any chance.
Maybe this enables him to leverage the fast authorities of the one to overcome the inertia of the other?
🤔
I’m guessing it’s something like that.
I think also that Commerce is where all the practical stuff happens (customs and border protection, tariff classifications and calculations, etc) and USTR is the “high level” policy and negotiations, and given Trump’s soup-to-nuts approach to things I could imagine he may want more symmetry and coordination between those two aspects, if possible.
Seems like this is the role of Strategic-Initiative “Czars”.
President Trump vests his presidential authority into each Czar.
Czars’ delegated authority cuts across all Departments & Agencies.
Czars direct every Department to “immediately” execute everything they must do to enable Initiative Success.
POTUS then holds regular Initiative Progress Reviews to accelerate and elevate Success.
BKR, damn glad to have you back story-boarding potential moves for VSGGEPDJT Tour Two!!
Damn glad to be back after a long hiatus, with your inspiration, Maquis!
👊
I was wondering if someone had
“borrowed “ your name. 😉
Welcome back.
👍
Same. Always such great input.
Good to see you back, BKR! Fight, Fight, Fight 👊
Concurrently, DOGE cuts across all Departments & Agencies.
DOGE identifies Regulations to cancel, under recently-ruled SCOTUS authorities that recognized the MAJORITY of all Regulations can be nullified due to the vagaries designed into laws that enable Bureaucratic Overreach.
DOGE then identifies the bureaucrats whose jobs for enforcing cancelled Regulations are no longer needed, in addition to the jobs to eliminate with a Reduction in Force due to their involvement in waste, fraud and abuse.
DOGE concurrently sets up the system of Departmental & Initiative “Key Performance Indicators” (KPIs) to ensure that both deliver their required Outcomes, meet their scheduled Outcome-Milestones on time, and improve Efficiency for delivering those Outcomes (less effort at less cost).
POTUS issues Presidential Executive Orders or Directives to implement DOGE recommendations.
sounds like a plan!! I like it
Congress is the source of USTR’s delegated authority. Congress delegated it’s authority to the President, to be implemented by USTR. The President didn’t need to “delegate” authority to USTR because it already is within the Executive branch and answer to the Executive.
Again, international trade is a unique policy area given that both Congress and the President claim Constitutional authority over it. From Congress’s perspective, the Executive gets to author and implement trade policy via USTR because Congress “delegated” its role in the matter in the Trade Act of 1974.
Once Congress delegated to President, it is under Executive Branch.
That’s it, over. Congress has no say after it turned over power to POTUS.
See Supreme Court’s recent decisions about plenary power of POTUS.
Well it’s only delegated through legislation, which technically Congress can repeal or amend. And, the President is required to apply/exercise the delegated authority in compliance with the legislation authorizing it. Which means by appointing a U.S. Trade Rep and following the procedures which are set out in the Trade Act and other statutes with a lot of detail and specificity.
I mean, he can try to do whatever he wants …. and he can push his authority as far as he can and see what happens … and President can try that, the question is, how do other branches react. But if we’re having a Constitutional debate here about the limits of Trump’s authority, when it comes to executive agencies, he is required to act consistently with statutes that create and govern the agencies. And, there’s an added layer when it comes to international trade, because Congress could at any time create a big stink (even a legal challenge) to assert their own Constitutional authority to act in this policy area. They’ve never done that when it comes to their prerogatives to declare war. But who knows if donors are all pissed off, maybe they’ll get off their asses when it comes to trade. IDK
wow ..learning so much here tonite! Thank you. Good to know.
hope you post more. Easy to understand what you are saying as well. Thank you. Very enlightening. I wonder if Stephen Miller is advising President Trump on a lot of this now too. He is fantastic.
Thanks. It’s easy to imagine Trump probably has people making these sorts of arguments on *everything* he cares about to the point his eyes glaze over and he may just be thinking, “I’m going to find the simplest point from A to B, move on it, and everyone else can get their smelling salts and file their lawsuits.”
I’d be surprised if there’s a major re-organization of USTR for the reasons I’ve been describing here. However, I recall that in his first term, Trump really leaned on Wilbur Ross, his Commerce Secretary, for all things trade, to the point some of the USTR policy watchers (trade geeks) were griping about it. I wondered back then why he did that. There’s never been any real tension between the two agencies. But now Trump’s taking it a step further by outwardly stating that his Commerce Sec is basically going to run USTR, too. Trump obviously has some rationale for wanting to locate all the trade stuff at Commerce rather than the existing balance. There’s no clear reason to do that, because it’s pretty much understood that USTR is an effective agency and maybe the least bogged down in the administration (or among the least bogged down). So I don’t see why Trump wants everything under Commerce, but I’m sure he has a reason!
I think he has done only one Czar though .. the Border Czar. Why not appoint more or am I missing something
Yess! I am all for downsizing government wherever possible.
Who will be the Kudlow Koala?
Tough decision … Matt Gaetz vs JD Vance?
MAGAnomic Trade Wolverines (MTW)™
Yes.
Of all the nominations, you just KNOW PDJT’s “got this”.
Ending the Marshall plan tariffs scheme, and replacing it with Reciprocal tariffs, will destroy the EU, as constructed.
THIS is where the Trillions at Stake are divvied up, where the rubber meets the road.
The CoC, as Mitchs boss, is the financing wing for the center of the resistance to MAGA, and like the derp state, MUST be destroyed.
Play it -> “Hold on, I’m comin’ “
https://music.apple.com/us/album/hold-on-im-comin/59412372?i=59412277
WEF is a suicide pact for the West on behalf of China.
Destroy that construct via disassembly of their control mechanisms, by forced reorganization of their economies, and we destroy much of the Global Derp State.
Simultaneously we move on the entire Global Communist Conspiracy, uprooting and burning every avenue the evil ones have constructed to deconstruct Western Civilization.
Alexander the Great conquered civilizations, VSGGEPDJT will save them!
Excellent choice; delighted a man of his caliber is on the Trump Team.
Thanks SD! Makes perfect sense! Merging of roles and expansion of responsibilities is commonplace in the private sector when viewed through a lens of budget cuts which opens up opportunities for streamlining administrative support staff as well.
“Hopefully, Howard Lutnick, like Wilbur Ross, will keep the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocked from influence over the upcoming trade discussions and potential trade agreements.”
Also a major disruption to the influence peddling of the Chamber:
“Tom Donohue and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were the primary group who negotiated the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal. Donohue also spent $20 million to bribe Mitch McConnell and senators in order to get fast-track legislation in place for passage.”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2015/10/14/afl-cio-want-to-see-trade-bill-us-chamber-of-commerce-say-pass-it-to-see-whats-in-it/
Yes, extra winnamins – imperative to keep Suspicious Cat in full Cat Mode.
Without a doubt, Trump and his team have been very busy strategizing the past four years.
I’ve missed Lighthizer and the Wolverines (including Kudlow as the koala mascot). 😆
cross posted at https://freedomaustralia.freeforums.net/thread/6307/president-nominates-howard-lutnick-commerce
Always MAGA 👊👊🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️
The Lutnick address below has finally convinced me that BTC/USDT is the resource substitute (for oil) of a cryptodollar as petrodollar follow-on.
Thanks to a recent outing from Cantor Fitzgerald’s Howard Lutnick, we learn btc via usdt is backed by the ‘full faith & credit’ of the USG!!! So, dollar hegemony redux. He really spills it here at 14:43. BTC is the Triffin Paradox by other means.
Other key implication? Nakamoto is DARPA.