The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Trump has claimed - loudly - that his policies have lowered the US trade deficit by 78%.  The actual number is 0.2%.

Boru

[awty]

Trump has claimed - loudly - that his policies have lowered the US trade deficit by 78%.  The actual number is 0.2%.

Boru

Details, schmetails.

It's a number.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Trump has claimed - loudly - that his policies have lowered the US trade deficit by 78%.  The actual number is 0.2%.

Boru

Details, schmetails.

It's a number.

But not just any old number. It’s a beautiful number. No one has ever seen a number like this before. People are coming up to him and saying, ‘Sir, where can I get a number like that?’ It’s the best number in the history of America. He’s going to trademark it as ‘The Trump Number.’

Boru

[Nanny]

Trump has claimed - loudly - that his policies have lowered the US trade deficit by 78%.  The actual number is 0.2%.

Boru

That scales with his perceived and actual cock size.

[Fake Messiah]

Of course, babies with impaired brain development = future Trump voters.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans this week to loosen restrictions on coal-burning power plants, allowing them to emit more hazardous pollutants including mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that can impair babies’ brain development, internal agency documents show.

The move is one of many efforts by the Trump administration to make it easier and cheaper to produce and use fossil fuels, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that pollution from burning oil, gas and coal is harming public health and dangerously warming the planet.

Over the past nine months, the Energy Department has taken the extraordinary step of ordering eight coal-burning units that had been headed for retirement to stay open and keep running. Administration officials say they plan to stop the closure of as many additional coal plants as possible over the next three years.

In loosening the mercury limits, the E.P.A. is arguing that it would reduce “unwarranted costs” for utilities that own and operate coal plants across the country, according to the documents reviewed by The Times. The E.P.A. estimates that the change would save companies as much as $670 million between 2028 and 2037, the documents show. It was not immediately clear how the agency arrived at that number.

The E.P.A. has already exempted 47 companies from regulations to curb mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal plants for two years.

When coal is burned, it releases mercury into Earth’s atmosphere. Rain, snow and fog can carry the mercury to the ground, where it can settle in soil as well as in lakes and streams and can accumulate in fish.

Most people are exposed to mercury pollution by eating contaminated fish and shellfish. High levels of exposure can cause severe damage to the nervous system, brain and kidneys and can threaten the development of fetuses, babies and young children.

Coal plants are responsible for nearly half of all mercury emissions in the United States, according to the E.P.A.

Besides mercury, the move this week would relax limits on other pollutants released by burning coal, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel. Lead in particular is another potent neurotoxin linked to developmental delays in children.

In addition, the move this week would repeal a requirement that all coal plants continuously monitor the emissions from their smokestacks, according to the internal agency documents. That requirement was intended to reduce releases of fine particulate matter, which is tied to asthma, heart and lung disease and premature death.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/clima...lants.html