-
Is Elon Musk taking over America?
-
And is getting rid of the Department of
Education a smart idea?
-
It’s hard to tell… especially if you were educated in American
public schools.
-
That and more on this week’s America Uncovered headlines.
-
Welcome to
America Uncovered. I’m Chris Chappell.
-
Man, I’m telling you, the news these days feels
like a convoluted TV series.
-
It’s hard to keep up!
-
Take, for example, the story about Trump
imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.
-
One minute, Trump seems absolutely insane,
-
and people are convinced imposing 25% tariffs on
-
Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on
China is going to tank the economy
-
Then the next minute, the tariffs
on Mexico were paused for 30 days
-
after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum
agreed to send 10,000 troops to the border
-
to combat illegal immigration and drug
trafficking, especially of fentanyl.
-
And the tariffs on Canada were paused for 30
days after Canadian Prime Minister —
-
for a little while longer — Justin Trudeau announced
the implementation of a $1.3 billion border plan
-
which included sending 10,000 troops to
their border and appointing a Fentanyl Czar.
-
And this was all one day
-
! That feels
like it happened years ago
-
. Seriously, did I miss an episode of America:
the series?
-
I’m feeling a bit lost.
-
And for anyone thinking, “I get the
tariffs on Mexico and China…
-
but why Canada?
-
Aren’t they our harmless northern
friends?
-
Who doesn’t love Tim Hortons?”
-
Well, Trump’s tariffs are so international
my twin brother,
-
China Uncensored’s Chris Chappell, covered them in-depth on his channel,
-
as well as why Canada also got the tariff
smackdown
-
. Care for a quick recap, Chris?
-
Fentanyl and China! It always comes back to China!
-
Wow, what an enticing teaser for that
episode.
-
I certainly wanna click that
-
link and see the whole thing so
I can be well-informed
-
and not just base my opinion off of headlines
and soundbytes.
-
Speaking of which,
-
Many on the right are saying Trump gambled
and won
-
and forced world leaders to cave.
-
But many on the left are saying Trump is the one
who caved
-
, this was all a hollow show of force,
-
And the concessions he got
from Canada were plans that
-
were already in the works before
he officially levied the tariffs.
-
Which is technically true.
-
However, Canada unveiled these plans after
Trump threatened using tariffs in the future.
-
So, is Trump a mad genius,
or did he just get lucky?
-
Even though he got what he
wanted from Mexico and Canada,
-
US stock futures plummeted leading up
to the implementation of the tariffs.
-
Though they recovered some
losses after they were paused.
-
I almost forgot about the constant ups
and downs of a Trump presidency. I’m
-
not sure if people are actually tired of
winning or if that’s just motion sickness.
-
Trump also indicated he might impose tariffs on
the EU
-
but that trade issues with the UK could be worked out.
-
He says the US takes a lot of European
goods, but the EU doesn’t return the favor.
-
“How many Chevrolets or Fords do you see
in the middle of Munich?
-
And the answer is none
-
. Because they don’t take any
cars. They don’t take anything.
-
So the Europeans have abused the United
States for years, and they can’t do that.”
-
Yeah! Fair is fair.
-
If the US
is gonna continue buying BMWs,
-
then it’s only fair that
Germans start driving around with truck nuts.
-
Although, sadly, I wouldn’t
be surprised if those were made in China.
-
Speaking of: what about the tariffs on China?
-
China announced retaliatory tariffs against the US
-
and said it will also investigate Google
on suspicion of violating antitrust laws.
-
American antitrust laws?
-
Chinese
antitrust laws? Who knows?
-
The threat is intentionally vague.
-
But the
crux of it is, Google is going down.
-
Which…probably not.
-
Because
Google’s market in China is
-
already limited thanks to the Great Firewall.
-
Which begs the question…
-
why on Earth has YouTube,
which is owned by Google,
-
been suppressing content that’s
critical of the CCP
-
and boosting content that’s pro China?
-
What are you hoping
to accomplish, Google?
-
Reciprocity from China?
-
Yeah, apparently not.
-
So the question remains: are all these
tariffs a good thing or a bad thing?
-
If you ask right-leaning media,
-
they’ll say Trump expertly used tariffs
as a leverage tool to get what he wanted.
-
If you ask left-leaning media,
they’ll say Trump was reckless and
-
potentially damaged relationships with US allies.
-
And if you ask social media,
-
you’ll start
a 400 comment argument
-
and have a bunch of bots phishing for your data.
-
Social media
was, is, and always will be a mistake.
-
Speaking of Trump being a total chaos monster,
-
He proposed the US take control of the Gaza Strip
and turn it into the Riviera of the Middle East.
-
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we
will do a job with it, too.
-
We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the
dangerous unexploded bombs
-
and other weapons on the site, level the site
-
, and get rid
of the destroyed buildings.
-
Level it out, create economic development that will
supply
-
unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.
-
Do
a real job. Do something different.”
-
As for the over 1.7 million
Palestinians who currently
-
live there and where they’ll stay while all
this rebuilding is going on, it’s unclear,
-
Given that Jordan is, uh… not too
thrilled with the idea of taking them in.
-
Also, what authority does Trump
have to just take over this land?
-
Eh , I don’t know, man.
-
Trump just says stuff
sometimes.
-
He runs the White House the way
-
A new Dungeons and Dragons player
roleplays.
-
He says what he wants to do,
-
someone says that’s against the rules,
and he says, “Let me roll for it.”
-
And after the break, the US withdraws
from the UN human rights council. Again.
-
Welcome back.
-
Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the
US from the UN human rights council
-
and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA,.
-
He did the same thing during his first term.
-
This is a textbook example of a story under
a Trump administration
-
that requires a little explanation.
-
Because, on paper, Trump
pulling the US out of organizations
-
with “human rights” and “relief” in their
names makes him sound like a super villain
-
However, one current member of the UN’s
human rights council is China —
-
who my twin brother China Uncensored’s Chris
Chappell will be quick to scream from
-
the mountaintops is one of the biggest
human rights abusers on the planet.
-
Assuming those mountaintops aren’t in Tibet.
-
Then
the CCP will blackbag him for being a dissident.
-
Oh, and another recent member was Iran.
-
But hey, I’m not gonna cast stones.
-
Iran does enough of that themselves on women
who don’t abide by their purity standards.
-
And as for UNRWA, this organization
focuses on Palestinian relief,
-
and members of the organization were
accused of participating —
-
not condoning, participating
-
— in the October 7th attack
on Israel that killed almost 1,200 people.
-
Sooooo yeah. Maybe not the best
folks to be associating with.
-
Now, for these next stories, we’re gonna need
to do something
-
most of the media and a lot of people in general have trouble with: .
-
looking
at both sides of an issue and using nuance
-
Yech, I know. It’s hard to get clicks and
sensationalize a rational approach.
-
Watch: This situation is more complex than you realize!
-
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced
that El Salvador
-
has offered to house violent US criminals as well
-
as deportees of any
nationality in their mega prison for a fee.
-
Now, the easy, sensationalistic approach
to this would be, “Oh my God!
-
Trump is going to deport legal US citizens!
-
Which
means he can jail dissidents
-
and ship them off to an international American
gulag!
-
He’s about to achieve his final
-
form of American Hitler!”
-
Could any of that happen?
-
Sure. The same way your Uber driver’s mixtape he
insists on playing every ride could win a Grammy.
-
It’s possible polka metal could sweep the nation…
-
but let’s maybe wait a minute
before placing any bets on it.
-
What’s important to note is this
deal was offered, not accepted.
-
And even if it were accepted, there
would be legal challenges —
-
as there should be — since deporting US citizens
-
isn’t something you can do willy-nilly,
-
even if they are convicted criminals.
-
Rubio and Trump both know this.
-
Rubio said, “We have a Constitution. But it’s a
very generous offer ... obviously,
-
the administration will have to make a decision.”
-
And to be clear, if all these hurdles
were cleared and US criminals *
-
were* deported to a foreign prison, it
would be awful
-
. Mainly because… just think of what it would do to the
American prison industrial complex!
-
Won’t anyone stand up for those poor
private prison capitalists
-
? How will they be able to afford their fourth private
jet now?
-
This isn’t putting America first!
-
Speaking of money and
another story needing nuance:
-
The Trump administration is allowing
Treasury officials associated with
-
Elon Musk’s DOGE team access to the
Treasury's system that handles payments.
-
Again, it would be easy to take the
sensationalistic route and scream,
-
“Elon Musk now has all of our social
security payments
-
in his Nazi-saluting hands!
-
He’s gonna control all the
money in the US and soon the world!”
-
However, that pesky nuance
is keeping me from riding
-
that sweet click-baity gravy
train.
-
Man, integrity is hard.
-
This move isn’t giving Elon Musk control
of the Treasury.
-
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
-
signed off on a plan giving a
team working for the Treasury acting
-
as a liaison to DOGE access to the payment
system.
-
According to a source for Politico,
-
“The secretary’s approval was contingent on
it being essentially a read-only operation.”
-
So no, Musk isn’t going to
replace George Washington
-
on the one dollar bill.
-
Which is kind of a shame,
-
because I thought some folks were clamoring
for an African American to be on their money.
-
So why does Musk want access to that system?
-
Well, the Department of Government Efficiency…
-
is looking at government efficiency.
-
Musk claims that DOGE “discovered that
payment approval officers at Treasury
-
were instructed always to approve payments,
-
even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
-
They literally never denied a payment
in their entire career.
-
Not even once.”
-
That’s terrible. This means… I
could have asked the Treasury for
-
a billion dollars, and they may not have
turned me down!
-
What a wasted opportunity.
-
So does this mean that Musk is trying to
control all of the US’ money?
-
Probably not.
-
Does it mean we should trust
him implicitly? Again: probably not.
-
Trump made Musk a special government
employee,
-
which could potentially allow him to avoid disclosing conflicts of interest
-
and
finances that regular government employees would.
-
Except for members of Congress,
of course,
-
who absolutely aren’t doing any insider trading
-
and are
just making tons of lucky guesses.
-
Meanwhile, having an unelected billionaire
wield such power in government isn’t a great look.
-
By the way, that’s not
my opinion. I’m quoting Republicans,
-
who said the same thing about George
Soros whenever a Democrat was in office.
-
But if you’re worried America will turn
into an oligarchy,
-
I can at least put those worries to rest by assuring you that no,
-
it won’t become one… it’s already been one.
-
There. Those worries are at rest,
-
and
now you have new worries to worry about!
-
In yet another story requiring tons
-
of research and nuance — because
why allow me any time to sleep? —
-
CNN is reporting that the Trump
administration
-
is drafting an executive order that would begin the process
-
of eliminating the Department of Education.
-
So long, Education Secretary Linda
McMahon. Rest. In. Peeeeeace.
-
Now, Trump wouldn’t be able to just abolish the
department with an executive order.
-
He’d need congressional approval.
-
This is just to get
the ball rolling and reduce the DOE’s power.
-
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise,
-
since it’s something Trump has been
saying he’d like to do for a while now.
-
“I will shut down the federal department of
education
-
and we will move everything back
-
to the states where it belongs and where they can
-
individualize education and do it
with the love for their children.”
-
Again, shutting down the Department of Education
sounds terrible on paper.
-
But you have to look at the results
-
the department has put forth.
Which, in and of itself, is hard to do.
-
Elon Musk shared this meme claiming that
-
since
the department was founded by President Carter in 1979
-
, the US went from first to 24th in
education.
-
It was shared by tens of thousands.
-
So is it true? Well, it’s hard to say,
since there isn’t just one test or metric
-
to determine where the US ranks in education.
-
But the fact that tens of thousands of people
-
shared it without question doesn’t exactly
make the US education system look amazing.
-
Way to 4D chess, Musk.
-
Now, I’ve covered how there are many
problems in education.
-
Some of these come from the federal level
-
, and
some come from the state level.
-
Did the federal government having a
hand in schools make them worse?
-
I don’t know.
-
Will giving more power to the
states make schools better? I don’t know.
-
Will this at least remove more government wasteful spending?
-
Noooooooo!... say the DOE
officials making ridiculous salaries.
-
The truth is, improving education
isn’t a one-step easy solution.
-
Unless… has Trump tried slapping
tariffs on it?
-
It’s worth a try!
-
And before you go, check out the
latest episode of my new show
-
Deep Thoughts While Gaming, about the just
released kingdom come deliverance 2.
-
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thank
you for watching America Uncovered.