From “How Trump is decimating federal employee unions one step at a time” by Andrea Hsu at npr.org: “Federal employees have had the right to join unions and collectively bargain over working conditions since the 1960s. Unlike private sector workers, government employees cannot negotiate wages or strike. But through collective bargaining, they do help shape disciplinary procedures, parental leave policies, how overtime is managed and much more…Giving workers a say in workplace policies, the thinking goes, leads to less friction in the workplace and more effective government…But President Trump has abandoned that idea. Instead, he’s argued that federal employee unions pose a danger to the country. In March, he issued an executive order ending collective bargaining rights for more than one million federal workers at about 20 federal agencies. Almost immediately, many agencies halted automatic deductions of union dues from employee paychecks, cutting off a critical source of cash flow to the unions. Just ahead of Labor Day, Trump issued a new executive order, adding about a half dozen agencies to the list…Unions have filed lawsuits, alleging Trump is retaliating against them for opposing parts of his agenda. Lower courts temporarily halted the March order; the government appealed…Two appeals courts then said the Trump administration could move forward while litigation continues, citing the president’s unique responsibility for protecting national security. In their rulings, the judges noted that the Trump administration had told agencies not to terminate collective bargaining agreements while litigation was pending…But last month, the administration sent agencies updated guidance, telling them they could go ahead with terminating most union contracts — just not those with the National Treasury Employees Union, due to ongoing litigation. To date, nine agencies have canceled contracts, according to the American Federation of Government Employees.” Now would be a good time for the Democratic Party to issue a statement saying they support union representation for all workers in both the public and private sectors.
Don’t entertain entertain any delusions that the souring of U.S.-Canada relations as a result of Trump’s tariff mess won’t hurt our economy. As Natasha Chen reports in her article, “The ‘self-inflicted injury’ to US tourism that’s making some Americans angry and disappointed” at CNN Travel: “Many Canadians have boycotted taking US trips and buying American products since the spring. That’s when President Trump made false claims and belittling comments about Canada in the midst of a tariff war…The absence of Canadians has been felt acutely in the United States, especially in cities like Seattle close to the northern border. And Canadians aren’t the only international travelers skipping the US. Some other international travelers have also named recent policies around tariffs and immigration as reasons they’re staying away…After a promising estimate in December by analytics company Tourism Economics that the US would see about 9% growth in overall international visitation in 2025, the company’s updated outlook now estimates an 8.2% decline, led by about one quarter fewer Canadians visiting the US from January to July, compared to the same period in 2024.”
Chen continues, “The World Travel and Tourism Council, a global tourism advocacy organization, projected in May that the United States will lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending in 2025, the only country out of 184 economies the council analyzed that will see a decline this year.” Her article also reports “Rob Hawkins, from the United Kingdom, changed plans he and his wife had for a 20-day spring 2026 trip to the US to go to South Korea and Japan instead. “America to me is rock ‘n roll, NASA, speed, jazz, horses, bourbon, hip hop, dance, MTV (the original), Hollywood, gold medals, innovation, strength, respectful (sic) and apple pie,” Hawkins told CNN in an email. “Not the army on the streets and the extreme division currently on show,” he said, referring to the National Guard presence in Los Angeles during immigration raids and in Washington D.C. to take federal control of the local police force.” Chen’s article also quotes Julia Simpson, World Travel and Tourism Council president & CEO: “While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.” Chen notes, further, “Tourism Economics, which tracks data on domestic and international tourism, now projects that a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels won’t happen until 2029 — three years later than it originally projected.”
David Corn shares some thoughts on “Donald Trump and the Deconstruction of America” at Mother Jones: “Every day, Americans are bombarded with the bad news of Trump 2.0: concentration camps; cruel ICE raids targeting law-abiding residents; health insurance being yanked from millions; elite universities, media companies, and law firms yielding to mob-like extortion; crypto deals and other brazen grifting tied to a corrupt White House; rampant abuses of governmental power and threats of sham criminal prosecutions against the administration’s critics and political foes; drastic cuts in food assistance; assaults on women’s rights; the withholding of disaster relief; the reckless shutdowns and eviscerations of crucial government services and agencies that will result in hardship (and, in some cases, death) for Americans and people overseas…This is, of course, a partial list. And it is exhausting to keep track of and absorb each new outrage. That is the clear intent. The Trump transgressions come so fast they distract from each other. Public attention rarely remains focused on any one atrocity. We’re bludgeoned by the never-ending stream of misdeeds and affronts—which each day come wrapped in propaganda extolling a new Golden Age and assorted false glories of Dear Leader. When one is caught in the crossfire, it is hard to see, let alone address, the big picture…That is to Donald Trump’s advantage. For a long time, commentators have noted that he relishes generating chaos and believes he can exploit disorder for political advantage. It’s an escape route for him. The dizzying whirlwind he creates places critics and opponents off-balance. And perhaps best of all for him and his crew, it hides their overall plan and inhibits the development and promotion of an overarching counternarrative. Their foes are stuck decrying the individual acts of villainy, one at a time, without doing what is most necessary in American politics: telling a story…In today’s fractured and bubble-ized media ecosystem, plotlines don’t punch through unless there’s repetition and force in the presentation. It’s too easy to be distracted.” More here.
