He couldn’t wait until his press conference, he had a premature announcement.
The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come. Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!
The U.S. embassy had given Stockholm’s planning office 10 working days to sign a contract stating it would comply with U.S. federal antidiscrimination laws and not operate any DEI programs that violate them, according to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
The letter, which was started with “dear city planning office,” explained how everyone the U.S. government purchases goods and services from must sign the contract, the paper said.
I’d have thought this is one of the easier things to stick two fingers up to. Are US embassies a significant part of any city or country’s economy? Probably not. So just stop working for them or selling them stuff. And the local authorities should make clear that any company that signs any such agreement with a US embassy will find itself on the end of very close ongoing examination as to its compliance with local equality laws. What will the US embassies do when they run out of toiler paper (and the country concerned slaps a 1000% tariff on toilet paper imported for diplomatic use)? 
Any contractors actually in the midst of work that are forced to stop should sue for breach of contract (assuming they were sensible enough to get a contract in place for whatever project they are working on). I suspect local judges would not take long to resolve such cases.
And as for relationships with civic (non-commercial) authorities:
He said it the U.S. embassy that benefits from the City of Stockholm, not the other way around. If the U.S. ended ties with the city’s planning office, the embassy would have difficulty getting a permit for construction. “It’s their headache, not ours,” Valeskog, added according to a translation.
Oh. I loved this álbum. The Videoclip for this song is a classic.
They can smuggle in toilet paper in the diplomatic pouch.
Yeah - but not building contractors.
“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed,” said Grennell. “In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire - and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoys a performance together.”
Okaaaay. So it’s ok to ban certain types of (allegedly) ‘political’ performances by NOT allowing performances of all political stripes, but not ok to boycott certain types of politically affiliated audience? Got it.
Fascists gonna fascist. (The overriding quality of any fascist regime is overt hypocrisy.)
Unfortunately, anything with a diplomatic seal is technically unsearchable. A country could import nuclear bombs under a diplomatic seal and there is nothing the host country could do that wouldn’t be an act of war. (Of course, they are able to examine remotely, and import of a nuke would itself be an act of war, so…double negative?)
Also: props to @FGD135
Yes. There is a difference between a government acting in its sovereign capacity vs its contractual capacity. The US Embassy can terminate a contract for any reason, but they are contractually required to pay for services already rendered. That would be a fun court case.
So much this. This is the stupidest thing ever, and the statement from the Embassy is telling. They know they can’t do this. This is to humor the mad king and his wormy advisor, Miller. If I were Vodaphone, I would respond with a “we will not comply, we’ll turn off our services within 24 hours.” Then turn it off until the USG sends a written letter stating compliance is not required.
Stockholm? Same. “We will not comply, and we will stop picking up your garbage in 24 hours. Anyone caught illegally dumping will be arrested, diplomatic immunity or not.”
Electricity providers? Cut the power. Let the embassy run its backup generators 24/7, and have to ship the fuel in from the US. Turn off the water supply. Let the embassy import water from the US. Turn off the sewers. Let the embassy ship in portapotties from the US, then be forced to haul the waste out beyond territorial waters. (No, I don’t want them to dump in the ocean, but you know they won’t bring it back to the US for treatment.)
The Embassy may be considered US soil by convention, but also by convention any services provided are either a courtesy, or a contract between the US and a foreign entity.
Eff this noise!
Not even smuggling. They literally slap a dip seal on a container and bring it in legally. But, here’s the thing: they have to procure in the US, get it into a container (or a box on a plane), pay to have the item shipped over, pick it up at port, drive it to the embassy, and unload it. It is very, very expensive which is why the State Department doesn’t do this much anymore, except for hostile nations. And I am sure, in their infinite wisdom, Doggy terminated the State Department staff responsible for these logistics.
Depending on the country (actually, most countries), the building contractors actually are shipped in from the US, as well as the building materials. Because of the risk of bugs being installed in the embassy during construction (thanks, USSR), this has been pretty standard for decades. It’s why embassies rarely move or get renovations. It’s so. Damn. Expensive!
DO! IT!
Trouble is some could some couldn’t (we know none will). Vodaphone, for example, has interests in the US, no doubt. Can’t imperil those. Can signal ‘we won’t comply’ by saying ‘we comply with all local requirements in jurisdictions we do business in’. But some multinationals are at risk if their home base is USA and they do not comply with Trump locally AND globally. Rock and hard place for them - hypothetically getting shafted by Trump and/or sued abroad if they comply with Trump. It’s all performative, of course, for PR/campaigning (feed the base) reasons.
Also, sone embassies in US might find retaliation a problem, and that way leads to the reduction of all diplomatic presences everywhere, and the world becomes an even more dangerous place, with everyone back in their own silos and no direct face-to-face ongoing access and contacts to smooth things along. That’s how red telephones and red buttons end up getting used.
West Trumpistan.
That second one especially makes him sound like a completely out of touch wealth-hoarding caresser of gold.
The one whose name was withdrawn is also Mike Waltz’s sister-in-law.
That has got to be one of the stupidest things I read this month.
Though, the month is still young.
“He’s a fool, but I like him very much!”
At least it’s easy to tell when he comments rather than Miller or other handlers. They have zero internal consistency.
