For those still looking for the point in what Trump is doing, I give you a quote. This is from A scary quote for the GOP on Trump and tariffs by Aaron Blake at WaPo. And here’s the quote.
“He’s at the peak of just not giving a f— anymore,” a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking told The Post. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”
I don’t know how much of the current ongoing disaster really is about what Trump promised on the campaign trail. I do suspect he has some kind of notion about how all this chaos is going to work out, somehow. I don’t think he’s deliberately sabotaging his own administration. but Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing. And Aaron Blake’s point is that when the tariff ship sinks (as it undoubtedly will) the Republican party is going to go down with it. The entire party has spend years protecting him and making excuses for him and Letting Trump Be Trump. When the ship sinks it will be too late for backsies.
But Trump doesn’t give a bleep what happens to them. He’s going to do what he wants to do, what feels good to do. So every government agency that ever in the least bit annoyed him,, which is probably all of them, is getting cut. Every program that doesn’t directly reflect glory and honor on him is being cut. He doesn’t give a bleep if they are popular or even if lives depend on them.
And I do think the tariffs are in part a power play. He thinks the world will come groveling to him. That’s what he most dearly wants, to be the capo dei capi of the whole planet. That is, I think, why he keeps changing his story about whether the tariffs are permanent or negotiable. If they are supposed to be protectionist and cause more goods to be manufactured in the U.S., they have to be permanent. Nobody is going to start building a new factory to relocate manufacturing to the U.S. if they think the stupid tariffs will end in a few weeks. Even Trump ought to be able to understand that. So Trump has to say the tariffs are around to stay. But what he really wants is the groveling. So then an hour later he’ll say they are negotiable.
But it’s not going to work. He doesn’t understand tariffs, and economies. He over-calculated America’s importance. Instead of making himself stronger, he’s leaving a power vacuum where the U.S. used to be, and sooner or later some other country, or perhaps the EU, will step into that void. Under Trump’s “leadership” the U.S. is becoming more isolated, and vulnerable, and dysfunctional, and quickly a whole lot poorer. So much winning. And as people lose their investments and FEMA doesn’t show up after a disaster and hospitals close and prices get ridiculous and unemployment goes up because nobody is hiring because consumers aren’t buying, Republicans who have hitched themselves to Trump will have no where to hide.
How bad is the tariff plan? Even the bleeping right-wing American Enterprise Institute says it makes no sense. See also There Is Only One Way to Make Sense of the Tariffs by Derek Thompson at The Atlantic.
One of the highest tariff rates, 50 percent, was imposed on the African nation of Lesotho, whose average citizen earns less than $5 a day. Why? Because the administration’s formula for supposedly “reciprocal” tariff rates apparently has nothing to do with tariffs. The Trump team seems to have calculated each penalty by dividing the U.S. trade deficit with a given country by how much the U.S. imports from it and then doing a rough adjustment. Because Lesotho’s citizens are too poor to afford most U.S. exports, while the U.S. imports $237 million in diamonds and other goods from the small landlocked nation, we have reserved close to our highest-possible tariff rate for one of the world’s poorest countries. The notion that taxing Lesotho gemstones is necessary for the U.S. to add steel jobs in Ohio is so absurd that I briefly lost consciousness in the middle of writing this sentence.
Thompson is basically saying that the tariff policy is an extension of Trump’s chaotic psyche. No real thinking went into any of this. Nobody knows anything about how it’s supposed to work. It was just slapped together to please Trump. As Thompson says, we’re all living in Trump’s head.
On a brighter note, the Hand’s Off protests seem to have gone well yesterday. We need more of those. I was sorry to not go, but I’ve been dealing with a lot of arthritis pain and haven’t been all that mobile. Still, sitting out really bothers me.
What scares me is, a reason Trump may not care, if the tariffs end up destroying the world economy, devastating the GOP, throwing the US economy into recession and all the pain US citizens will feel, and losing the support of his own base is because he knows he's going to implement a plan to prevent the vote in 2026, as it will be the only way to keep republicans and himself in power. Meanwhile, destroying the economy is part of the plan to create a fire sale of assets for him and his billionaire friends so they can buy up everything cheap.
As for Trump "doing what he promised to do on the campaign trail," he's not doing any of that. Prices aren't cheaper, people are losing jobs, pay has not increased. He’s not even deporting millions of “illegals” “on day one” for that matter, to the chagrin of his rabid base. Literally everything he is doing, from firing of government workers, gutting Medicare, destroying social security in order to privatize it, at best, ignoring the courts and relegating congress to a cheerleader squad, is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, something he insisted he knew nothing about.
So no, Trump is not doing what he promised to do on the campaign trail, other than be a dictator on day one.
There you are assuming there's a plan. I don't think so. I'm reading Dow futures fell 1,500 points today, so they're expecting another rout on Wall Street tomorrow. A whole lot of monied people are losing a whole lot of money. And nobody can plan what to do because nobody knows what Trump will do. He changes from hour to hour. And let him try to cancel elections, which the states run. The nation held elections as usual during the Civil War; there is no circumstance in which elections can be canceled nationwide in the U.S. And the way things are going, by next year Trump won't have the political capital left to declare National Pizza Day, never mind cancel elections.
Yeah I know Maha. This tariff madness is so insane even for him (or so I thought) I can't help but think there has to be an ulterior motive, but it may well be sheer incompetence. Or just about Trump feeding his ego mad king style at the expense of everyone else, surrounded by yes men and women too stupid or afraid to see he's driving the entire world off a cliff. Even Musk is pushing back on the tariff policy, as he's feeling the pain. Politically, they are clearly cutting their own throats with this, and at the rate they're going, Trump's approval rating will be measured in negative numbers. They have to know they're going to get wiped out in 2026, and yet they forge ahead towards the cliff. I hope they experience a wipeout like they did in 2018, and it looks like its shaping up to be that. The people around Trump are cultists, morons, or both, and its not beyond possibility that this is just they don't know what the f*ck they're doing.
BTW, we were at the rally in Springfield, IL on Saturday. Huge crowds, everyone was motivated and fired up. This looks like the beginning of a movement.
That says what we are up against to those who can and do read as well as it could be written. With current facts available if fits, and it avoids common speculation errors that are so common in a lot of present journalism and comment to their article. Lots of people can protest and create good and not so good signs. Few have the skills, the knowledge base and the judgement to write what you did. Please accept my view you spent your time well. I trust the power of a well skilled pen backed by a honed knowledge base. Thanks for writing this instead. It is the best descriptive I have read so far as to what we are up against.
I can't remember the mechanic, but I recall his story well. It is one I have conveyed over time but never written down. I think it deserves print, and its source, but that is lost. The mechanic related a story about a local who asked him to diagnose what was wrong with his car's engine. He said that was all he needed as he was handy and could get the parts and do the work himself. The mechanic declined his request, telling him that in his estimation diagnosis was about 70% of the job. On average that figure over time seems quite accurate. Knowing what the problem is, is well over half of most jobs. I have spent many hours and dollars 'fixing' non-existent problems due to poor diagnosis. Then more dollars, time and effort to fix what was the real problem of course too. The mechanic's story is well etched in my memory by the school of hard knocks, which provides no written degree. It applies well beyond car repair. It applies to this problem situation quite well it seems. Let's see how many others will read and agree. A 70% start to a solution of this huge problem is quite an accomplishment. I think you nailed the diagnosis.
Yeah, this definitely applies to the "instant experts" over at the White House. (should we call it the orange house now?)
Also, on top of diagnosis, there is also the expertise of knowing what to do when things go wrong. I have taken on a lot of projects and gotten into the weeds and spent hours struggling with things that an expert has all the tricks for.
The huge issue for me with participating in any resistance against the catastrophe is that if my rural red state associates find out, I am black-balled and my business suffers. That is what "respect" and "freedom of conscience" look like 'round here. Yep, trapped in the orange swamp.
There's an aspect to all this I haven't seen in the press. Big business expected and got a lawless assault on regulation and enforcement. They were celebrating. But the monster they created doesn't recognize any limits. (Funny how lawlessness works.) Trump has assumed power delegated to the Senate by overturning international policy without consultation or direction by the Senate. Previous allies are our enemies. Dictators around the world are Trump's best buddies.
All that's OK with the multinational companies. But Trump is directing the futures of huge blocks of economic power. They are being ordered to shutter overseas operations and depend on US labor. That's not in their ten-year plan. Things could shift against big business in the US just as quick.and they know it. I think they will wait it out while twisting arms in Congress to get control of the idiot in the WH.
Wall Street is in free fall. I'd bet that foreign governments expect a reversal on tariffs in days. So will they make huge concessions this week? I doubt it. Trump is trying to project that foreign governments are eager to talk. But they can point out in discussions that Trump does not have the cards if the US is self-destructing.
Trump has to reverse course and claim victory to save his presidency. But does he know that? I'm not sure that Trump will. Previous conduct says he will double down and try to distract. Pull out of NATO? Commit to the genocide of Palestinians? Invade Greenland?
None of those ideas will boost Trump in the polls. I don't think the media will stop covering the economic meltdown. Watch for layoffs and inflation this month. It will be reported along with atrocities in Gaza.
I'm so tired of winning.
A lot of the countries targeted will have to bend the knee to the orange order because they need US dollars to conduct business in the global marketplace. If they do not, countries like Bangladesh, who are facing ruination of their textile industry will no be able to buy, say, like oil, if they do not turn orange, will starve. Literally starve or serve the orange man. Darth Vader did not get to his position by allowing labor unions and fair trade practices to build the death stars. Do not underestimate the power of the dark side: when they say you will be tired of winning he is referring to his cult and cronies, not everyone else. You are a cost of doing business.
Best explanation for the crazy new Tariffs that I've seen: countries, companies, and people who come groveling to kiss Trump's butt will be rewarded with lower Tariffs. This has already started – Javier Milei bent over for Trump, and got a special zero-zero Tariff deal.
This theory fits perfectly with my view of Trump – a sad, grotesque person, craving attention and love, but devoid of empathy, who keeps trying to fill that void with 'winning'. It also fits with the way the new Tariffs have been implemented, like the stupid way they calculated the % for each country.
Michelle Goldberg, opined some aces today in the NYT, with the business world's bubble burst world -wide about the illusion of the Don-da-con. A lot of them got played for fools twice and she gladly pointed out that old adage about fool me once shame on you, fool me twice how dumb is me.
Assumptions she threw in here ringing the old tune of …making an ass of you and me.
How do you like your recessions? Would a desert of humble pie be to your liking? Did you find the word salad enlightening?
Opinion | Why Did Wall Street Get Trump So Wrong? – The New York Times
Looks like the crash protection team showed up this morning. The markets rebounded bigly.
Your money at work to own them libs!
Actually, I think technically, the market manipulator is officially known as the US Treasury's Plunge Protection Team. All hail the free market, or does this smell like a bailout?
The rebound was expected. As BD suggested, it may be totally artificial, an attempt to steer the market and pray the lemmings follow. It will work if investors think that corporations can deliver the profits projected before Trump took office.
The flip side is that they won't risk a dime if they're convinced the market is headed to a recession. (There are some investments if you expect the market to tank but they may flatline with stagflation.)
I think we're entering a period where everyone will watch and wait to see who blinks. Countries under tariffs restrictions will be fools to pay Trump's extortion if he's on the verge of cracking.
If major corporations in the US announce price hikes and layoffs, Trump 's hand is a pair of deuces. He has to quit and try to salvage the economy to salvage his presidency. (Leo and Koch have indirectly filed suit against Trump over tariffs.) His power is in the devotion of the cultists. That's starting to weaken as they start to feel the pain. The pain is just starting. VA SS and Medicare will see serious cuts. And Trump will continue to golf every weekend.
The "fundamentals" were strong on Jan 1. It will take years to get back to that IF Trump does the right stuff. His economic advisors are all idiots. Stagflation is the BEST we can hope for. The good news is that Trump will get all the blame.
Did you see that he is apparently planning a military parade for his birthday? Perhaps the orange man is a dumbass, but I continually see the worst people failing upwards and the thing that scares me is that the orange people always seem to land on their feet and that cruelty and pretending are more pleasing to the lumpenproletariat no matter the economic situation.