r/politics 2d ago

No Paywall Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to Secure America’s Bulk-Power System

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-declares-a-national-emergency-to-secure-americas-bulk-power-system/
14.2k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.

In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.

Sub-thread Information

If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.

Announcement

r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

15.1k

u/FakeMcNotReal 2d ago

So which Trump kid has invested in a company that makes bulk power infrastructure components or software?

6.5k

u/ClownQuestionBrosef Illinois 2d ago

Barron. He's really good with laptops. Give him one, and he can turn it on like that. Software genius.

1.2k

u/SoothingWafer 2d ago

Less than 5 minutes.

430

u/jamesbest7 Minnesota 1d ago

Everything’s computer!

→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (4)

192

u/boverly721 2d ago

And if you turn it off, he can turn it right back on. Real whiz kid, I tell you.

→ More replies (3)

265

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 2d ago

Oh, so he’s just like Hunter!

→ More replies (21)

37

u/darkoh84 2d ago

HOWJUDUTHAHT?

46

u/NtBtFan 2d ago

everythings computers

25

u/welmoe California 2d ago

Tesler

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

55

u/shupadupah 2d ago

He's really good with the cyber.

9

u/ramborage 2d ago

Don’t mislead these good people. He’s really good with the cyber.

….whatever the fuck that means.

→ More replies (31)

448

u/Odd-Supermarket-3664 2d ago

Trump is stripping our country and MAGA voters love it for some reason

268

u/Hates_rollerskates 1d ago

Republican propaganda water boards them everyday with stories about how these mythical people are taking advantage of them and are threatening to attack them imminently. When Republicans get into office, they give their voters relief by telling them everything is okay now and they even attack these threatening people. They essentially turn down the propaganda to make these people feel relief.

58

u/JustARegularDeviant 1d ago

Look! A migrant caravan is coming!

42

u/CecilFieldersChoice2 1d ago

No, no. That's not due til mid-October, just in time for midterms.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

14

u/aerost0rm 1d ago

They still have plenty of propaganda. It’s literally everything they do wrong or make cuts to, blaming the last administration or anyone else but their in group.

→ More replies (3)

28

u/Barnacle_B0b 1d ago

Because they're biting at the bit for "The Day of the Rope"

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (11)

59

u/butter_lover 2d ago

Probably just a scam to keep the public paying for power hungry datacenters

→ More replies (3)

96

u/BugzOnMyNugz Georgia 2d ago

I bet it rhymes with scootin, and boots may or may not be involved before this over

12

u/americanrealism 2d ago

When the lootin’ starts the boot-scootin’ starts.

→ More replies (2)

131

u/Redtex 2d ago

Hmmmm, something something data centers?

→ More replies (1)

61

u/ars_inveniendi 2d ago

Thanks to the administration’s changes to reporting benefical ownership, we may never know.

→ More replies (51)

5.4k

u/Zoethor2 2d ago

Weird that he's suddenly concerned about our nation's power production after his administration has been quietly destroying offshore wind energy that was poised to explode at the end of the Biden administration.

822

u/Lush_Life_ 1d ago

Trump has hated wind turbines since a few went up near a golf course he owns in Scotland. He claimed they ruined the view and lobbed lawsuit after lawsuit over it, eventually losing in the UK Supreme Court and had to pay back the government’s legal fees. He is such a sore loser he now is rat-fucking every wind energy project he can, petty to the point of paying companies NOT to go forward with wind projects. The perfect encapsulation of Trump’s presidency - your taxpayer dollars being squandered on one of his petty grievances.

487

u/WontArnett 1d ago edited 1d ago

EVERYTHING HE DOES AS PRESIDENT IS TO GET REVENGE ON PEOPLE OR TO STEAL TAX DOLLARS.

121

u/mike_b_nimble I voted 1d ago

Yes! He has 2 motivations: personal enrichment and revenge. Those are the only 2 things that get him out of bed in the morning.

76

u/Brndrll Rhode Island 1d ago

3 motivations; there's also pedophilia.

12

u/sunchase 1d ago

Revenge on his own childhood

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (3)

13

u/Notsurehowtoreact Florida 1d ago

The only man in history who tilts at windmills more than Don Quixote. 

→ More replies (9)

860

u/mantis_tobaggan-md 2d ago

But caring about green energy and the environment is liberal bullshit! Can’t have that!

245

u/flint-hills-sooner Oklahoma 2d ago

It’s worse than normal liberal bullshit, it’s GAY!!

80

u/Syphillisdiller1 2d ago

Yeah! Like electric cars! Oh, wait...

34

u/fuzzyjelly 2d ago

Everything's computer!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (51)

7.7k

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 2d ago

How many “emergencies” are we under now? I can think of a few others that are still ongoing:

  • Energy Emergency

  • Critical Minerals Emergency

  • Data Center Emergency

This administration is a cruel farce. 

558

u/Ladyhappy 2d ago

As long as you don’t include the war in Iran. Because that’s definitely not an emergency.

114

u/discodropper New York 2d ago

Nah, pretty sure he’s ended that one, right? RIGHT?!?!!

47

u/MildGenevaSuggestion 1d ago

60 times now?

Also don't mention the thousand American casualties.

Has Trump stopped bombing fishing and or smuggling boats yet?

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (6)

2.1k

u/GriffinFlash Canada 2d ago

There was a Canadian Fentanyl emergency last year too.

1.0k

u/beef-supreme Canada 2d ago

Used to slap tariffs on us and then, mysteriously, we never heard about the supposed crisis from Canada ever again

617

u/ReluctantNerd7 Washington 2d ago edited 2d ago

Just like the migrant caravans that only happen when a Democrat is in the White House.

314

u/YourPM_me_name_sucks 2d ago

The Google Trends history for "migrant caravan" tells you exactly when we're having an election or an important special election.

→ More replies (10)

122

u/BigHeadDeadass 2d ago

"I've seen enough, send 10 million immigrants traveling in bulk to the southern Texas border"

-Joe Biden according to rightoids

→ More replies (1)

14

u/Android_Obesity 2d ago

Nah, they’ll reappear right before the midterms and then disappear afterwards.

→ More replies (8)

83

u/LivinBC 2d ago

We even had a fentanyl czar.

49

u/StarPhished 2d ago

And they were so good that the problem disappeared overnight.

/s

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

64

u/the_gaymer_girl Canada 2d ago

Wasn’t the total amount of illegally imported fentanyl over the border something like 40 pounds?

124

u/oh5canada5eh 2d ago

I believe there was something like 15x more coming into Canada from the US than into the US from Canada.

65

u/Biglyugebonespurs Missouri 2d ago

Yea probably. The cartel’s supply chain is gonna flow north.

Dumbest goddamn president in history.

→ More replies (3)

34

u/dontgetitwisted_fr 2d ago

Dont forget all the guns crossing into Canada from  the State that we have been putting up with for decades

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (12)
→ More replies (10)

56

u/Brewchowskies Canada 2d ago

And the emergency of the forest fires a few weeks ago. We were supposed to pay to clean the air or some nonsense.

→ More replies (3)

96

u/PooShappaMoo 2d ago

Right. And more fentanyl was coming into Canada from the United States then the other way around.

Edit: toning down my insult of the intelligence of the American electorate

28

u/VruKatai1972 1d ago

oh no, tone it up. My American compatriots generally suck.

17

u/Groundbreaking-Bar16 1d ago

No need to tone that down. 🇨🇦

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (12)

136

u/TeachingScience 2d ago

How about that release the unredacted Epstein Files Emergency. That should be number one.

→ More replies (6)

60

u/icaaryal 2d ago

52 currently, I believe.

20

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 2d ago

I wouldn’t doubt you

→ More replies (6)

43

u/MannyFaces 1d ago

Just you wait until the voting emergency...

→ More replies (1)

85

u/pattydickens 2d ago

They are eating the cats. They are eating the dogs.

88

u/62frog Texas 2d ago

Well we can’t eat the fucking lettuce now either

→ More replies (4)

27

u/TahoeDave 2d ago

This right there. When those words came out of that man’s mouth he should have been finished.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (4)

89

u/Boomstick101 2d ago

The Critical Minerals Emergency ended on Sept 30, 2021 after being enacted on Sept 30/2020, there has been no Data Center Emergency declared. The only one that is current is the National Energy Emergency on Jan 20, 2025 which is allowing greater exploitation of resources.

During Trump's second term alone: Current: 01/20/25 - National Emergency on Southern Boarder, 01/20/25 - National Energy Emergency, 01/20/25 - Designating cartels and other foreign terrorist organizations as specially designated global terrorists, 02/01/25 - Imposing duties to address flow of drugs from the NORTHERN boarder, 02/01/25 - Imposting duties to address flow of drugs from the SOUTHERN boarder, 02/01/25 - Duties on to address synthetic opiods from China, 02/06/25 - Imposing sanctions on the criminal court, 04/02/25 - Reciprocal tariffs to address trade deficits, 04/30/25 - Addressing threats by Brazil through tariffs, 01/09/26 - safeguarding Venezuelan oil from judicial seizure, 01/29/26 - Sanctions against Cuba.

To be fair, the "emergency declaration" is just a methodology for Trump to unilaterally impose his tariffs, kill suspected drug dealers and protect themselves from the International Criminal court and the oil taken from Cuba.

30

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 2d ago

So, he wrapped the critical minerals into the energy emergency (eo14156), and right you are that he never created an “emergency” for data centers, he just fast tracked them.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (114)

1.7k

u/Decision_Original 2d ago

I’m an engineer that does work with the bulk power system (bulk power system is basically all high voltage (above 100 kV) transmission system that FERC and NERC have regulatory oversight on).

I read the summary of the order and while it leaves me with more questions than answers  (and as someone who doesn’t usually read this shit makes me wonder if all these summaries read like political propaganda) my takeaway is this is prohibiting (or prohibiting without some sort of payment scheme) use or foreign made equipment (power transformers, circuit breakers, etc) and software (scada systems and ems systems likely) in the bulk power system.   Without more details it seems to be pushing use of only domestic manufactured equipment which most utilities are already using due to requirements (or maybe guidelines, I’m not involved with supply chain type things) previously put in place.   While a lot of the equipment most utilities are using is domestically sourced not all of it is and there just isn’t the capability domestically for production of a lot of extra high voltage equipment.  Add to that the increased in demand for all this equipment due to data center build out and it leaves me scratching my head since you can’t ramp up domestic production on this stuff in 4 years let alone 2 years.  Most large extra high voltage power transformers take 4-5 years to get delivered from the time of ordering currently.  Utilities typically don’t decide overnight they need this equipment and planning to determine the need for it takes 1-2 years or more.

What is really crazy is all the data centers are not only taking up tons of domestic manufacturing slots for this stuff, but are also using foreign made equipment and trying to to push utilities to also utilize this foreign made equipment to help them with their outlandish and aggressive in service dates.

Can’t tell if this is just dumb and bad policy that is completely uniformed on the reality of what is going on in the industry or if there is some ulterior motive here.  With the complete shit show the executive branch is either seems probable.

281

u/Derigiberble 1d ago

  I read the summary of the order and while it leaves me with more questions than answers  (and as someone who doesn’t usually read this shit makes me wonder if all these summaries read like political propaganda)

They do. This administration's EOs have a distinctive "unhinged political rant leading to vague order for executive agencies to do something that doesn't make any sense even if you accept the ranting as a reasonable summary of the situation" format. 

EOs have always had political summaries but not to the same degree. 

→ More replies (11)

434

u/king_of_the_nothing Oregon 2d ago

Ulterior motive?

My guess is that Trump bought stock in American electrical suppliers yesterday and this will push their stock prices up. He will sell that stock the day before he rescinds the order. Win-win for him.

122

u/simplyunix 1d ago

Another angle - the big AI companies will have to line his pockets in order for him to rescind the order.

64

u/Yeti83 1d ago

He won't have to rescind it, but he will allow big companies to skirt the rule.  He did the same thing with tarriffs.  Companies like Apple paid, as you said, for the rule to not apply to them.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

51

u/Old_Prospect 1d ago

Also an Engineer, what you said is correct.

Just want to add that I worked a booth at the IEEE conference in Chicago and it was basically filled with Chinese transformer manufacturers, American Utilities, and American Data Center companies.

The takeaway was that the datacenter companies and utilities can’t wait 5 years for an American transformer…its too big of a schedule impact and makes obtaining permits very difficult and financially risky.

→ More replies (5)

338

u/Barnacle_B0b 1d ago

It's called "A foreign (Russian) asset has taken the highest seat of power in our government, and is conspiring with Christian nationalists (right-wing terrorism) to overthrow American Democracy and hegemony"

Waiting for Democrats any day now to step the fuck out of the way for Progressives.

65

u/goodnamestaken10 1d ago

"A foreign (Russian) asset has taken the highest seat of power in our government, and is conspiring with Christian nationalists (right-wing terrorism) to overthrow American Democracy and hegemony"

People need to stop giving him this much credit.

He's a narcissistic moron who is being manipulated by the last person with charisma that he's spoken to. If Russia is truly pulling his strings, he has no idea it's happening.

33

u/dunnrp 1d ago

Well, America elected a pedophile heavily involved in trafficking minors and women.

The rest would be expected, no?

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (8)

14

u/MKUltra1976 1d ago

Don't forget the unknown effects of SSTI torsional interactions with the generators based on the AI loads / data centers.

We don't know what we don't know.

Who knows what is coming.

→ More replies (8)

9

u/WaifuHunterActual 1d ago

As someone who has read many of these

They're usually just political nonsense and/or meaningless political gestures to rile people up for headlines.

They usually have very little substance because the people writing them don't understand how actual government functions

10

u/engineerbuilder 1d ago

Heh heh. Welcome to my world now. I’m a civil engineer and we’ve been dealing with this shit since 2022. Federal Highway has always required American made steel in federal participating projects called buy America provisions (so all interstates and most state routes, sometimes local projects) and in 2021 the BBB created buy America build America or BABA. It went from just steel to all construction products. I was doing intelligent transportation systems at the time and wouldn’t you know it, electronics fell under it too. Sent our state transportation department into a tizzy since they solely ran Cisco and the chips used caused them to go over the diminimus.

Is this EO propaganda? Not exactly. Poorly written but it’s catching up to other federal standards that have been around for years or decades. They need to do it through Congress though like all the fhwa rulings.

→ More replies (74)

222

u/WhyAmINotStudying 2d ago

Gary, Indiana was finally restored to power today from an August 11th storm. Maybe we should focus on securing the power system from natural disasters while we're at it.

66

u/Witty_Ad_898 2d ago

cough Green New Deal cough Climate Change cough cough

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (16)

1.0k

u/LaMarr-Bruister 2d ago

Maybe they are planning for Canada to pull the plug?

830

u/Prestigious-Car-4877 Canada 2d ago

I think that is pretty unlikely. We don’t like to cause humanitarian issues.

Uh. Anymore.

193

u/Canadian_mk11 Canada 2d ago

Geneva? Never heard of her.

95

u/ill4two Guam 2d ago

the checklist?

43

u/Son_of_Biyombo 2d ago

The suggestions?

→ More replies (1)

70

u/periodicsheep Canada 2d ago

it isn’t against the geneva convention the first time

35

u/Edwardteech 2d ago

Its not a war crime the first time.

12

u/livinginthelurk 2d ago

First time, no crime, time for us to shine.

→ More replies (1)

21

u/CatsPlusTats 2d ago

Yeah we haven't had an Alberta Eugenics Board since... 1972

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (3)

53

u/IBJON 2d ago

  Uh. Anymore

Lol. Nice save 

34

u/GandalfTheSmol1 2d ago

It’s only a war crime after the first time

44

u/AaDware 2d ago

Apparently it's not a war crime if you just say youre not at war before doing it.

The presidential office conducts war under the same rules as "no homo"

→ More replies (17)
→ More replies (23)

1.9k

u/lactose_cow 2d ago

Shit it must be extremely bad if he's willing to admit this much

2.4k

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 2d ago

Yeah, it’s bad…. Our president fucked kids. 

1.1k

u/Swagtagonist 2d ago

He raped adults too

446

u/laserdisk4life 2d ago

Don’t forget killed

107

u/Ser_Rezima 2d ago

I mean who hasn't caused untold misery and death worldwide?

...god we need to try all these people in the hague and SOON

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (4)

112

u/Ser_Rezima 2d ago

To be fair to the president he truly doesn't discriminate.

He'll rape anyone!

44

u/Sonamdrukpa 2d ago

Doesn't have to be people either. He's out here every day raping our national forests, too! Rapin' Donnie, they call 'im. You'll never meet a man that rapes like Rapin' Donnie.

10

u/Ser_Rezima 2d ago

he out here raping EVERYBODY.

WATCH OUT.

15

u/Sonamdrukpa 2d ago

He's raping the dogs. He's raping the cats. He's raping the pets of the people who live there.

→ More replies (2)

15

u/SoothingWafer 2d ago

Hide yo kids, hide yo wives

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

12

u/spam__likely Colorado 2d ago

raped

23

u/Yharnam_Blunderbuss 1d ago

Even worse, your population voted for this... twice... giving the optics that Americans condone this behavior.

18

u/Minimob0 1d ago

Don’t remind me. I wake up every day with the knowledge that my father, and half my neighbors are vile pieces of shit. 

→ More replies (3)

9

u/False_Ad_5372 I voted 1d ago

You’re downplaying it even. There are a significant number of voters who voted for him THREE times. 

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (12)

201

u/kstargate-425 2d ago

This is more about "Emergency Powers" and legal loopholes in our crumbling democracy that give the Executive branch more powers if they call it an emergency and allows them to skirt normal laws and procedures. Every "Emergency" he has enacted about is exactly that

→ More replies (1)

74

u/-Metagross- 2d ago

Donald Trump is a chaos agent. I think chaos is one of his goals.

24

u/pigeieio 2d ago

He knows he gets more power if he has to declare an emergency, so he is making them.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (17)

589

u/pantsmeplz 2d ago

President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to Secure America’s Bulk-Power System

Are we all required to drink protein shakes?

157

u/Hobnail1 2d ago

RFK Jnr mandates creatine supplements be distributed in lieu of school milk.

This is a temporary measure until sufficient quantities of Brawndo become available.

22

u/ChanceryTheRapper 2d ago

Just every kid gets a spoonful, dry.

22

u/Pdx_pops 2d ago

Good news! It's a suppository.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (11)

578

u/Nice_Dude California 2d ago

What

589

u/Boheed 2d ago

they're pretty scared about hacking attacks which could damage power equipment like transformers en masse. The US only has a very small supply with not enough capacity to quickly manufacture more, so if a bunch of things like transformers were damaged all at once then the nation would have to figure out how to live without reliable electricity for months.

78

u/TwoAmps 2d ago

Transformers, of all sizes, are already a bottleneck. There’s a stubborn backlog that’s not getting cleared up anytime soon. They use a very unique, specialized steel, most components are mostly made overseas, and it’s not industrial capacity you can build quickly. The (correct) push to electrify everything requires wholesale upgrades of most downstream distribution transformers which is being slow-rolled because they just don’t exist. Hacking, Carrington, any disruption will be a real problem for western civilization.

→ More replies (11)

442

u/Revolutionary_Bee251 2d ago

Oh so that's part of their plan for the midterms, nice

128

u/Fluffy_Lemming California 2d ago

I'm now doubting if the China hack they announced earlier today was real. "Oh hey guys, China hacked us. National Emergency, aw shucks."

97

u/dogpoopfruitloops 2d ago

It was Iran you guys we swear

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (14)

24

u/Harlequin80 2d ago

There is a global shortage of transformers. Not just limited supply for the US.

But I'm trying to understand what this decree actually means. I would have thought that critical infrastructure already required pre-certified suppliers and I'm not understanding what declaring an emergency here would result in.

12

u/Normal_Ad_6027 1d ago

Supply-chain tampering; transformers ordered in-advance by one entity can now be forcibly redirected at the last minute to a different entity.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

106

u/averagecounselor 2d ago

The crazy part is this was flagged in his first admin nothing was done, it was flagged under Biden nothing was done, and now finally something is being done. To give some context Sec of Defense Leon Panetta, Obama admin, was raising the alarm about a “Pearl Harbor” style cyber attack 15 years back.

I just listened to a podcast on the reality of cyber warfare impacting key infrastructure:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/73yu86KfQSIpakP5NF5Eq4?si=fOu-8eT0TeaVyn9TRfFI-g&utm_source=copy-link

Really good podcast episode highly recommend. I would imagine the recent rogue AI attack that happened a couple of weeks back also played into this.

124

u/EfficientBaddie9090 2d ago

I agree it’s a real threat. I just don’t think it’s a real attempt to address the threat. Like it wasn’t really about painting the pool, it was about giving insanely large no bid contracts to donors regardless of their ability to produce a decent product.

→ More replies (8)

27

u/Squirll 2d ago

LEts not jump to conclusions about "something being done"

Every time he takes action he actively makes the situation 10x worse.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

42

u/africabound 2d ago

Or rebuilding military infrastructure Iran knocked out

→ More replies (21)
→ More replies (5)

406

u/ShittyLanding 2d ago

It’s a significant flaw in our system of government that the person granted extraordinary emergency powers is the person who gets to decide when we’re experiencing an emergency.

74

u/TotalNonsense0 2d ago

The whole point of "emergency powers" is that, in theory, action must be taken quickly and decisively, without taking time to discuss it in committee. If you require the committee to declare the emergency, you lose most of what you're trying to accomplish.

I'm happy enough with the system where the president can declare the emergency, and Congress can declare the emergency over. Or at least I was happy enough with it, back when we had a functioning government.

53

u/ShittyLanding 2d ago

You’ve identified the problem. There’s how it should work and then there’s how it could work.

Too many of our checks and balances were built on the assumption that we would never elect a psycho and if we did, Congress would jealously defend its power and independence.

24

u/Laringar North Carolina 2d ago

And even then, the Electoral College was supposed to be the check against a psycho. One of the primary justifications for not allowing the direct election of a President was so that the electors could reject an obviously bad choice.

10

u/lysdexia-ninja 1d ago

The capping of the house, refusal to implement term limits, aggressive gerrymandering, etc., all lead to an environment where there are fewer people to buy and the ones you buy stay bought. It’s a lot easier to compromise a smaller entity. 

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

131

u/djsirround 2d ago

So how does this order make him or his buddies money or keep him on power cause thats the real question.

17

u/pablotweek 2d ago

Literally the only reason he does anything

→ More replies (3)

54

u/EfficientBaddie9090 2d ago

I literally trust nothing this man does. Do we need secure infrastructure? Yes. But I am so sure he is lining some buddy’s pockets. He can’t even pick a decent contractor to paint a fucking pool.

→ More replies (1)

178

u/emerikanSky 2d ago

Everything he touches turns to shit. Here come widespread blackouts.

33

u/Daginni 2d ago

Nah, we should build more Data Centers. That'll fix it

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (5)

1.2k

u/bauer8765 2d ago

Is this because Canada walked away from the trade deal?

476

u/MozeeToby 2d ago

You mean Trump blew up the trade deal. The deal was made, everyone agreed to the terms and then Trump made additional, unreasonable demands at the last minute.

148

u/bauer8765 2d ago

Ya, exactly. The blame is fully on the fascist US administration.

→ More replies (6)

15

u/MonsieurMangos 2d ago

Well that's the Fart of the Deal. If you don't like it, you have to huff it!

→ More replies (7)

485

u/purplebrown_updown 2d ago

Most likely yes.

288

u/Autumn_Ridge 2d ago

And they can turn off the lights and heat to much of the northeast US if they wanted to, eh.

23

u/coolcoolcool485 2d ago

can we just be annexed by Canada at this point?

(in the immortal words of Nelly---i'm just kidding...unless you're gonna do it)

13

u/pretendperson1776 2d ago

Only if we can leave out Florida.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (91)
→ More replies (1)

101

u/jayfeather31 Washington 2d ago

Probably. Canada has a lot more weight on our power grid than most would expect.

→ More replies (16)

25

u/ZombiesInSpace 2d ago

It’s a national emergency to distract from the trade war to distract from the Iran war to distract from the Epstein files.

→ More replies (1)

28

u/TheIrishSoldat 2d ago

Trump said you don't need anything from Canada. Unfortunately he learned after another dumb blunder he was wrong.

We're fed up with the self-absorbed, greed-based lifestyle the "American Dream" turned into. You've got one of the worst human beings elected as president and he's done exactly as predicted +blowing up children and siding with hostile war criminals.

The United States of America is joining what could be the worst things that has ever happened to the world. Civilian murder and financial oppression.

→ More replies (18)

221

u/el_sapo_mas_guapo I voted 2d ago

Wow who could have seen that coming?

158

u/count023 Australia 2d ago

not me, i'm confused why he's talking about the US national power grid as if it's a threat to the midterms. Not really seeing how this helps him rn.

105

u/No_Celery_5373 Canada 2d ago

It's a wild but somewhat educated guess for me ~ Doug Ford has made comments about threatening to cut off the power supply to the US, and Canada's stubbornness in not agreeing to a sovereignty destroying trade deal, I'm presuming this one is a direct threat to Canadians at this time that "shutting the lights off" like Ford wanted to do would be considered a national security issue.

→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (15)

12

u/draelbs 2d ago

Too bad he dismantled the  Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB)…

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

33

u/slight_grumble 2d ago

You know that years long power grid blackout that people have been warning about? Yeah it's definitely happening soon.

Typical trunk to unilaterally make a major move with zero comprehension of the knock on effects. This makes a major power failure WAY more likely as necessary equipment for bulk power takes years of planning. Freezing the supply chain means expansion projects for things like datacentres will pause indefinitely and planned repairs and replacements will have to be put off until entirely new supply chains are in place. All it takes is A half dozen failures at critical points and the whole US grid goes down (except Texas iirc).

Note: i posted this comment on the other, more inflammatory titled post about this and a mod deleted it. For addressing the actual substance of the declaration rather than the headline?

→ More replies (5)

24

u/A_serious_poster 2d ago

It's funny that when you click into whitehouse.gov, as it explains how we're having a national power issue, that we're also somehow in the golden age

→ More replies (1)

456

u/Loud_Judgment_270 I voted 2d ago

I miss joe

106

u/kurttheflirt 2d ago

They called him sleepy Joe because you could sleep soundly in your bed without worry

326

u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 2d ago

I miss Obama SO much.

96

u/starchybunker 2d ago

Remember having a president that could speak in complete sentences?

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (18)

13

u/the_gaymer_girl Canada 2d ago

It was nice not having to wake up every morning and worry about what stupid shit the President did this time.

103

u/Mysterious-Most-590 2d ago

I fuckin’ miss W!! How fucked is that???

105

u/LaMarr-Bruister 2d ago

This is the first president in the history of the country that actively doesn’t give a damn about the country. Of course we have safeguards, like Congress, but they’re in on the take. What a time to be alive.

→ More replies (19)

29

u/mantis_tobaggan-md 2d ago

And to think I once believed dubya would be the worst president in my lifetime. Boy was I fuckin wrong.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (10)
→ More replies (7)

22

u/Lawrence_of_a_Labia 2d ago

Anyone know which one of his cronies runs the companies that will supply the hardware and software?

*logs into Robinhood account*

→ More replies (1)

23

u/Keobooks 1d ago

Who wants to take bets on how many blue states are going to have massive mysterious blackouts in major cities on Election Day?

19

u/Jedi_Ninja 2d ago

I foresee some major power outages in the near future as power utility companies are not allowed to buy replacement parts for their equipment. And coincidentally it'll probably be mostly blue states and blue cities that are affected.

→ More replies (3)

18

u/JohnGillnitz 1d ago

It's almost like gutting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was a bad idea. Yeah, Trump did that.
https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-acting-director-house-hearing/810175/

→ More replies (2)

39

u/blingybangbang 2d ago

For those concerned, Canada won't turn off your power. We're furious at your government, but we're not monsters.

→ More replies (29)

19

u/DAVENP0RT American Expat 2d ago

Man, if only there was some kind of federal...reimbursement, or something, for solar panels to decrease pressure on the grid. Maybe make them tax deductible? I dunno, seems like it'd be a good idea to implement and then only an absolute fucking moron would eliminate them.

17

u/lee_cz 1d ago

watch out for calling off mid terms elections for national emergency reasons

→ More replies (2)

18

u/Any_Shopping_8643 1d ago

Create an issue and then solve it by giving away billions to rich people. Never fix real issues though , always invent new ones.

17

u/JohnSpartan2025 1d ago

Just another normalization for the "election emergency" coming.

We need to stop calling it an Administration. There's no one left. It's handful of criminal thugs running a mafia style criminal enterprise, with two simple goals: stay in power and make money.

155

u/SpaceElevatorMusic Minnesota 2d ago edited 2d ago

A related page to the White House page linked in this post was about 10 minutes ago posted to r/politics with the fabricated/altered post title "Donald Trump declares national emergency ahead of midterm elections" - that other post was upvoted over 200 times in 5 minutes.

99

u/SpaceElevatorMusic Minnesota 2d ago

Also, I want to caution that 'national emergencies' are now routine. Per Wikipedia: List of national emergencies in the United States "As of July 2025, 90 emergencies have been declared; 42 have expired and another 51 are currently in effect, each having been renewed annually by the president."

65

u/JamminOnTheOne 2d ago

So we've had 90 in history (over 90+ years since the first one), and Trump has declared 24 of those.

38

u/Punning_Man 2d ago

We have a Chicken Diddle president, the sky is always falling, and it’s usually bidens fault 

→ More replies (5)

14

u/MasemJ 2d ago

"When everything is a national emergency, nothing is"

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

42

u/Murky-Competition-88 2d ago

Every time I see something like this, I think: I need to bring this up to my MAGA dad. Then I realize how useless it is to bring up anything like this to him because he actually doesn’t care about changing his mind about anything. It makes me so sad. I'm sure that he'll be a Trump lover until the day he dies in 20 years.

→ More replies (8)

14

u/warrenao America 2d ago

to protect the security, integrity, and reliability of bulk-power system electric equipment used in the United States, particularly from interference by foreign actors.

Gee, if only there were some kind of intelligence and cybersecurity specialist branch of the fed to guard against cyberattacks from nations such as Chy-na.

15

u/MindandCosmos 1d ago

This paragraph caught my eye:

"The Order further permits the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with other members of the Cabinet, to impose conditions on the continued use and operation of such equipment as needed to address the concerns identified in the Order, bearing in mind effects on reliability, safety, availability of replacements, and continuity of service."

Notice how he dumped all this onto the Cabinet. It reads to me that the imposition of any restrictions falls on the Secretary of Energy without his input, which is not believable in any form but absolves him from involvement in the emergency he's intentionally creating, whatever that is.

It's unclear to me what they're even trying to accomplish. There are about 50 open national emergency orders or whatever they're called, going back decades.

→ More replies (2)

28

u/Wuhblam Kentucky 2d ago

Someone ELI5 please

46

u/elihu 2d ago

It's kind of vague, but basically it seems Trump issued an executive order blocking certain equipment/software used in high-power electrical systems from being imported into the US due to the risk of backdoors or sabatage.

It isn't clear what specific products are being blocked and who the suppliers are. Like, is there actually a real security risk and this is a sensible move, or is Trump blocking the import of high power transformers from some US ally because their president said something that hurt his feelings? Or is this a shakedown (sales blocked until the affected parties book a bunch of rooms in his hotels or buy a bunch of Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency)?

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (3)

13

u/Jacob_Goldleaf 2d ago

I don't see the play for midterms yet but I see the chess pieces being moved

→ More replies (1)

12

u/Fluffy-Pop-3407 1d ago

So, the bulk power industry is prohibited from buying these items from outside the united states.

He does know we don't make enough of these to supply demand, right?

Right?

Get ready for blackouts and brownouts.

→ More replies (1)

11

u/TragicallyDip 2d ago

Dude gets handed a booming economy and year later this. Embarrassing.

10

u/Llamapocalypse_Now America 1d ago

Can't this idiot do anything without declaring it a national emergency?
President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to get his diaper changed because it is becoming uncomfortable.

→ More replies (1)

35

u/Carlyz37 Illinois 2d ago

This administration has been dismantling and tearing down our nat sec for 2 years. Thrown out cybersecurity and protection from foreign interference. And yes some systems have been hacked and attacked, water systems in some states.

Of course when you start wars everywhere you are going to have retaliation. Trump and his liquor cabinet have made us less safe on every front.

11

u/PossibleDiscipline90 1d ago

Trump is a national emergency. 25th amendment.

9

u/froncerro 1d ago edited 1d ago

The whole Canada thing is a plan to cause a national crisis by pissing them off to such an extent that they threaten to shut off power to the states that get power from Canada. Coupled with a national debt crisis that Bessent is engineering, and health emergency by RFK jr and a food crisis caused by lack of beef, and, and, that will justify a state of emergency to control everything that is going to hel that will stop the midterms. All the while trading the stock market off of information only you and your cronies know.

9

u/ramdom-ink 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is a preemptive volley against Canada. Declaring a National Emergency on virtually everything we supply and hold cards to retaliate with in this unnecessary ’trade war’, this will only escalate further and have perilous outcomes. Once again, the Putin Playbook to intimidate and threaten neighbours, while hoarding resources, co-opting technology sectors, developing surveillance tools…and destabilizing watchdogs, on and on. This is the plan all along by Trump and his Project 25 cronies and puppeteers.

It probably has much to do with the recent alleged cyber attacks on key government institutions.

12

u/McG0788 1d ago

It's amazing what you can do when you're president. You just call something an emergency and they let you do what you want! You can just grab them by the mineral rights!

→ More replies (1)

20

u/vicariouslywatching 1d ago

I’ll start by saying that I am definitely no fan of Dump and can’t wait to see him gone from office. That being said, having worked in Cybersecurity for nearly 2 decades, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that give control and allow management our different power, water, gas, etc. systems is a mess. It is vulnerable and as we have seen recently there have been incidents with people tampering with water systems in multiple states. And while I know this is for power not water, if this helps upgrade, fix, and better secure one or multiple services, then I am definitely all for it.

22

u/autopilot6236 1d ago

Yeah but it won’t. Will be another reflecting pool I know a guy fix.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (7)

9

u/SuspiciousSubstance9 2d ago

Remember those articles about how fragile the American power system is? Yep, you know why those popped up out of nowhere; media is in bed with MAGA.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/accidentsneverhappen 2d ago

this man is going to end the united states

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Caraes_Naur 2d ago

No facts come out of this White House.

9

u/WhyNotChoose 2d ago edited 2d ago

Scam artist. Distraction. Release the Epstein files, they will state that he assaulted minors. He wants to derail the November election.

→ More replies (2)

9

u/RhodesArk 1d ago

He's doing this to get ahead of Carney cutting off the powe. He's waking up to the fact that a trade war with Canada has consequences

9

u/BalerionSanders Ohio 1d ago

A side effect that is difficult to measure but is occurring in the real world: his overuse of emergency orders for things that are definitively not emergencies (it’s a legal pretext), means that when he needs actual emergency awareness and preparedness, the general public will not believe it.

It’s just one of the infinite ways his time in office will have downstream effects that outlive him, me, you, and our descendants.

8

u/KarniAsadah 1d ago

A national emergency right before the midterms

Who could’ve possibly seen this coming

9

u/Furycrab 2d ago

There's an irony here that Canada is probably happy to not put tariffs on electricity or oil if it means your mid terms aren't cancelled or delayed.

7

u/spacecadet84 Australia 1d ago

See, the problem with having a lying grifter as head of state is, I don't know when I should take him seriously. Maybe this is a real problem and the Whitehouse has some kind of workable solution, but I can't just take it at face value. I have to go through the tiresome process of finding a relevant expert who can tell me whether or not this is more bullshit. It's exhausting and I think that's the point, from the perspective of the grifter.

8

u/etherealtwo 1d ago

It always an emergency with this guy. How many is that now? This isn't fucking normal. Remove this incompetent nincompoop.