[OneLeggedCat]

> foreign-made consumer routers can still be sold, but they are going to look at them with a fine-tooth comb, and they are going to use FCC approval as leverage to try to increase domestic manufacturing

That is not what's going to happen. What's going to happen is that anyone coughing up payola to the current executive in chief's people will get approved, and anyone that doesn't will remain blocked. This practice is currently widespread, in the form of tariffs.

[ryandrake]

We're going to keep seeing this in all kinds of industries throughout the next three or so years: "Your products are banned or your country is tariffed, but if you pay enough in bribes, er I mean undergo our approval process, then you'll be exempt."

[dzonga]

to me the greatest damage the trump admin is doing is bringing out corruption in the open.

if there's really one thing that destroys countries is corruption. being originally from a 3rd world country - I have seen it. now the US is heading towards the same path.

having worked in the IOT industry before - I can tell even domestic manufactures will be forced to pay bribes soon cloaked in 'state secrets' - there's already export laws etc - but now they will be forced to pay for compliance e.g maybe donating the president's vanity project.

[lazide]

Bonus points if the ‘approval’ process exempts them from liability if misused - and there is no actual checking done as part of approval.

[daveguy]

You know that's exactly how it's going to be. There are two attributes of this administration that are just as prominent as corruption -- laziness and incompetence.

[dlcarrier]

That descriptions already fits the payola model. It's almost never about directly handing money to a politician. That's illegal, so it's not worth doing when there's legal ways to do it. Instead, payola usually involves regulations requiring using some kind of product or certification, then the organizations that sell the product or perform the certification contribute to the politicians.

Also, the biggest benefactors of payola aren't the politicians, it's the rent seekers, that is the businesses already in place that want to prevent competition. Because of this, they usually directly contribute to the politicians that promise to restrict the path to doing business.

For example, if you want a newest-generation extremely-efficient air conditioner in the US, you won't be able to buy it and even if you could, you wouldn't be able to get anyone to install it. Any given model of air conditioners needs to be on an approved list to be sold in the US, and the installer needs to be on an approved list, too. This means that by the time an air conditioner makes it onto the list, it's already old. Also, installers can require you buy it from them, and almost all do, so by the time time an installer on the list has it for sale, it's even older than that. Ironically this is all enabled by the EPA, on the auspices that they are ensuring that it's energy inefficient, when in reality they are preserving the market for the older, more expensive, and inefficient models.

[afavour]

> That descriptions already fits the payola model.

The old payola model. This new model encompasses the old one and adds a neat layer of outright politician bribery on top.

[tbyehl]

> It's almost never about directly handing money to a politician. That's illegal

According to SCOTUS in Snyder v. United States, if the payment occurs after the official act, it's a perfectly legal "gratuity."

[hedora]

Trump made $4B last year. It's open and direct bribery at this point. He's said he plans to hide behind qualified immunity and pardons for people he pays (with tax money) to break the law on his behalf.

Dario (CEO of Anthropic) said the DoW contract violations and threats were direct retaliation for not paying Trump "campaign" money. Later, he was forced to apologize for speaking the truth.