Judd Legum
I write Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. | judd@popular.info | Signal: juddlegum.47 | Text: 202-599-7124
Popular.info
- This was a dark day for Corporate America. Top CEOs traveled to Saudi Arabia to ingratiate themselves with: 1. Trump, who is taking a blowtorch to the Constitution, and 2. MBS, who ordered the execution of a U.S.-based journalist
- If you want all the names, there’s a list here:
- “Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy keeps going on TV and insisting it’s safe to fly in and out of Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey… But Duffy has now admitted he changed a flight booked for his wife on Monday so that she wouldn’t have to travel through Newark.”
- 1. Qatar is bribing Trump with a $400 million luxury plane that he can use as Air Force One and take with him after he leaves office Qatar is not acting out of altruism It wants policy concessions to bolster its economy and national security Trump is exploiting those needs to line his pockets
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View full thread5. If Qatar transfers the plane to Trump, the complex process of outfitting the plane with the security features to serve as Air Force One will reportedly go to L3Harris, a military contractor.
- 6. L3Harris recently hired Trump-connected firm Ballard Partners, which also represented Qatar, to lobby the federal government on its behalf for "business development."
- 3. Qatar is also home to Al-Udeid Air Base, "the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East" with about 13,000 American troops. The presence of the base serves as a security umbrella for the country and enhances its diplomatic stature in the region.
- 4. The U.S. is also important to Qatar economically. Both countries are major liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters, and Qatar desires access to advanced U.S. technologies and energy markets. The government of Qatar has a 70% stake in a new $10B LNG export hub in Texas known as Golden Pass LNG.
- 2. Qatar is the 2nd-largest purchaser of US military equipment, just behind Saudi Arabia, and has a keen interest in ongoing access to high-tech weaponry Trump toured the Qatari plane in February In March, the admin approved the sale of $2 billion in military equipment, including 8 Predator drones
- In other words, in order to avoid angering Trump, Apple plans on lying to consumers. The company will raise prices due to tariffs but invent other reasons. www.wsj.com/tech/apple-i...
- This is still part of the Constitution, FYI: "[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust... shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
- 1. We've been told there's a federal budget crisis that necessitates gutting the social safety net and slashing funding for medical research and national parks Meanwhile, Trump budget includes a record $1 TRILLION in military spending Who benefits? Military contractors like Musk Let's dig in
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View full thread5. More than half of the annual military budget goes to private companies through contracts. On paper, contracts typically allow for private profits of 12–15%, but in practice, contractors regularly secure profits of 40–50%, and sometimes much more.
- 6. Last year, Lockheed Martin — the leading recipient of Pentagon contracts — spent $7 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. Last month, Musk’s SpaceX received a $6 billion contract from the Pentagon, more than the company had received in unclassified contracts in all prior years combined.
