Which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on ABC's This Week, triumphantly: "In Game Theory, it's called strategic insecurity. So you're going to tell the other person that probably everyone is laughing at the US, and this has to stop. And nobody's better at showing this kind of insecurity than President Trump."
It's unclear because Bessent is using pretzel logic to infer Trump is playing multidimensional chess, while Trump is like an unruly infant turning over the chessboard
I think it still needs a rewrite - Reading it, I felt like I did the first time I watched "The Matrix" - there is something interesting there but I can't figure out what it is.
I'm not sure that something's there. If so, it's probably shallower than you think :) Scott Bessent did in fact say something similar, praising Trump's "strategic uncertainty," probably confusing it with "strategic ambiguity":
You get credit for trying, but it's already so convoluted to begin with you really couldn't possibly mangle it anymore. Unless you let Karoline Leavitt try to explain it. She's an expert logic mangler.
"In game theory, it's called strategic uncertainty. So, you're not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you're going to end up. And nobody's better at creating this leverage than President Trump."
This is, without hyperbole, the worst possible strategy when you are taking a sledgehammer to intricate, long established global supply chains and asking small US business to invest millions and larger companies hundreds of millions for new domestic manufacturing, Such extreme uncertainty is beyond insane and will crash the economy.
Bessent knows the words coming out of his mouth are wrong. You can see in his eyes the realisation that he has sold his soul and found out the price was not worth it.
Donald,when the polls all show your approval rating dipping below 50%, when the WSJ is commenting critically about your policies, maybe the problem IS you, rather than those paid lefty operatives.
I don't think he's emotionally capable, this is his second term, the real one. I think he'll just sit there, doing nothing, unless or until a *really* bad idea gets into his head.
Even Trump's not dumb enough to invade Canada, is he?
It would conflict with his plan to send the military into the cities to put down opposition unrest. Especially if half the military would balk and say "f**k off Trumpkopf, we're not doing either of those things!"
I'm guessing your Canadian? Don't be so sure of that, if he successfully conquers us militarily - and I highly doubt he'd be able to, or even dare attempt it - he'd be more emboldened to pursue Canada than before. Be careful what you wish for.
Ahhh, well that's different! Yes, that could potentially work. But I'd prefer a political and legal solution. We're almost guaranteed a blue tsunami in 2026 at this point, in both chambers. In the meantime, I'm going out there to tomorrow's May Day rally, with sign in hand.
//
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
May Day is the next nationwide rally, be there or be square!
We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
I don't think we will. As it is, Thursday's demonstrations are going to be even bigger and better than April 5 and April 19.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
May Day is the next nationwide rally, be there or be square!
We need 3.5% of the population, or around 12,000,000. We've already been halfway there, let's go the rest of the way! Bring all your friends and family and spread the word as far and wide as possible.
"Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level of 40 years?" White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a White House briefing.
Why? Because the inflation was caused by stress to international supply networks caused by Covid. It was not Biden's arbitrary decisions that caused the inflation. Amazon and every other sensible business entity knew that.
See my recent post, the word pathetic certainly applies to Leavitt too, she may be young and nice-looking, but she is mean too, just like Don likes his people to be, and in the end, just pathetic. I would hate to know what the future holds for this youngster, but it won't be nice.
Another reason is that an inflation statistic is tied to general prices, not the cost of a specific item. Whereas a tariff is a specific tax calculated to the price of a SPECIFIC ITEM. Inflation of 3.3% doesn’t mean a Peloton costs 3.3% more. But a 100% tariff on an $82 item means it costs the buyer $164.
This was only for Amazon Haul, a Temu knockoff. Would have been symbolic at best, but even then, why not? Just f*cking estimate it, they know the tariff percentage!
The cause of the problem, in this case Leavitt, is that she is an utter failure as a human being. And she worked to be that way. Don’t you understand? She is what she wants to be. Why should I ever forgive her?
Basic economics is more complicated than that. When prices go up, demand goes down. When demand goes down, companies lay off employees and shareholders get antsy. Demand will only remain nearly the same for necessities; even then, some people will start diets that they had not planned on starting.
I disagree that she's not smart. It takes a certain type of intelligence to do what you described. I don't like it and I think people like Leavitt & Stephen Miller are dangerous, but they are in control for now.
Leavitt was born into and raised in the Catholic Church. She graduated from a private Catholic college and took a job in Trump's WH during his first term. She's a true believer.
Come to think of it, where IS the Catholic Church while all this evil is festering? Similarly, the Episcopalians (sp?) and all the ...maga-churches? [Sorry, couldn't resist!]
Leavitt is 26 (dob 8.24.98); her husband/father is 58; sadly, they have a son. She was tRump's assistant press secretary at age 21 and previously served as tRump's speechwriter. She was a Fox so-called News intern when she was still in college on a softball scholarship. According to news reports, she has a "steady, unblinking" devotion to tRump.
Apologies for the duplicate responses. I received message of a posting error, which accounts for my continued attempts. I don't know how to remove the duplicates and welcome any help.
I've never understood why Democratic party leadership and mainstream economists never made the case that authoritarian dictatorships are terrible for the economy, especially middle class Americans. All dictators are narcissists and sociopaths. You put one in control of the most powerful country in the world, without all the guardrails and adults in the room in place for Trump I, and this is what happens. So much of our economic strength is based upon the rule of law and the fact that we were not previously a dictatorship.
We need the facts, but facts do not convince most people, so we need the emotional emphasis and lots of hammering home how Trump's policies hurt people.
Unfortunately a democracy can not exist in an environment where facts do not matter. If the DEMs ever rid the US of Trump and his minions, they must address the issues of pervasive social media propaganda and the lack of knowledge of basic civics and economics amongst the electorate. If they dont, the cycles of chaos will continue until a more competent dictator gets into power and ends elections.
The DEMS are truly appallingly bad at campaigning in general. I think they should concentrate on facts first, but they can throw the emotional factor of "are you tired of being lied to and shafted by the Oligarchy" into every pitch they make.
We need bumper sticker slogans - like the GOP has been using since "the trickle down effect" and "welfare queens". Except our bumper stickers will be >truthful<.
They have, but the mainstream media doesn't report it, and conservative media calls the democrats liars. The few times the news media has written about these issues, it's on page 25, under a larger article about Trump with his photo. Rarely does this message make the front page. Why? Because the Trump controversy sells papers (tv ads) and he's everywhere. Dr. Krugman wrote editorials for the NYT about these issues during the election. Thankfully he's still writing about it.
When Congress raises the debt ceiling by $4T with all GOP votes (excluding Rand Paul) within a week the NYT will be non ironically quoting people that voted for it when they talk about how terribly concerned they are about the deficit. And how this means we must cut Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid (what is left of it) right NOW! It's not the NYT's job to call them liars. That would have been PK's job,but his editor would have transformed lie into "somewhat inconsistent".
Technically speaking, aside from profiteering and all that, it very much is the NYT's job to call them liars. That's the whole point of freedom of the press - to hold officials feet to the fire. Unfortunately, that same freedom also provides them with a wide berth to shirk their responsibility.
Hmm, that's a vexed question. I prefer my "news reporters" to report, and allow me to make a judgement. If subsequently - or consequently - they wish to offer an opinion, then it's Op-Ed time...
Yeah - the first Bush/Iraq war. They had a tiny two paragraph article buried in the obit's section that the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Iraqi ambassador asked our ambassador - I don't recall her name anymore - what we'd do in response if they did invade.
Our ambassador told a NYT reporter that she was >instructed< to say we'd do nothing. The next day, Iraq invaded, and King Bush I came out with his "this will not stand" - as if he didn't have it already planned out.
I followed the last election closely. The Dems talked a lot about defending Democracy as an abstract ideal, which is fine, but never made the connection to our economic well being.
Tariffs and authoritarianism aren't necessarily connected. Biden used targeted tariffs as part of a well-thought out broader policy. My point is that when you threaten Greenland, Canada, suspend the rule of law, and send legal residents to Gulags in El Salvador, you cause great damage to our national brand, which causes extensive damage to our economy.
Project 2025 read like a blueprint for Franco’s Spain to me, and I wondered last year why there wasn’t a push to show how much worse off Spain was economically than other European nations when he died in 1975. Then the Vance contingent started touting Franco’s Spain as desirable. If a faction of voters actually want a religious dictatorship, Democrats warning against one would have just encouraged that faction even more. Democrats could have thrown a wrench into the juggernaut by encouraging sectarianism, since US Christians are divided into many different denominations while Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic. Democrats refused to play hardball and use this card, though, and here we are. Breaking the alliance between the whites supremacist Protestants and the anti-reproductive rights Catholics that formed in the late 1970s would have gone a long way to preventing our current situation.
All Kamala had to do was point out the dismal economies and extremely high inflation rates (5x of the US) in Russia, Turkey and Hungary, all run by dictators that Trump wanted to emulate.
Does the MAGA cult even know that the plan was to emulate the authoritarian countries? As far as I can tell they think Trump is only going after immigrant criminals, cutting waste fraud and abuse, correcting "unfair" trade agreements and undoing Biden's illegal EO's.
The right wing media doesn't report on the reality behind his actions, just the press releases the administration puts out touting their (imagined) successes.
The right has created an media ecosphere so dense that reality is incapable of penetrating the MAGA skulls.
Fortunately, they aren’t a majority of Americans—only about 45%. Kamala needed only to do 2% better across the board to win the PV, and just 2% more in 3 states—the ones that decided the previous 2 elections—to win the EV. The fate of the country lies in the 7% or so of “swing voter” Americans!
I think Americans are too insular to care enough about the economies of other nations, much less see if there are policy lessons there for us. People have to *see* it at home to believe it.
Could go further, and say no one has tried to blow up a government in the English speaking world like this since radical Catholics tried to quite literally in 1605. Because it is, in fact, true.
I hate to say it but the counter example is China. They have problems, but with an authoritarian government they moved into markets and made investments in education, infrastructure, and industries that put them on top in many sectors. We have a feckless Congress and only with reconciliation did Democrats push through programs to increase strategic investments by government. The marketplace goes where the profits are and not necessarily national interest.
Trye. And also on the idea that, o the whole, the US wants other countries and othr people to do better, in economic terms and also in political terms. By halting most AID operations as well as Voice of America Trump killed that idea of the US.
I thought Bezos had his head up trump’s ass. I think it is a wise decision to publish the cost of tarriffs. Might re-up our membership is he gets the hell out of the WaPo.
Eventually even Bezos realized that sucking up to Trump only results in more sucking up. It’s amazing how someone can be so smart about building a company like Amazon, but can be so stupid as to not realize that bowing down to Trump is a slow escalator down to hell.
I take it back. Per the WSJ, Bezos just caved, again. So he has NOT realized that sucking up will only lead to more sucking up. Hey Jeff Bezos, what’s it like to be Trumps jail cell bitch?
Note that this is not across all Amazon, only applies to Amazon Haul. Never heard of it? No surprise, it is their Temo equivalent, not the primary one you were hoping it was.
Most of the stuff on Amazon is being sold by someone else. So Amazon doesn't know what tariffs they are paying (while ripping them off for the listing). I guess they could ask.
But, Leslie, can they trust the offer? That’s the basic problem. Trump is TOTALLY untrustworthy. At 2 he cannot remember what he promised at 4. Look carefully at the face under the makeup and the eyes. Not much left.
He’s consistent, clear and stupid…feral intelligence, maybe, and it’s amazing to watch want little was there shrivel as he snivels. Wormtongues, Stephen Miller, loopy people whispering into his ear to re-inflate his ego one more time. The dark riders, the ring wraiths, all with their gold ring binding them in the darkness…the answer is light and bleach!
Gollum was court-Ted by the ring of power, even as a hobbit he was taken over the only the oath to throw himself in the fire stopped Frodo from the same fate! So in the Tolkien analogy he’s Erik, maybe, could do some good, on the the Fuax kids who could save us from the drugification of power politics.
But he and Frodo were sides of a coin…the savior is Sam, I think of him as Mayor Pete, smarter than you think, earnestly working. And with out whom the battle would have been lost!
The real question is who is Aragorn, quietly protector the Shire at Gandalf’s request for heir hidden purpose. MAGA is of course the orc/human hybrids made by Saruman and is smarter/scary Donny (we got lucky that Donny so feckless!), Stephen Miller is Wormtongue. The Seven ring-wraiths are the cabinet. Etc…
Yes the nine riders were human kings given rings, ‘in the darkness bind them.’ And they lived in the inter-world with no shape and could kill with their black breath, which Aragon could cure with his healing skills, and while it was said one could never be killed by a man they could, it turned out, be killed by a woman, and she did! But almost died in the process…she married the other son of Denathor and they became land stewards and gardeners putting aside arms and war. Gardening and healing were important themes, many of the men of Tolkien’s group had horrible injuries from WW I…including the horrible gases that become such a major part of Germanic’s chemical industry and were used in WWII to murder millions…too WOKE?! Sorry…
I have done my best to avoid looking at that man's face ever since November 5, 2016. (I'm serious -- for over eight years, I have been putting my hand over my computer screen whenever his orange head pops up.)
So, thank you for doing what I cannot. And I would take your word for it, but everyone who has pronounced Trump to be DOA has since been proven wrong. Remember the "low-energy" announcement of his canidacy at Mar-a-Lago in 2023? Many then predicted that he no longer had the taste, or the gumption, for campaigning.
Look for the "Make America Kittens Again" Web browser plugin. It replaces most photos of Trump with pictures of kittens. It's not 100% accurate, but it works most of the time and it's available for multiple browsers.
Thank you so much for sharing MAKE AMERICA KITTENS AGAIN! It doesn't work with the New York Times, but it did with cnn.com and aljazeera.com (they popped up in a random test).
It's very relaxing to see a photo of a beautiful feline on my page. And I'm also happy that the photos are not only of kittens, but also of cats. (Not a fan of kittens, but I love cats. )
Me either, but it’s been longer than eight years. I couldn’t stand him being foisted upon us by the NY media back in the 1980s. Every community has its own version of Richie Rich, and the NY media insisted we all had to hear about theirs as well as having to put up with our own versions.
I agree. Even though I don't live in the NY area, he was still well-enough known to those who follow national news that I recall when the Atlantic did a long piece on his bankrupt casinos in Atlantic City, my reaction was, "Maybe we'll never have to hear about this guy again!"
Trump is in charge of tariffs. He and his family owns large portion of a cryptocurrency company. See article in the NYT today. Crypto offers one the opportunity of unmitigated bribery.
Well said given our Dire Straits. What d’ya suppose’ll what when the cryptocurrency bill comes due (assuming that possible for a currency that can’t be used to buy anything)?!
Just when I think we’ve hit bottom with Trump’s decisions, another trustworthy source, like Mr Krugman, explains how things are actually much worse. When a president is this toxic, impoverishment, isolation, and chaos are bound to follow.
My guess—don’t hold me to it—is that DJT’ll be so unpopular by 2028 that voters’ll elect *any* Democrat, no matter how demographically unconventional (i.e., woman, non-white), —similar to 2008. That of course assumes free and fair elections by then. The current trajectory points to a GOP rout (Dem wave—assuming the party gets a spine) next year, but even those elections seem like an eternity away!
When you say that Canada has little leverage. What about its ability to cut off supplies of potash, energy, and lumber as it secures safer trading partners? The Canadian LNG port to supply Asia will be operating soon and can be expanded. Trumps Alaskan LNG dreams are just that. And wouldn’t Trump be better off with Canada partnering against China rather than embracing China?
and toilet paper! One columnist recalled the general panic in the early days of Covid about availability of toilet paper. A big Canadian product. If China can refuse to sell rare earth minerals to the US, Canada can refuse its toilet paper...
Though the result might be that Trump becomes even more full of it than he is now.
Success is predicated on diversifying away from the American market to Europe and Asia. Some security policies like bringing aluminum smelting to the US will require large and expensive electrical generation capability which cannot compete with cost of Quebec Hydro generation. Ultimately a higher increase in the cost of steel and aluminum to the US for what? Is Canada a security risk to the US? Also the Mar a Lago accord does not take into account the fact that the US as a manufacturing powerhouse will require workers (Mexico) and raw materials (Canada) Is the endgame the need to expand the territory of the US to include Canada and Greenland? Are the American people behind Lebensraum style expansion. Willing to fight for it?
I’m gonna make them an offer they can’t understand.
I'm going to make them an offer I can't understand.
For Trump's team, you set a really low bar.
I'm going to make them an offer that only maga can understand, it's big, beautiful, amazing.
I'm gonna make them an offer maga THINKS they can understand, but can't because the offer makes no sense.
It's gonna be yuuuuuuuuuuuggggggeeeee!
Biggly - with covfefe!
Imma maemnoffa they canunnastan.
Covfefe!
Which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on ABC's This Week, triumphantly: "In Game Theory, it's called strategic insecurity. So you're going to tell the other person that probably everyone is laughing at the US, and this has to stop. And nobody's better at showing this kind of insecurity than President Trump."
Doesn't have to tell the other person everyone is laughing at him, everyone is laughing at Trump. Friggin' Keystone Cop administration.
Sorry for being unclear, I've tried to correct it :)
It's unclear because Bessent is using pretzel logic to infer Trump is playing multidimensional chess, while Trump is like an unruly infant turning over the chessboard
Comment of the week!
I think it still needs a rewrite - Reading it, I felt like I did the first time I watched "The Matrix" - there is something interesting there but I can't figure out what it is.
I'm not sure that something's there. If so, it's probably shallower than you think :) Scott Bessent did in fact say something similar, praising Trump's "strategic uncertainty," probably confusing it with "strategic ambiguity":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hTD-yQ8mzw&t=156s
If found this amusing and tried mangling it some more.
You get credit for trying, but it's already so convoluted to begin with you really couldn't possibly mangle it anymore. Unless you let Karoline Leavitt try to explain it. She's an expert logic mangler.
Game Theory? I thought Trump was more of a quantum gravity expert. What topics does he NOT understand??
It doesn't really matter because whatever he doesn't understand he just invents.
Like relationships among humans.
Always transactional. No exceptions.
I can only hope that this isn't an actual quote from Bessent. There is no way this ends up in anything short of a fiasco.
LOL. Poe's law at work. For the sake of clarity, the actual quote from Bessent on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hTD-yQ8mzw&t=156s is a tiny bit different, but not much:
"In game theory, it's called strategic uncertainty. So, you're not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you're going to end up. And nobody's better at creating this leverage than President Trump."
Game Theory? It's more like in "Blazing Saddles" where Cleavon Little threatens to shoot himself, only not funny.
https://youtu.be/o7Q4fM5y_1I
Or like inviting everyone into an elevator for a gang fight, using hand grenades.
Yeah sure that’s it Scott
This is, without hyperbole, the worst possible strategy when you are taking a sledgehammer to intricate, long established global supply chains and asking small US business to invest millions and larger companies hundreds of millions for new domestic manufacturing, Such extreme uncertainty is beyond insane and will crash the economy.
“I’ll shoot myself in the foot to prove to you how crazy I am!”
Uh Bessent should go back to economics 101. There is no such thing as strategic "insecurity" in game theory.
What?
😆
I’m going to make them offer me an offer I won’t accept.
That would be incredibly easy they don’t understand much
That would include almost ANY offer!
He will fold but claim victory. Easy call.
He will also blame everyone else but himself. Lutnick, Navarro, maybe even Bessent, will take the fall. These people never ever learn.
https://meidasnews.com/news/scott-bessents-former-classmates-urge-him-to-stop-donald-trump. My feeling is that Bessent will probably be the first Cabinet member to fall. His friends are begging him to "act as “a voice of reason in the midst of this insanity.” There is no place in Trump 2.0 for a voice of reason.
He’s on my Cabinet Bingo card. I had Stefanik out first, although that doesn’t technically count.
Bessent knows the words coming out of his mouth are wrong. You can see in his eyes the realisation that he has sold his soul and found out the price was not worth it.
He's toast.
SOP FOR TRUMP
You mean the guillotine?
Interestingly, they're all to blame.
Every single person in the Trump admin has a bus with their name on it ready for them to be thrown under. It's how Trump rolls.
Begone impersonator spam bot.
He should be blaming Paul Manafort
Is he the one who came up with "Krasnov"?
Donald,when the polls all show your approval rating dipping below 50%, when the WSJ is commenting critically about your policies, maybe the problem IS you, rather than those paid lefty operatives.
Rupert needs to tell it on Fox, don’t hold your breath…
What magat reads the WSJ
I don't think he's emotionally capable, this is his second term, the real one. I think he'll just sit there, doing nothing, unless or until a *really* bad idea gets into his head.
Even Trump's not dumb enough to invade Canada, is he?
With Trump one can never write any possibility off
It would conflict with his plan to send the military into the cities to put down opposition unrest. Especially if half the military would balk and say "f**k off Trumpkopf, we're not doing either of those things!"
Military coups are scary and awful, but in this case it may be the lesser of two evils.
I'm guessing your Canadian? Don't be so sure of that, if he successfully conquers us militarily - and I highly doubt he'd be able to, or even dare attempt it - he'd be more emboldened to pursue Canada than before. Be careful what you wish for.
I'm saying the military may come out to overthrow Trump instead of following his unconstitutional orders. Alas, we may be better off for it.
Ahhh, well that's different! Yes, that could potentially work. But I'd prefer a political and legal solution. We're almost guaranteed a blue tsunami in 2026 at this point, in both chambers. In the meantime, I'm going out there to tomorrow's May Day rally, with sign in hand.
//
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
May Day is the next nationwide rally, be there or be square!
We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families, bring your pets. Spread the word as far and wide as possible.
The "military" swears allegiance to the Constitution, not the Commander-in-Nappy.
I worry about what happens when we invade Greenland!
I don't think we will. As it is, Thursday's demonstrations are going to be even bigger and better than April 5 and April 19.
It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
May Day is the next nationwide rally, be there or be square!
We need 3.5% of the population, or around 12,000,000. We've already been halfway there, let's go the rest of the way! Bring all your friends and family and spread the word as far and wide as possible.
//
Don't let up folks, it's working:
Boycott TE卐LA! Boycott Swastikar!
Short TE卐LA! Short Swastikar!
Boycott 卐tarlink!
Boycott 卐/Twitter!
Curb your DOGE!
https://generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
https://indivisible.org/
https://handsoff2025.com/
https://www.teslatakedown.com/
https://www.riseandresist.org/
https://thirdact.org
Like *Family Ties*’s Alex Keaton?
Total agreement!
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/hurricane-coming-six-to-eight-weeks
Folding might not help at this point - neither the EU or China is going to be eager to put themselves in danger of US insanity again
"Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level of 40 years?" White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a White House briefing.
Why? Because the inflation was caused by stress to international supply networks caused by Covid. It was not Biden's arbitrary decisions that caused the inflation. Amazon and every other sensible business entity knew that.
Really, what response did u expect from the bimbo???
See my recent post, the word pathetic certainly applies to Leavitt too, she may be young and nice-looking, but she is mean too, just like Don likes his people to be, and in the end, just pathetic. I would hate to know what the future holds for this youngster, but it won't be nice.
Beauty may be skin deep but ugliness goes all the way through.
As for what the future holds for her, hopefully jail time, along with the rest of the King Krasnov Klown Kar.
Mean, like all who gravitate to him.
She’ll be gone soon. She’s not blonde.
Another reason is that an inflation statistic is tied to general prices, not the cost of a specific item. Whereas a tariff is a specific tax calculated to the price of a SPECIFIC ITEM. Inflation of 3.3% doesn’t mean a Peloton costs 3.3% more. But a 100% tariff on an $82 item means it costs the buyer $164.
They know, they lie
Just confirmed your comment, Robert. The weasels at Amazon now deny they ever intended to display the cost of tariffs.
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/29/tariffs-amazon-prime-day-sellers-report
Comrade Bezos caved after Dear Leader threatened to take away his yacht……
More likely his Blue Origin contracts
Predictably.
This was only for Amazon Haul, a Temu knockoff. Would have been symbolic at best, but even then, why not? Just f*cking estimate it, they know the tariff percentage!
Bozo Bezos is a world class woos.
You have to have a brain to be brainwashed.
George, LMAO right now........
So Leavitt is a very large amoeba.
That’s an insult to all decent amoebas, large and small.
The cause of the problem, in this case Leavitt, is that she is an utter failure as a human being. And she worked to be that way. Don’t you understand? She is what she wants to be. Why should I ever forgive her?
Facts do not matter in the MAGA world.
Actually, they know all this - but they have bought the mantra: tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.
Shhhh! You can't say that. It sounds so much better to blame Biden.
Basic economics is more complicated than that. When prices go up, demand goes down. When demand goes down, companies lay off employees and shareholders get antsy. Demand will only remain nearly the same for necessities; even then, some people will start diets that they had not planned on starting.
In other words, price elasticity. Goods and services have different elasticities. Micro 101.
What a stunningly oversimplified take on the situation. But that's mainstream economics for ya.
Oh, you and your faint-cy economical education!
Oh they know they're lying. They just don't care. All they want to do is cater to the MAGA crazies.
easy answer- she’s dumb
I think she's great at making up propaganda on the fly and sounding like she believes it. Perfect for the job.
I disagree that she's not smart. It takes a certain type of intelligence to do what you described. I don't like it and I think people like Leavitt & Stephen Miller are dangerous, but they are in control for now.
She's not horrible, she's just a drone parroting the bs she's told.
no she is horrible. DO NOT let any of these criminals off the hook like that.
That's horrible!
Leavitt was born into and raised in the Catholic Church. She graduated from a private Catholic college and took a job in Trump's WH during his first term. She's a true believer.
Come to think of it, where IS the Catholic Church while all this evil is festering? Similarly, the Episcopalians (sp?) and all the ...maga-churches? [Sorry, couldn't resist!]
She was hired to be a lying machine wearing a cross.
Small correction: Melanoma.
Leavitt is 26 (dob 8.24.98); her husband/father is 58; sadly, they have a son. She was tRump's assistant press secretary at age 21 and previously served as tRump's speechwriter. She was a Fox so-called News intern when she was still in college on a softball scholarship. According to news reports, she has a "steady, unblinking" devotion to tRump.
Apologies for the duplicate responses. I received message of a posting error, which accounts for my continued attempts. I don't know how to remove the duplicates and welcome any help.
You can delete comments. Use the three dots to the right of the comment.
I tried several times and continue to get this message:
"Something went wrong"
A born in the wool believer. No Cassidy Hutchison here
I've never understood why Democratic party leadership and mainstream economists never made the case that authoritarian dictatorships are terrible for the economy, especially middle class Americans. All dictators are narcissists and sociopaths. You put one in control of the most powerful country in the world, without all the guardrails and adults in the room in place for Trump I, and this is what happens. So much of our economic strength is based upon the rule of law and the fact that we were not previously a dictatorship.
Would it have mattered? Who is listening? All they hear is the equivalent of "what about her emails?"
I recommend this article in The Atlantic, as Democrats plan their strategy:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-short-circuiting-of-the-american-mind/ar-AA1DPDPu?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=57fe707581e941c89b83afdeeb9a6087&ei=6
We need the facts, but facts do not convince most people, so we need the emotional emphasis and lots of hammering home how Trump's policies hurt people.
Unfortunately a democracy can not exist in an environment where facts do not matter. If the DEMs ever rid the US of Trump and his minions, they must address the issues of pervasive social media propaganda and the lack of knowledge of basic civics and economics amongst the electorate. If they dont, the cycles of chaos will continue until a more competent dictator gets into power and ends elections.
Yes, facts matter, but we need to acknowledge the emotional component.
The DEMS are truly appallingly bad at campaigning in general. I think they should concentrate on facts first, but they can throw the emotional factor of "are you tired of being lied to and shafted by the Oligarchy" into every pitch they make.
We need bumper sticker slogans - like the GOP has been using since "the trickle down effect" and "welfare queens". Except our bumper stickers will be >truthful<.
They have, but the mainstream media doesn't report it, and conservative media calls the democrats liars. The few times the news media has written about these issues, it's on page 25, under a larger article about Trump with his photo. Rarely does this message make the front page. Why? Because the Trump controversy sells papers (tv ads) and he's everywhere. Dr. Krugman wrote editorials for the NYT about these issues during the election. Thankfully he's still writing about it.
When Congress raises the debt ceiling by $4T with all GOP votes (excluding Rand Paul) within a week the NYT will be non ironically quoting people that voted for it when they talk about how terribly concerned they are about the deficit. And how this means we must cut Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid (what is left of it) right NOW! It's not the NYT's job to call them liars. That would have been PK's job,but his editor would have transformed lie into "somewhat inconsistent".
Technically speaking, aside from profiteering and all that, it very much is the NYT's job to call them liars. That's the whole point of freedom of the press - to hold officials feet to the fire. Unfortunately, that same freedom also provides them with a wide berth to shirk their responsibility.
Hmm, that's a vexed question. I prefer my "news reporters" to report, and allow me to make a judgement. If subsequently - or consequently - they wish to offer an opinion, then it's Op-Ed time...
Fact checking falls under the reporting category - it's not mere opinion.
Exactly, but the 2000 election had a stink about it that nobody noticed
Yeah - the first Bush/Iraq war. They had a tiny two paragraph article buried in the obit's section that the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Iraqi ambassador asked our ambassador - I don't recall her name anymore - what we'd do in response if they did invade.
Our ambassador told a NYT reporter that she was >instructed< to say we'd do nothing. The next day, Iraq invaded, and King Bush I came out with his "this will not stand" - as if he didn't have it already planned out.
Prescott Bush (of Coup of 1933) sure produced some traitors
Did you even follow the last election? The Democrats said all that and everyone said, no one cares about Democracy.
I followed the last election closely. The Dems talked a lot about defending Democracy as an abstract ideal, which is fine, but never made the connection to our economic well being.
Harris pounded the cost of Trump's tariffs to the American people endlessly.
Tariffs and authoritarianism aren't necessarily connected. Biden used targeted tariffs as part of a well-thought out broader policy. My point is that when you threaten Greenland, Canada, suspend the rule of law, and send legal residents to Gulags in El Salvador, you cause great damage to our national brand, which causes extensive damage to our economy.
Yeah, well... then it's the Democrats' inexcusable mistake that they didn't cast Antony Starr a.k.a. Homelander for the role of the POTUS.
Project 2025 read like a blueprint for Franco’s Spain to me, and I wondered last year why there wasn’t a push to show how much worse off Spain was economically than other European nations when he died in 1975. Then the Vance contingent started touting Franco’s Spain as desirable. If a faction of voters actually want a religious dictatorship, Democrats warning against one would have just encouraged that faction even more. Democrats could have thrown a wrench into the juggernaut by encouraging sectarianism, since US Christians are divided into many different denominations while Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic. Democrats refused to play hardball and use this card, though, and here we are. Breaking the alliance between the whites supremacist Protestants and the anti-reproductive rights Catholics that formed in the late 1970s would have gone a long way to preventing our current situation.
All Kamala had to do was point out the dismal economies and extremely high inflation rates (5x of the US) in Russia, Turkey and Hungary, all run by dictators that Trump wanted to emulate.
Does the MAGA cult even know that the plan was to emulate the authoritarian countries? As far as I can tell they think Trump is only going after immigrant criminals, cutting waste fraud and abuse, correcting "unfair" trade agreements and undoing Biden's illegal EO's.
The right wing media doesn't report on the reality behind his actions, just the press releases the administration puts out touting their (imagined) successes.
The right has created an media ecosphere so dense that reality is incapable of penetrating the MAGA skulls.
Fortunately, they aren’t a majority of Americans—only about 45%. Kamala needed only to do 2% better across the board to win the PV, and just 2% more in 3 states—the ones that decided the previous 2 elections—to win the EV. The fate of the country lies in the 7% or so of “swing voter” Americans!
The hardcore MAGAnuts can't think beyond "own the libs", at least not without pulling a muscle in their puny Schlitz and Kool-Aid addled brains.
I think Americans are too insular to care enough about the economies of other nations, much less see if there are policy lessons there for us. People have to *see* it at home to believe it.
Not to mention North Korea.
Could go further, and say no one has tried to blow up a government in the English speaking world like this since radical Catholics tried to quite literally in 1605. Because it is, in fact, true.
Probably b/c there won’t be a middle class if we end up under a dictatorship.
I hate to say it but the counter example is China. They have problems, but with an authoritarian government they moved into markets and made investments in education, infrastructure, and industries that put them on top in many sectors. We have a feckless Congress and only with reconciliation did Democrats push through programs to increase strategic investments by government. The marketplace goes where the profits are and not necessarily national interest.
Trye. And also on the idea that, o the whole, the US wants other countries and othr people to do better, in economic terms and also in political terms. By halting most AID operations as well as Voice of America Trump killed that idea of the US.
Every day Trump proves that #ETTD. I hope the US is the exception to that.
The title alone makes me want to read it
Prof. Krugman wanted to go on vacation but they are pulling him back in...
Portugal is a lovely place to be unable to work. Not sorry for Krugman. :-)
Vinho Verde still tastes fine at room temperature
Thanks for the laugh!
The world has to stand strong against our bully President, so does Bezos and Amazon. Trump needs to be broken now!
Bezos is on Team Trump. We’ve boycotted Amazon, and it isn’t that hard. See https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapeAmazon/
I’m boycotting Amazon too! Also, prime video, and Netflix. Buy local, and use the library!
I'd love to say that I'm boycotting Amazon - but I've never used them to begin with. I've been boycotting them from the beginning!
I thought Bezos had his head up trump’s ass. I think it is a wise decision to publish the cost of tarriffs. Might re-up our membership is he gets the hell out of the WaPo.
Eventually even Bezos realized that sucking up to Trump only results in more sucking up. It’s amazing how someone can be so smart about building a company like Amazon, but can be so stupid as to not realize that bowing down to Trump is a slow escalator down to hell.
I take it back. Per the WSJ, Bezos just caved, again. So he has NOT realized that sucking up will only lead to more sucking up. Hey Jeff Bezos, what’s it like to be Trumps jail cell bitch?
He has it jammed so far up he's bumping heads with Trumpkopf himself.
Note that this is not across all Amazon, only applies to Amazon Haul. Never heard of it? No surprise, it is their Temo equivalent, not the primary one you were hoping it was.
Most of the stuff on Amazon is being sold by someone else. So Amazon doesn't know what tariffs they are paying (while ripping them off for the listing). I guess they could ask.
Trump calls Bezos as Amazon says no plan to show tariff price rises
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxg7xpr2j0o.amp
I see now that Bezos re-shoved his head up his ass.
But, Leslie, can they trust the offer? That’s the basic problem. Trump is TOTALLY untrustworthy. At 2 he cannot remember what he promised at 4. Look carefully at the face under the makeup and the eyes. Not much left.
He’s consistent, clear and stupid…feral intelligence, maybe, and it’s amazing to watch want little was there shrivel as he snivels. Wormtongues, Stephen Miller, loopy people whispering into his ear to re-inflate his ego one more time. The dark riders, the ring wraiths, all with their gold ring binding them in the darkness…the answer is light and bleach!
Where’s Gollum when you need him? *Who* is Gollum in this analogy?
Gollum was court-Ted by the ring of power, even as a hobbit he was taken over the only the oath to throw himself in the fire stopped Frodo from the same fate! So in the Tolkien analogy he’s Erik, maybe, could do some good, on the the Fuax kids who could save us from the drugification of power politics.
But he and Frodo were sides of a coin…the savior is Sam, I think of him as Mayor Pete, smarter than you think, earnestly working. And with out whom the battle would have been lost!
The real question is who is Aragorn, quietly protector the Shire at Gandalf’s request for heir hidden purpose. MAGA is of course the orc/human hybrids made by Saruman and is smarter/scary Donny (we got lucky that Donny so feckless!), Stephen Miller is Wormtongue. The Seven ring-wraiths are the cabinet. Etc…
You mean Nine Ringwraiths?
Yes the nine riders were human kings given rings, ‘in the darkness bind them.’ And they lived in the inter-world with no shape and could kill with their black breath, which Aragon could cure with his healing skills, and while it was said one could never be killed by a man they could, it turned out, be killed by a woman, and she did! But almost died in the process…she married the other son of Denathor and they became land stewards and gardeners putting aside arms and war. Gardening and healing were important themes, many of the men of Tolkien’s group had horrible injuries from WW I…including the horrible gases that become such a major part of Germanic’s chemical industry and were used in WWII to murder millions…too WOKE?! Sorry…
I have done my best to avoid looking at that man's face ever since November 5, 2016. (I'm serious -- for over eight years, I have been putting my hand over my computer screen whenever his orange head pops up.)
So, thank you for doing what I cannot. And I would take your word for it, but everyone who has pronounced Trump to be DOA has since been proven wrong. Remember the "low-energy" announcement of his canidacy at Mar-a-Lago in 2023? Many then predicted that he no longer had the taste, or the gumption, for campaigning.
Unfortunately, he proved them wrong.
Look for the "Make America Kittens Again" Web browser plugin. It replaces most photos of Trump with pictures of kittens. It's not 100% accurate, but it works most of the time and it's available for multiple browsers.
Dear Essmeier,
Thank you so much for sharing MAKE AMERICA KITTENS AGAIN! It doesn't work with the New York Times, but it did with cnn.com and aljazeera.com (they popped up in a random test).
It's very relaxing to see a photo of a beautiful feline on my page. And I'm also happy that the photos are not only of kittens, but also of cats. (Not a fan of kittens, but I love cats. )
I can't stand to look at him either.
Me either, but it’s been longer than eight years. I couldn’t stand him being foisted upon us by the NY media back in the 1980s. Every community has its own version of Richie Rich, and the NY media insisted we all had to hear about theirs as well as having to put up with our own versions.
I agree. Even though I don't live in the NY area, he was still well-enough known to those who follow national news that I recall when the Atlantic did a long piece on his bankrupt casinos in Atlantic City, my reaction was, "Maybe we'll never have to hear about this guy again!"
How wrong I was.
Speaking of Richie Rich, where’s Cadbury when you need him?
Can’t stand his mean and whiny voice!
He looked really bad when he headed back to the WH from Rome didn’t he.
Yes. He looks worse and worse. A face watcher, I have watched his fall apart. And his eyes look meaner and meaner.
"I run the country and the world", in his own words. *Primus inter pares*, or unmoored megalomaniac?
We report, you decide.
Trump is in charge of tariffs. He and his family owns large portion of a cryptocurrency company. See article in the NYT today. Crypto offers one the opportunity of unmitigated bribery.
Well said given our Dire Straits. What d’ya suppose’ll what when the cryptocurrency bill comes due (assuming that possible for a currency that can’t be used to buy anything)?!
“I’d gladly pay you next Tuesday, for a hamburger today,” said Wimpy.
I hope that Donald Shitler and his team ink that deal with Madagascar as I was thinking about baking this weekend and I need some vanilla.
Just when I think we’ve hit bottom with Trump’s decisions, another trustworthy source, like Mr Krugman, explains how things are actually much worse. When a president is this toxic, impoverishment, isolation, and chaos are bound to follow.
My guess—don’t hold me to it—is that DJT’ll be so unpopular by 2028 that voters’ll elect *any* Democrat, no matter how demographically unconventional (i.e., woman, non-white), —similar to 2008. That of course assumes free and fair elections by then. The current trajectory points to a GOP rout (Dem wave—assuming the party gets a spine) next year, but even those elections seem like an eternity away!
And Bezos thought he could placate Trump. A lot of our elites are really kind of dumb.
I think greedy
When you say that Canada has little leverage. What about its ability to cut off supplies of potash, energy, and lumber as it secures safer trading partners? The Canadian LNG port to supply Asia will be operating soon and can be expanded. Trumps Alaskan LNG dreams are just that. And wouldn’t Trump be better off with Canada partnering against China rather than embracing China?
and toilet paper! One columnist recalled the general panic in the early days of Covid about availability of toilet paper. A big Canadian product. If China can refuse to sell rare earth minerals to the US, Canada can refuse its toilet paper...
Though the result might be that Trump becomes even more full of it than he is now.
I like that!! A two week delay on all shipments of toilet paper to the US. That'll get people's attention.
It'll increase the sales of bidets.
Your question must have been rhetorical because to do what you suggest, team Trump would have to apply some logic.
It's some leverage, but it comes at the cost of money and jobs in Canada. Trade is a two-way street.
Success is predicated on diversifying away from the American market to Europe and Asia. Some security policies like bringing aluminum smelting to the US will require large and expensive electrical generation capability which cannot compete with cost of Quebec Hydro generation. Ultimately a higher increase in the cost of steel and aluminum to the US for what? Is Canada a security risk to the US? Also the Mar a Lago accord does not take into account the fact that the US as a manufacturing powerhouse will require workers (Mexico) and raw materials (Canada) Is the endgame the need to expand the territory of the US to include Canada and Greenland? Are the American people behind Lebensraum style expansion. Willing to fight for it?
Trump is Fredo's stupid older brother that the family had tried to leave in Italy.