Well, for the moment at least we have a new Trump TACO on our plate – Bank Flavored. It seems the diseased mind of Stephen Miller came up with a new idea while down in the WH Mess (kitchen) spitting on food. (Except of course Trump’s steaks and other crap marked for his use only) This one’s a real doozy. Trump was preparing an executive order to require banks/financial institutions to require proof of citizenship to open or even keep their accounts! As you can imagine the Financial Industry from Wall Street down to the local corner bank objected. Strongly. So much so Trump found himself going TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) again.
It seems the plan was to turn banks into quasi Immigration Enforcement offices. According to reporting from The Daily Beast proof of citizenship would be required to open an account, and possible even simply maintain one! Well, it seems people in the banking/financial industry didn’t think being conscripted into being a tool for Immigration Enforcement was such a good idea. There are all manner of practical matters from veriying accounts holder’s “papers” to coordinating with DHS/ICE. From where I sit there was another and more important one.
Immigrants, both legal and undocumented ones use banks too. Their money is the same color and worth the exact same as every MAGA out there. Even account holders who wire much of the money home still pay a service fee to banks and you know how banks love to tack those on whenever they can. It’s easy to see how with everything else going on this proposal for creating a new immigration ‘enforcement tool’ went largely unnoticed when it was first reported last month. Also, at least until now is that the WH got a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes pushback. Actually more like a revolt from Wall Street and small community lenders.
The pushback was swift and came from the industry’s most powerful players, the Washington Post reported Friday, citing insiders with knowledge of high-level discussions. Wall Street executives and community lenders challenged administration officials directly, the Post reported, arguing the plan was an unworkable administrative burden.
The plan, first reported in February, would have forced banks to require customers to present passports to verify citizenship, on top of the standard documentation they already collect: name, date of birth, and address verified by a driver’s license. Data from the past few years indicate that roughly half of American citizens have a passport.
For now at least the draft Executive Order is in a drawer but there’s no guarantee it won’t make it back onto the desktop for some tweaking. It seems sources given anonymity so they could speak freely warn the order could be revived in a watered-down form. One floated tweak would limit the passport requirement to new customers only, rather than requiring banks to audit existing customers retroactively. Apparently that notion has already been taken out for a test drive and all four tires went flat:
Even that compromise drew complaints from industry officials. About half of the U.S. population does not have a passport, meaning millions of Americans could find themselves frozen out of the traditional banking system entirely.
The linked article goes on to describe even broader issues. For example foreign nationals doing business in the U.S. have or establish bank accounts here. Rather than do business here they might simply walk away, taking their business elsewhere. Scales up to thousands and potentially millions we could be looking at vast economic damage. On top of plenty of existing economic troubles! Trump really had no choice but to TACO.
This one’s going to leave a bigly excrement aftertaste in Trump’s fat mouth for a while. Having small town community banks raising hell wouldn’t have bothered him one bit. Hell, he’d have enjoyed it. However, the overall industry as in the main big banks on Wall Street and other major financial institutions forcing him to back down is going to hit him where it hurts the most.
Remember, Trump spent most of his life trying to be accepted amongst New York City’s elite – especially the financial wizards. It always seemed they treated him as if he had a bad smell. Ok, so we know he actually does but you get my point. Although Trump’s dad built a substantial family businesses worth millions Donald always got the ‘Nouveau Riche” treatment. Eventually he gave up and abandoned his beloved Trump Tower and it’s tacky-assed living quarters for what he turned into an even tackier joint down in Florida. Marjorie Merriweather Post has to be spinning in her grave over what Trump’s done to the place.
Anyway financial elites (like I said he doesn’t care about small town/local bankers) told him to shove his proposal where the sun don’t shine. And despite the enormous power he wields as President collectively they’ve got more. Trump is fat enough to have an awful lot of natural buoyancy but he keeps attaching anchors to himself! You have to figure at some point he will slip under the surface and give us the longed for political version of ‘glub glub.’
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
