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Trump Tries to Do Damage Control on Foxconn Jobs Loss by Tweeting Article That Literally Says ‘Damage Control’

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He called the deal the “eighth wonder of the world,” and traveled to Wisconsin to participate in a fake ground-breaking ceremony, complete with golden shovels, but now President Donald Trump is forced to do damage control after one of the biggest iPhone manufacturers, China’s Foxconn, changed its plans and announced it will not be making LCD TV screens at the Wisconsin plant.

Then-governor Scott Walker gave the $4.7 trillion manufacturing maven tax breaks worth $4.8 billion to bring a $10 billion 20-million square foot state-of-the-art flat-panel display factory, that was supposed to “create 3,000 jobs with the potential to grow to 13,000 new jobs,” according to a Foxconn press release.

But as The Guardian reported at the time, even “if 13,000 new jobs are created, Wisconsin would be paying $346,153 per job at a subsidy of $4.5bn. An astronomical sum, but nothing compared to the $1.5m per job cost if the deal ends up creating just 3,000 new positions.”

And yet, President Trump heralded this as a massive achievement, which it never was.

Now, it’s even worse than it originally was, and President Trump is scrambling to save face.

Reuters reported this week Foxconn has ditched plans to build the $10 billion manufacturing facility, and instead will operate a campus to employ “mostly engineers and researchers,” possibly with some light manufacturing. They’re now calling it an “advanced manufacturing facility as well as a hub of high technology innovation,” but being silent as to what that means or how many jobs they will be creating.

“In Wisconsin we’re not building a factory. You can’t use a factory to view our Wisconsin investment,” the special assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told Reuters.

This has become a major catastrophe for Trump’s legacy. It was supported to exemplify that he was the great deal maker he claimed, and that he could revive U.S. manufacturing, which was never possible.

Desperate for some good news and to do damage control, President Trump Friday afternoon tried to brag that he called Foxconn’s CEO, and suggested he saved the deal, which would be false. He also tweeted out a CNBC article that literally calls a new Foxconn press release “damage control.”


The Foxconn press release in the article does not offer any new details, does not say the manufacturing jobs are saved (they are not) or anything new – it  just repackages what Reuters had reported two days earlier.

CNBC notes that Foxconn “isn’t clarifying what kind of jobs will be housed at the $10 billion plant.”

Bottom line, Foxconn is not going back to the original deal, and it appears there will not be 3000 or 13,000 new Foxconn manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin.

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Trump’s New Social-Media Investors Didn’t Know He Was Involved When They Loaned $300 Million: Report

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1 year ago

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October 21, 2021

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Former president Donald Trump’s media venture, Truth Social, could give his new company access to $300 million.

However, some of the investors who funded the venture weren’t aware that Trump would be involved, according to a report from the New York Times.

“The details of Mr. Trump’s latest partnership were vague,” the Times reports. “The statement he issued was reminiscent of the kind of claims he made about his business dealings in New York as a real estate developer. It was replete with high-dollar amounts and superlatives that could not be verified.”

Trump’s partner in the deal is Digital World Acquisition, which is a “special purpose acquisition company,” or SPAC.

“These so-called blank-check companies are an increasingly popular type of investment vehicle that sells shares to the public with the intention of using the proceeds to buy private businesses,” the Times reports. “At the time that investors bought shares in Digital World, it had not disclosed what, if any, companies it planned to acquire. On its website, Digital World said that its goal was “to focus on combining with a leading tech company.” At least one of the investors, Saba Capital Management, did not know at the time of the initial public offering that Digital World would be doing a transaction with Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.”

Read more here.

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‘Not Competent’: Legal Experts Pan Trump’s Lawyers and ‘LOLsuit’ Against Twitter and Facebook as ‘Going Nowhere’

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2 years ago

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July 7, 2021

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Donald Trump, the former president, on Wednesday announced what he described as a class action lawsuit against “Big Tech,” specifically Facebook, Twitter, and Google, and their CEOs as well. Trump for about 50 minutes ranted and railed about having been banned from the social media platforms, along with numerous other grievances.

Trump, his team, and the group supporting him, America First Policy Institute, are essentially claiming Trump’s First Amendment rights were violated when he was banned from the two social media platforms, and because they have protection under federal law known as Section 230, they are an arm of the government, which experts say is false.

Legal experts are responding negatively to both the lawsuit itself and the attorneys who filed it.

Sam Brunson, Georgia Reithal Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago, mocks their AOL email addresses and calls them “not competent.”

He also calls the lawsuit a “LOLsuit.”

Commercial, trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret litigation attorney Akiva Cohen calls the attorneys a “clown show.”

And also mocks them for having AOL email addresses, among other things.

University of Michigan law professor, NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst, former US Attorney:

Brad Heath, DC reporter for Reuters on crime and justice:

Preston Byrne, partner at Anderson Kill Law Firm, Fellow at Adam Smith Institute:

 

 

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RNC Reinforces Ties to Trump by Moving Major Donor Dinner to Mar-a-Lago

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2 years ago

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March 8, 2021

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The Republican Party has had multiple chances to distance itself from former President Donald Trump, including most recently when he sent the RNC a cease and desist letter warning them to not use his name or image for fundraising. But as usual the RNC just reinforced its ties to Trump, moving a major donor dinner to Mar-a-Lago.

“The weekend retreat in early April for the party’s most influential donors will be at a luxury hotel in Palm Beach, as in past years,” The Washington Post reports. “But the RNC has decided to move the Saturday evening portion of the schedule to the former president’s private club to accommodate Trump and guests who would like to visit the site.”

The move will line Trump’s pockets with cash and give him another opportunity to bask in the spotlight of the donors’ adulation.

At least 350 are expected to attend the Mar-a-Lago event.

 

Image Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead via Flickr 

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