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Yomiuri Shimbun
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
The 911 Presidency: Trump Flexes Emergency Powers in His Second Term
AP file photo President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it the 911 presidency. Despite insisting that the United States is rebounding from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors. Whether it's leveling punishing tariffs, deploying troops to the border or sidelining environmental regulations, Trump has relied on rules and laws intended only for use in extraordinary circumstances like war and invasion. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 30 of Trump's 150 executive orders have cited some kind of emergency power or authority, a rate that far outpaces his recent predecessors. The result is a redefinition of how presidents can wield power. Instead of responding to an unforeseen crisis, Trump is using emergency powers to supplant Congress' authority and advance his agenda. 'What's notable about Trump is the enormous scale and extent, which is greater than under any modern president,' said Ilya Somin, who is representing five U.S. businesses who sued the administration, claiming they were harmed by Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Because Congress has the power to set trade policy under the Constitution, the businesses convinced a federal trade court that Trump overstepped his authority by claiming an economic emergency to impose the tariffs. An appeals court has paused that ruling while the judges review it. Growing concerns over actions The legal battle is a reminder of the potential risks of Trump's strategy. Judges traditionally have given presidents wide latitude to exercise emergency powers that were created by Congress. However, there's growing concern that Trump is pressing the limits when the U.S. is not facing the kinds of threats such actions are meant to address. 'The temptation is clear,' said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program and an expert in emergency powers. 'What's remarkable is how little abuse there was before, but we're in a different era now.' Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who has drafted legislation that would allow Congress to reassert tariff authority, said he believed the courts would ultimately rule against Trump in his efforts to single-handedly shape trade policy. 'It's the Constitution. James Madison wrote it that way, and it was very explicit,' Bacon said of Congress' power over trade. 'And I get the emergency powers, but I think it's being abused. When you're trying to do tariff policy for 80 countries, that's policy, not emergency action.' The White House pushed back on such concerns, saying Trump is justified in aggressively using his authority. 'President Trump is rightfully enlisting his emergency powers to quickly rectify four years of failure and fix the many catastrophes he inherited from Joe Biden — wide open borders, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, radical climate regulations, historic inflation, and economic and national security threats posed by trade deficits,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Trump frequently cites 1977 law to justify actions Of all the emergency powers, Trump has most frequently cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to justify slapping tariffs on imports. The law, enacted in 1977, was intended to limit some of the expansive authority that had been granted to the presidency decades earlier. It is only supposed to be used when the country faces 'an unusual and extraordinary threat' from abroad 'to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.' In analyzing executive orders issued since 2001, the AP found that Trump has invoked the law 21 times in presidential orders and memoranda. President George W. Bush, grappling with the aftermath of the most devastating terror attack on U.S. soil, invoked the law just 14 times in his first term. Likewise, Barack Obama invoked the act only 21 times during his first term, when the U.S. economy faced the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. The Trump administration has also deployed an 18th century law, the Alien Enemies Act, to justify deporting Venezuelan migrants to other countries, including El Salvador. Trump's decision to invoke the law relies on allegations that the Venezuelan government coordinates with the Tren de Aragua gang, but intelligence officials did not reach that conclusion. Congress has ceded its power to the presidency Congress has granted emergency powers to the presidency over the years, acknowledging that the executive branch can act more swiftly than lawmakers if there is a crisis. There are 150 legal powers — including waiving a wide variety of actions that Congress has broadly prohibited — that can only be accessed after declaring an emergency. In an emergency, for example, an administration can suspend environmental regulations, approve new drugs or therapeutics, take over the transportation system, or even override bans on testing biological or chemical weapons on human subjects, according to a list compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice. Democrats and Republicans have pushed the boundaries over the years. For example, in an attempt to cancel federal student loan debt, Joe Biden used a post-Sept. 11 law that empowered education secretaries to reduce or eliminate such obligations during a national emergency. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually rejected his effort, forcing Biden to find different avenues to chip away at his goals. Before that, Bush pursued warrantless domestic wiretapping and Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the detention of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast in camps for the duration of World War II. Trump, in his first term, sparked a major fight with Capitol Hill when he issued a national emergency to compel construction of a border wall. Though Congress voted to nullify his emergency declaration, lawmakers could not muster up enough Republican support to overcome Trump's eventual veto. 'Presidents are using these emergency powers not to respond quickly to unanticipated challenges,' said John Yoo, who as a Justice Department official under George W. Bush helped expand the use of presidential authorities. 'Presidents are using it to step into a political gap because Congress chooses not to act.' Trump, Yoo said, 'has just elevated it to another level.' Trump's allies support his moves Conservative legal allies of the president also said Trump's actions are justified, and Vice President JD Vance predicted the administration would prevail in the court fight over tariff policy. 'We believe — and we're right — that we are in an emergency,' Vance said last week in an interview with Newsmax. 'You have seen foreign governments, sometimes our adversaries, threaten the American people with the loss of critical supplies,' Vance said. 'I'm not talking about toys, plastic toys. I'm talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I'm talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturing supply chain.' Vance continued, 'These governments are threatening to cut us off from that stuff, that is by definition, a national emergency.' Republican and Democratic lawmakers have tried to rein in a president's emergency powers. Two years ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation that would have ended a presidentially-declared emergency after 30 days unless Congress votes to keep it in place. It failed to advance. Similar legislation hasn't been introduced since Trump's return to office. Right now, it effectively works in the reverse, with Congress required to vote to end an emergency. 'He has proved to be so lawless and reckless in so many ways. Congress has a responsibility to make sure there's oversight and safeguards,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who cosponsored an emergency powers reform bill in the previous session of Congress. He argued that, historically, leaders relying on emergency declarations has been a 'path toward autocracy and suppression.'
Toronto Sun
04-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
HANSON: The Trump counter-revolution and the moral ledger
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo by Matt Rourke / AP Despite the media hysteria, U.S. President Donald Trump's counter-revolution remains on course. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Its ultimate fate will probably rest with the state of the economy by the November 2026 mid-term elections. But its success also hinges on accomplishing what is right and long overdue — and then making such reforms quietly, compassionately and methodically. No country can long endure without sovereignty and security — or with 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants crossing the border and half a million criminal foreign nationals roaming freely. The prior administration found that it was easy to destroy the border and welcome the influx. But, it is far harder for its successor to restore security, find those who broke the law and insist on legal-only immigration. Trump is on the right side of all these issues and making substantial progress. Everyone knew that a $2-trillion budget deficit, a $37-trillion national debt and a $1.2-trillion trade deficit in goods were ultimately unsustainable. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Yet all prior politicians of the 21st century winced at the mere thought of reducing debts and deficits, given that it proved much easier just to print and spread around federal money. As long as the Trump administration dutifully cuts the budget, sends its regrets to displaced federal employees, seeks to expand private sector reemployment and quietly presses ahead, it retains the moral high ground. The elite universities have long hidden things from the American people that otherwise would have lost them all public support. They deliberately sought to neuter Supreme Court rulings banning race-based preferences by stealthily continuing their often-segregated policies on campuses, from admissions and hiring to dorms and graduations. They have taken billions of dollars from autocracies, such as communist China and Qatar. And they have partnered abroad with their foreign illiberal institutions and then disguised their quid pro quo subservience. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. These supposedly prestigious universities have previously made no real effort either to stop or even hide their own campus epidemics of antisemitism. They have spiked their tuition and costs higher than the annual rate of inflation, assured that the tottering $1.7 trillion guaranteed student loan portfolio would always send them guaranteed cash flows. They have gouged taxpayers by charging exorbitant surcharges on federal grants from 40-60%. And they make no effort to offer students intellectual, ideological or political diversity. So, even our most prestigious universities seem to have no real moral compass. Accordingly, as long as Trump retains the high ground, the public, too, will demand either reform in higher education or a cessation of federal support to it. The economy remains strong, but its ultimate health depends on reaching a trade deal with a handful of nations that account for our $1.2-trillion trade deficit in goods: China, the EU, Canada, Mexico, the Southeast Asian trade bloc and Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. These nations all know that their tariffs are not symmetrical. But our trade partners will not willingly change. They apparently, but wrongly, believe the U.S. either welcomes its trade deficits, naively thinks they're irrelevant or is too wedded to libertarian trade ideology to demand accountability. So, too, on trade, the Trump administration is in the right. Its only challenge is to avoid envisioning tariffs as a new, get-rich source of massive revenue. Data does not support the idea of such large tariff incomes. The American people signed on for symmetry, fairness and reciprocity in trade, not tariffing those who run deficits with us or seeing high tariffs as a cash cow to fund our out-of-control government. Enraged Democrats still offer no substantial alternatives to the Trump agenda. There are no shadow-government Democratic leaders with new policy initiatives. They flee from the Biden record on the border, the prior massive deficits and inflation, the disaster in Afghanistan, two theatre-wide wars that broke out on Biden's watch and the shameless conspiracy to hide the prior president's increasing dementia. Instead, the Left has descended into thinly veiled threats of organized disruption in the streets. It embraces potty-mouthed public profanity, profane and unhinged videos, nihilistic filibusters, congressional outbursts and increasingly dangerous threats to the persons of Elon Musk and Trump. All that frenzy is not a sign that the Trump counter-revolution is failing. It is good evidence that it is advancing forward and its ethically bankrupt opposition has no idea how, or whether even, to stop it. Sports Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Sports
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump's Health Agency Urges Therapy for Transgender Youth, Not Broader Gender-Affirming Health Care
AP file photo President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. President Donald Trump's administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government's abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people sharply criticized the new report as inaccurate. This 'best practices' report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19. 'Our duty is to protect our nation's children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,' National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. 'We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.' The report questions the ethics of medical interventions for transgender young people, suggesting that adolescents are too young to give consent to life-changing treatments that could result in future infertility. It also cites and echoes a report in England that reinforced a decision by its public health services to stop prescribing puberty blockers outside of research settings. The report's focus on therapy alone troubles advocates The report accuses transgender care specialists of disregarding psychotherapy that might challenge preconceptions, partly because of a 'mischaracterization of such approaches as 'conversion therapy,'' a discredited practice that seeks to change patients' sexual orientation or gender identification. About half the states have banned conversion therapy for minors. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said evidence shows conversion therapies inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicidal thoughts. HHS said its report does not address treatment for adults, is not clinical guidance and does not make any policy recommendations. However, it also says the review 'is intended for policymakers, clinicians, therapists, medical organizations, and importantly, patients and their families,' and it declares that medical professionals involved in transgender care have failed their young patients. The report could create fear for families seeking care and for medical providers, said Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. 'It's very chilling to see the federal government injecting politics and ideology into medical science,' Minter said. 'It's Orwellian. It is designed to confuse and disorient,' Minter added. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a co-author of the influential WPATH standards for youth, said the new report 'legitimizes the harmful idea that providers should approach young people with the notion that alignment between sex and gender is preferred, instead of approaching the treatment frame in a neutral manner.' Major medical groups did not contribute; the administration won't say who did While Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly pledged to practice 'radical transparency,' his department did not release any information about who authored the document. The administration says the new report will go through a peer-review process and will only say who contributed to the report after 'in order to help maintain the integrity of this process.' The report contradicts American Medical Association guidance, which urges states not to ban gender-affirming care for minors, saying that 'empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.' It also was prepared without input from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to its president, Dr. Susan Kressly. 'This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,' Kressly said. She said the AAP was not consulted 'yet our policy and intentions behind our recommendations were cited throughout in inaccurate and misleading ways.' Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who works on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, said the report is one-sided and 'magnifies the risks of treatments while minimizing benefits.' Talk therapy is already a prominent part of treatments The Trump administration's report says 'many' U.S. adolescents who are transgender or are questioning their gender identity have received surgeries or medications. In fact, such treatments remain rare as a portion of the population. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the U.S. received gender-affirming medication — puberty blockers or hormones — according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent gender-affirming surgeries in one recent year, according to another study. Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Many U.S. adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries. Jamie Bruesehoff, a New Jersey mom, said her 18-year-old daughter, who was assigned male at birth, identified with girls as soon as she could talk. She began using a female name and pronouns at 8 and received puberty blockers at 11 before eventually beginning estrogen therapy. 'She is thriving by every definition of the word,' said Bruesehoff, who wrote a book on parenting gender-diverse children. 'All of that is because she had access to this support from her family and community and access to evidence-based gender-affirming health care when it was appropriate.' Politics looms over doctor's offices A judge has blocked key parts of Trump's order, which includes denying research and educational grants for medical schools, hospitals and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people 18 or younger. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care. The White House said Monday that since Trump took office, HHS has eliminated 215 grants totaling $477 million for research or education on gender-affirming treatment. Most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is pending after justices heard arguments in December in a case about whether states can enforce such laws. The Jan. 28 executive order is among several administration policies aimed at denying the existence of transgender people. Trump also has ordered the government to identify people as either male or female rather than accept a concept of gender in which people fall along a spectrum, remove transgender service members from the military, and bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender. This month, HHS issued guidance to protect whistleblowers who report doctors or hospitals providing gender-affirming care. Judges are blocking enforcement of several of the policies. This latest HHS report, which Trump called for while campaigning last year, represents a reversal in federal policy. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of HHS, found that no research had determined that behavioral health interventions could change someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. The 2023 update to the 2015 finding is no longer on the agency's website.
Toronto Sun
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
HUNTER: Trump may have trampled Tories, but he obliterated NDP support
Canada's democratic socialist party poised to be obliterated in federal election thanks to 'orange man down south' Get the latest from Brad Hunter straight to your inbox Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at the Unifor Local 444/200 union hall in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Photo by DAN JANISSE / WINDSOR STAR HAMILTON — For the NDP, the writing has been on the wall since January. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account And the news has been very bad indeed: Canada's democratic socialist party was poised to be obliterated in the federal election. Over the last 36 days, that's exactly what has happened. 'Blame the orange man down south,' a longtime party member told the Toronto Sun , referring to sabre-rattling U.S. President Donald Trump. 'The same thing happened to the Tories, but it's worse for the NDP.' President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, D.C., Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo by Matt Rourke / AP In January, the party stood less than one percentage point behind the Liberals at 19.6% and a wildly unpopular prime minister Justin Trudeau, whom Singh had propped up. However, a funny thing happened on the way to election day: The Liberals under Mark Carney were able to cleanse much of the Trudeau stench and the NDP was the fall guy for their political partner's woke excesses and spendthrift ways. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But the NDP insider said the death blow was Trump's threats, blustering and hammering Canada with a slew of brutal tariffs. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared this image to social media a day after meeting with then-U.S. president-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla. Justin Trudeau /X Progressive voters decided to hold their nose and vote for Carney. 'For some reason, voters thought that a central banker would have their best interests at heart,' the NDPer said. 'We know who's going to come out, OK? It's going to be the same crowd as the last 10 years.' In Hamilton Centre, NDP incumbent Matthew Green was one of the few expected to keep their seat. Although the fate of party Leader Jagmeet Singh remained hazy with results in his Burnaby Central riding in B.C. yet to be announced. It is doubtful the party of Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton, who won a record number of seats in 2011 and formed the official Opposition, will even retain party status (12 seats). This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breakthroughs in the Maritimes and Quebec have petered out. Green himself told Postmedia last week that the party needed some serious 'soul-searching.' He alluded to the party's embrace of the faculty lounge and the necessity of winning back the working class. 'The risk of not pivoting and soul-searching would, in my estimation, be absolutely the beginning to the end of the party. We cannot continue on this path, recognizing where we're at right now,' Green said. He added that the NDP needs to be a 'labour-centred party for the working class in order to recapture people who we've lost to right-wing populism or to political estrangement or the absolute despair of having to vote, hold their nose and vote Liberal one more time.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The NDP has long been accused of abandoning its working-class roots and meat-and-potatoes issues in favour of faddish social justice causes. In the wake of George Floyd, Gaza and a litany of other causes, the party seems to embrace the ethos of the faculty lounge over the factory floor. 'I think in the end, the NDP and the Tories were both caught in the orange squeeze,' the NDP insider said. RECOMMENDED VIDEO But is this the end of the NDP? Not so fast, the party insider said. After all, Audrey McLaughlin and the NDP were routed in the 1993 election, winning just nine seats, three seats short of official party status. 'This has happened before, never this bad, but it has happened. We'll bounce back, we're the conscience of the country and we have three provincial governments,' the longtime party member said. As for Singh, he added: 'He's done like dinner.' bhunter@ X: @HunterTOSun Read More Federal Elections Federal Elections News World Editorial Cartoons
Euronews
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
The abaya: the women's outfit that's become a must-have fashion item for Ramadan
Bill Burr has slammed the "guy with dyed hair plugs and a laminated face" and also criticised US liberal attitudes. "Why are we so afraid of this guy who can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag?' ADVERTISEMENT Celebrated American comedian, podcaster and writer Bill Burr has criticised Elon Musk, labelling him as an 'idiot' and a 'Nazi' during a recent interview on NPR's Fresh Air. The comedian was promoting his new stand up special, Drop Dead Years, and spoke about the current climate in the US, referencing the now infamous gesture Musk made several times during Donald Trump's inauguration. 'I'm trying to get regular people to stop yelling at each other and realize that it's a select few group of nerds eating raw almonds and doing their stupid workouts and competing with each other to have the biggest infinity pool and the rest of us are getting pushed down,' he said. 'They've politicized the whole stupid thing and we're falling for it'. Clarifying who he meant by 'nerds', the 56-year-old comedian replied: 'That idiot Elon Musk!' He went on to describe the billionaire as 'evidently a Nazi': 'I just refuse to believe it was an accidental two-time Sieg Heil. And he does it at a presidential inauguration!' Musk at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington - Monday 20 Jan. 2025 AP Photo However, Burr also went on to criticise those bashing Musk. 'This is why I hate liberals,' he said. 'Liberals have no teeth whatsoever. They just go, 'Oh my God, can you believe this? I'm getting out of the country!' I'm just like, you're gonna leave the country because of one guy with dyed hair plugs and a laminated face? Who makes a bad car and has an obsolete social media platform? Why doesn't he leave? Why are we so afraid of this guy who can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag?' Ever since Trump stepped back into the White House, several celebrities – presumably the ones that Burr was referencing – have left the US. They include Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who both left after the result of the 2024 election to go live in England; actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera, who currently live in the UK; actress and longtime Californian Minnie Driver, who stated that she couldn't see herself going back to the US following Trump's election; comedian and TV host Rosie O'Donnell, who recently revealed she has moved to Ireland in the wake of Trump's re-election. 'Although I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that's what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child' said O'Donnell. Ahead of the election last year, Sharon Stone shared her plans to move to Italy should Trump be elected. While she hasn't updated fans on her plans since Trump was sworn into office, she shared with Daily Mail: 'I am certainly considering a house in Italy. I think that's an intelligent construct at this time. This is one of the first times in my life that I've actually seen anyone running for office on a platform of hate and oppression.' People protest against Musk AP Photo These comments from Burr come at a time when Musk's popularity is sliding like the market value of Tesla. "Tesla takedown" protests have seen demonstrators gather outside dealerships in Portland and New York City, amongst other cities. Trump recently stated that people protesting against Tesla should be labelled domestic terrorists, as the White House organised a media event designed to bolster Musk's electric car company. Trump sat in the driver's seat of a brand new Tesla that he said he planned to buy, with Musk in the passenger seat. The president stated that those demonstrating against Musk or targeting Tesla showrooms were "harming a great American company", and anyone using violence against the electric carmaker would "go through hell". President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House - Tuesday 11 March 2025 AP Photo The showcase for Tesla's cars outside the White House came after Tesla's market value halved since its all-time peak in December, sliding 15% in a single day on Monday. More protests against Musk AP Photo The backlash against Tesla and Musk, Trump's top donor in the election campaign, was sparked as a consequence of the tech billionaire having been tasked with radically cutting government spending through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has instigated sweeping cuts to federal workforce and cancelled international aid programmes. ADVERTISEMENT People protest during a rally against Elon Musk outside the Treasury Department in Washington - 4 Feb. 2025 AP Photo On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump blamed Tesla's share price falls on "radical left lunatics", who he said were trying to "illegally and collusively boycott" the firm. Asked in front of the White House whether protesters should be labelled "domestic terrorists", the president said: "I will do that.' His position was later confirmed by a White House spokesperson. Not that the protests are just contained to the US... ADVERTISEMENT Last month, in London, a UK-based group called Everyone Hates Elon took credit for a poster going viral online. The poster depicts a Tesla renamed as the 'Swasticar', with an image of the tech billionaire doing the Nazi salute. It urges people not to buy the Tesla cars and reads: 'Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds'.
