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Bondi firing a reminder that even ultra-loyalists get dumped by Trump (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
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“Pam Bondi’s swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem – no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.

“Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend.”

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[–] 1 point 5 months ago (4 children)

Head in the sand, ignoring the threat of collapse of the petrodollar, thus America’s ability to prop up its $39T national debt, thus the American economy.

France just had a boat successfully transit the straight of Hormuz, but I see no word on whether they paid a toll for the privilege or what currency they used for it. But other reporting says that the tollbooth only takes yuan now, and that’s a huge step towards destabilizing the dollar.

Smart, career public servants have long understood the petrodolllar advantage, but the government leadership has been nearly wiped clean and replaced by sycophants. They may or may not understand it, but they’re certainly not prepared to deal with it.

As far as I can see, the Russian interference that helped put Donny (back) into the White House is still paying off really well.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (3 children)

    I think Iran taking payment in renminbi is more about US sanctions than the dollar’s fall from grace.

    Though two things can be true.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

    It is, but the linked article is worth reading in its entirety. Relevant excerpt:

    Our leverage in enforcing compliance originates in part through our control of the global, US dollar-denominated economy. For those sanctioned countries, the cost of doing business rises dramatically. International settlements for trade become impossible or very difficult. Imagine having to pay for everything in cash – and imagine doing it in a currency no one else will accept.

    That was the experience of Russia when the country was sanctioned after it invaded Ukraine. The Russians reacted by working with China and a handful of other countries to accelerate efforts to replace Swift and the US dollar as the reference currency for much of what they do, effectively nullifying a lot of those sanctions. Their systems, SPFS and CIPS, exist outside the world of the dollar. They can exchange goods and commodities seamlessly in ruble-yuan transactions. Brazil, India and South Africa are said to be working to integrate with the Chinese system.

    It’s too late to undo. The Hormuz tollbooth currency is only a small part of it, but I’m really curious as to whether France paid in yuan. If so it would be would be very telling.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago* (1 child)

    I think if China were willing to run its currency in the world’s interest as the US has largely done since Bretton Woods the switch would have happened already.

    China is too married to capital controls and undervaluing the renminbi.

    I think the euro is more likely to become the primary reserve currency. Ze Germans love strong currency.

    Plus Europe’s refusal to form a political union means every state(?) government’s bonds pay big dividends.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

    I would argue that the US has run its currency in its own interests while providing the fig leaf of world interest and stability.

    The yuan doesn’t need to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency to damage the US economy. Having an alternate financial settlement network for massive oil transactions is enough. As long as everyone needs to pay for oil in dollars, there is lots of demand for dollars, and the US can run enormous trade and domestic spending deficits, managing to maintain a AAA credit rating despite $40T in debt.

    GWB went after Saddam Hussein not because of WMDs, but because he started selling oil in Euros instead of dollars.

    Xi is really smart, and he has been building domestically for the long term. Despite many hiccups, CCP’s tightly managed capitalism/fascism has been very efficient in building tons of stuff domestically, making hay while the global trade sun has been shining. They would suffer greatly if global trade collapsed, but not as much as everyone else.

    I expect that Donny has started WWIII and has no good way out. China has been waiting a while now for just the right time to attack Taiwan and unleash a host of consequences, and what better opportunity than after the US has removed experienced top generals (who have some idea about what the hell they’re doing but refuse to commit war crimes), and has used up most of their expensive missile interceptors somewhere else?

    Having the alternate financial settlement infrastructure means that the US can’t use their economic leverage to strangle the world, so China could continue to trade with many countries over strenuous objections from the US.

    But I’m not a historian or an economist, just a lightly educated armchair observer. Maybe I’m way off base.

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