The point isn’t to “win” a trade war or anything else. The point is to destroy America so completely that it will never recover. All of Trump’s actions are so much simpler to explain if we just accept who he is working for. It’s not the USA.
Conceivably, if they're in prison, they're still alive.
I was thinking more along the line of some 50,000 dead Palestinians — including many doctors, nurses, aid workers, and journalists, as well as women, children, and other obvious non-combatants.
There's still an order-of-magnitude difference between Trmp and Bibi — so far.
....or Putin's one million soldiers he has mass sacrificed for his ambitions for Ukraine's resources and strategic location....Trump's dying to get there and use the military against ordinary citizen dissenters (we could count the 500K+ - 1,000,000 that died of covid because they wouldn't get vaccinated or wear masks)
There's no doubt he's always had that at the back of his Adderall addled mind. Of course, there are other benefits as well to being the Tin Pot Despot of a banana republic.
Completely agree. Elon Musk is not even close to being the richest man on earth. Trump's mentor, role model and spiritual advisor has likely stolen over a trillion dollars (in Rubles) from the Russian people. The Trump Family office will get a payday for his work...
“The Trump administration is, in fact, very competent in achieving its main goal: stripping America down for parts and selling those parts to the highest bidders.”
— Sarah Kendzior, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America 
“Trump and much of his cohort… want the country to collapse. A depopulated, partitioned United States is easier to exploit and control… To them, the state is just something to sell… The United States of America is merely a landmass to split into oligarch fiefdoms.”
Trump isn't working for Russia. He likes Russia. He likes Putin. Putin probably has the goods on him for some of his sexual escapades in Moscow back in the '00's. One wonders, what ever happened to those pee tapes? But he's not working for Russia. What he's doing, at least in what passes for his mind, is saving and restoring America. He really believes that international trade is a zero sum game - that America reached its peak under Mckinley. He really believes that somehow he can bring back all the manufacturing jobs that were lost to cheaper overseas producers, and that somehow, magically, the U.S. will be restored to some retro version mashup of various domestic comedy B movies and 1950's sitcoms. He thinks that he was chosen by God to do this and all the other horrible things he's doing because his would be assassin was just a little off in his aim; and, as we all know, nothing happens by accident (this might be the scariest thing of all!). In other words, he's doing what he's doing because he's an ignorant, delusional, semi-senile idiot.
But ultimately whether one thinks Trump is doing what he's doing because he's a fool or because he's secretly a diabolical criminal genius is a distinction without a difference. Either way you look at it, we are all well and truly boned!
This is most cogent and convincing explanation of Trump's agenda that I've read anywhere. Your description -- an ignorant, delusional, semi-senile idiot -- is spot on!
"Trump isn't working for Russia. He likes Russia. He likes Putin. Putin probably has the goods on him for some of his sexual escapades in Moscow back in the '00's."
What is the functional difference between your first sentence and your last sentence?
In any case it's absolutely not something to express certainty about. Why do we do shit like this? Just let our enemies off the hook with complete confidence that it's the right thing to do? There is enough circumstantial evidence of Trump working directly for Russia that it blows my mind anyone would rule it out.
But then, I'm consistently frustrated by liberals' complete refusal to question any official narratives, including two or three major events in 2024 that I won't even mention because it will make 3/4 of y'all immediately dismiss me as a crank.
In practical terms, not much. But someone can like someone else even if that person has some advantage over him. Think Stockholm syndrome or an abused wife who still has fond feelings for her abuser. I believe that Trump would be doing what he’s done for Putin even if Putin didn’t have videos of Trump doing dirty things with and to Russian prostitutes. It kind of like Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler. Ford liked Hitler because Hitler hated Jews. And Trump likes Putin because Putin is the authoritarian strongman Trump dreams of becoming.
Even if full length videos of Trump playing and pissing on Russian whores were to be released, his cult would ignore them and his spokespeople would defend him. Fox would ignore the clips and never air them, or say the behaviour is normal. Remember he has been found guilty of sexual assault, convicted of 34 felonies, impeached twice and has credibly accused of extra marital affairs with Stormy and that Playboy bunny. (And you can be sure Laura Loomer has orange on her lips.)
Another thought: intentionally send the world into a depression so the American oligarchs can buy everything up at fire sale prices. Perhaps he really does have a plan.
Well, yes. I think the puppet masters have lots of plans they aren’t telling him. And I’ll bet they are goading him to ever-greater heights of breakage. Then, when everyone finally blames him, they will knock him off the Resolute Desk, pick up the broken pieces and mold them into what the REAL masters want.
The "real masters" probably didn't want him doing things like bragging on camera about Literally Charles Schwab, The Guy making over $2 billion in a day because of his idiotic policy gyrations, and they probably aren't happy with how this whole thing is going overall.
My best guess is that there are Russian operatives manipulating and/or working hand-in-hand with the more self-interestedly malignant. A true coalition government.
If the republicans of today were as concerned about Russian interference, influence, and infiltration as the republicans of Nixon and McCarthy's day, we would have a chance.
We would have a chance? If the Republicans of today were as concerned about Russia as Nixon/McCarthy Republicans then Donald Trump wouldn't have ever been President. Certainly not twice.
Hell, if they were ONE TENTH as concerned, he wouldn't have ever been President.
I hesitate to say this, but we MIGHT have a bit of a chance if there weren't so many players influencing Trump at every turn and Trump seemingly blindly and seemingly mindlessly trusting them. Advisors can likely avoid jail, but I doubt that's true for the President. The buck stops with him. And without a playbook I doubt Trump would know what to prioritize.
“China needs to make a deal with us. We don't need to make a deal with them. So China, make a deal. You can make a deal. Call us to make a deal. And we'll respond with a deal. So you can call any time. And we will answer. You hear? We will pick up the phone. If you call us. All you have to do is pick up the phone. So pick up the phone, alright? Call us, ok? Please call us. Please! Please?”
Hearing his words are aimless enough. (They regularly demonstrate his lack of understanding reality). However seeing the transcript of his words is even more preposterous and unworkable. Eric Edelman of The Bulwark said, “It’s policy by presidential whim.”
Yeah. It's mindboggling that the future of the world economy depends on a game of chicken - on who is going to pick up the phone first.
I predict that Hippo Don is going to claim Xi called, which will just be another lie. Then he'll declare victory and reduce the tariffs against China to zero.
That's when Xi decides to keep his tariffs in place...
It appears that China can purchase its standard imported goods from many countries around the globe. There are a number of items we can only buy from China. However China buys a tremendous amount of higher education from us and we appear to be actively squelching that too. What a foolish administration we have
I can only see a plunge in the attractiveness of higher education in USA going forward with its hostility and full body cavity searches. Already academics have left for Canada. Europe will become more attractive.
There's also the unfortunate fact that, while some American universities truly used to be asking the world's best, they haven't been for decades now. What the Ivy League retains isn't excellence, it's *prestige*. In exchange for having the cachet of tacking "Harvard" or "Yale" after your graduate degree, however, American students pay hundreds of thousands. Foreign students pay so much more, unless they get a scholarship - but very few go to foreign students.
Now that being on a student visa or even a green card is no guarantee that you won't be arrested without cause, jailed for days, weeks or months without due process, and either deported or sent to El Salvador due to another "administrative error", why would foreign students continue to go to the US? They can get better educations for less money in greater safety elsewhere, and in so doing, they'll increase the prestige of universities where educational excellence is still the top priority. The situation will only be worsened by the departure of many of the best academic minds currently working in America. Other schools will gleefully give them tenure. Foreign students, especially graduate students, will follow those academics because learning from the best is greatly to be desired.
It's a brain drain, a money drain and a prestige drain, all from schools that are also currently facing the choice of losing federal grants or knuckling their foreheads to Mango Mussolini.
And oh yes, this is one thing the Trump administration is doing deliberately and well. The best young minds in America will be leaving the country too, and that only makes Trump's agenda easier to implement.
Even for students who are apolitical or not worried about personal security, with the loss of Federal funding for scientific and medical research, U.S. universities will not be very attractive for people in those fields.
"Trump is killing one of our strongest exports" by Catherine Rampell discusses how the attacks on universities will worsen the trade deficit, as universities are a more valuable export than natural gas and coal combined. Not to mention the loss of future competitiveness by decimating research grants that produce tomorrow's breakthroughs and scientists. MASAA! (Make America Stone Age Again)
The Chinese are using the strategies created by Sun Tzu in the Art of War. They have a strategy and the will to enforce it. US has no strategy, no ideas- only an incoherent show. Strategy will win every time and there is no need to crawl to Trump. US is doomed to lose
Per Krugman: “… Second, even if U.S. negotiators are trying to cut deals with other countries that would isolate China, they will be unlikely to succeed because Trump has lost all credibility.”
Yes, but the US electorate also lost credibility by putting an ignorant blowhard in the White House. Twice. How could any government, corporation, or individual trust the United States after that? It was a catastrophe that the American electorate gave the nitwit son of the elderbush enough votes to allow SCOTUS to install him in the presidency, which installation severely damaged the US reputation, worldwide. The election of the felon (twice!) destroys that reputation entirely.
In addition the US has no OODA loop; decisions triggered by random noise. Unpredictable and ineffective. But immensely satisfying to those who like action.
And that strategy is working great so far. Except that I don't think China has any desire to see the US collapse into anarchy. They prefer order, and the US isva big export market for them. Russia, on the other hand, would love to see the US self destruct.
Will Monty Hall answer? What is behind door #1... tRump is Vlad's useful idiot (and agent). Toward his goals Vlad has given Donnie a playbook which fits in with Donnie's prejudices, complete lack of understanding of economics and trade, impulsiveness, ADHD, etc. He is playing tRump like the tool/instrument he is. All of this together will trash the dollar, trash the markets, and tank the economy - because nobody among his kakistocrats would recognize an off ramp if it bit them on the nose.
yes...putin has played trump for 15? years or more !! Look donnie....a throwne...I shall make you president and we shall rule the world.........till I find an open window in that huge house ! Stairs will work too
She had some broken ribs from a "fall down the stairs" just before she was supposed to testify in one of the NY cases, if I remember correctly.
"On Thursday afternoon, emergency responders investigating a call from Ivana Trump’s home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side found her unconscious. They pronounced her dead at the scene and noted that there did “not appear to be any criminality”, police said in a statement.
Trump, Donald Jr and Ivanka were supposed to be questioned Friday as part of a New York civil investigation into their business dealings.
But the New York state attorney general’s office postponed the depositions as a result of Ivana Trump’s death. New dates for the depositions weren’t immediately set."
China is too busy making trade deals with long-time enemies Vietnam and Japan. The fact that these nations are setting aside centuries of enmity to negotiate trade deals shows just how weak the US’s position is.
Yes John, and China, Japan and South Korea’s trade ministers met last week for the first time in over six years. Trump’s foolish and feckless actions are new cooperation among ancient enemies.
Sounds like he's starting to understand, at some level, how weak his position is and it's going to get weaker. His first line was that Xi ought to get on the phone and kiss presidential ass: he bragged about it to fat cats and his sycophants in Congress. Pretty soon he'll progress to sending a trade rep over to Beijing to grovel a bit to seek surrender terms before the trade losses cause the fat cats to drive him completely out of power. The only question is how much face the Chinese will let him keep and given his public arrogance it's not likely to be much.
"...that even relatively sophisticated Trumpers like Bessent..."
Whoa, Paul, that's a colossal stretch to the breaking point, but I'm sure Bessent appreciates you doing him a solid on his "acumen" and — yes, his "sophistication".... LOL!
As far as I know, Trump hasn’t said what is quoted above (“So China, make a deal.”). But according to his press secretary he did say something similar: “China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them.... China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have, the American consumer. Or to put another way, they need our money.”
So Trump doesn’t understand the concept that Krugman lays out. What China want’s from trade is ultimately stuff like soybeans, not money.
Source: press briefing by Karoline Leavitt, April 15, 2024, at the 24:21 mark.
Good point. Perhaps if he's played DJT so far into the corner that he can destroy him in which case the real players on the world stage will know who was in control. If Xi is playing from "The Art of War" Donnie doesn't stand a chance. Xi is likely to focus on the outcomes and let lying Donnie pretend he won. Will be interesting to watch this play out.
Mike: yes, and just as with the bond market meltdown, everyone will know who “won”. Xi doesn’t need to brag just as Mark Carney didn’t. Trump can woof all he wants that he “paused” because a few people were getting “the yips” but the real players know how close the world came to a meltdown and that Trump blinked, just as he will blink with China (eventually). All the same, the damage can’t be undone.
Hi Will, Indeed the damage has been done and as you note at least some portion can't be undone or at least not quickly. Eighty years of building trade and military alliances, notwithstanding having a few faux pas along the way, has now been severely thrown into question due to the economic ignorance of one man and a complicent congress and cabinet.
I grew rather uneasy with Trump's random ranting in mid-February and moved my IRA and my wife's to 50% cash and was really considering going 100%. In hindsight the latter would have been the better choice. I'm moving in the latter direction now as while I'm frequently contrarian this time around I think Trump's complete lack of skill as a statesmen and massive economic ignorance is going to continue to keep the economy in chaos and bring on at minimum a rather strong recession.
Reminds me of Canada. Won’t be long before Conold starts calling world leaders pleading for them to get their consumers to buy from the US. They will by then have realised that the ROW has better stuff at better prices. And anyway, something, something, sex and travel yourself Conold.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner. The tariffs imposed by Trump on us wouldn't have that much of an effect - although in the words of our Prime Minister " that's not how you treat friends". The US's tariffs on China however will have a much bigger effect. Now, we know Trump is wanting us to join in his trade war with China- but we would be struggling to find a good reason to. It would do a lot of damage to our economy- and for what? To please someone as capricious as Trump who has already proven himself untrustworthy? As it is, China is happy to buy beef from us that has gone to the US market.
And I have a beef about beef. Bessent has made claims that Australia is lying about our reasons for not importing US beef. We do import beef products from the US but our biosecurity concerns are real, not fabricated as Bessent claims. That kind of talk further alienates us.
Honestly, if Trump wants to play a game of "US versus the world," Australia is better off on the world team. I am hoping after our federal election early next month we will see the PM being a bit more direct in telling Trump to take a running jump. Unfortunately with a Murdoch dominated media landscape he has to be careful until then.
Canada too. We have our election at the end of April to officially place Prime Minister Carney (hopefully, he'll win) as our leader. He already has plans to bypass Trump and be on the 'world team.' I think he's working closely with Australia now too.
Yes, my understanding is that they have negotiated a couple of things .... and i expect there will be more agreements in the future. Your PM is definitely the right one for these times. All the best for your election - ours is May 3rd.
As an American, I wholeheartedly support your thinking here. Our allies like Australia may be our salvation—ramp up these natural consequences for our orange führer’s malevolent idiocy and we may yet snuff out this fascist movement trying to destroy our country!
Obviously, this sentiment is foremost in all of our former allies worldwide. How could it not be?
Trump and the 2025 folks who are really running this program, envision the US as an island out of the Ayn Rand dystopia of a self-sufficient society isolated from mutual obligations. They fantasize about a utopian Christian theocracy with a benevolent ruling class (which of course is them) headed by a king. I don't think succession has been determined.
It will be populated by little people in factories and mommies at home in their big kitchen gardens.
Ayn Rand was also a hippocrite: she accepted social security and Medicare under her husband's name. So much for her ranting about a "self-sufficient society."
That's the case for the EU, and it may be a factor here,but we do not import any unprocessed beef products from any country. I think it may be due to BSE, but for historical reasons, there are a number of diseases and pests that we have never had here - and we want to keep it that way.
Not sure about stoats, never heard of them being a problem, but there are numerous other introduced species that have done phenomenal damage, especially to native fauna. Even within Australia, we have strict quarantine requirements to prevent the spread of unwanted pests.
The stoats hit New Zealand more; IIRC, they were introduced to reduce the problem caused by bringing in rabbits. We have the same sort of thing in the States. The most famous example was the idiot who tried to introduce every type of bird mentioned in Shakespeare's works, but we also have kudzu, which was brought in as cattle feed and rapidly covered the South.
Cane toads were introduced to address another pest problem here as well only to become an even worse pest. I have heard foxes were introduced to address the rabbit pest, but also that they were introduced so "gentlemen" could enjoy the cruel sport of fox hunting. The introduction of foxes (along with feral cats) has caused the extinction of a number of native species. My concerns now primarily relate to diseases decimating plant species.
I would be very happy to see the Australian government tell Trump to fuck himself sideways with a rusty machete but if he's in the middle of a campaign, yeah, he's got to watch his mouth for the moment. Same thing happening here in Canada - and lord, if Carney wins PLEASE let him tell "Sir" to hoop his forehead! I would pay to hear those exact words come out of Carney's mouth...
This time around each cabinet head is a mirror of the man who chose them: ignorant, full of contempt and hatred toward government and everyday people, and synchopants to Dear Leader.
The billionaires that turned our nation into a dictatorship by empowering snd propping up this lunatic in exchange for tax cuts need to have their heads put on pikes. One way or another, a reckoning is coming, I refuse to believe most of the country will submit to these idiots forever . Once they declare national martial law in a few days, the real fight for the soul of the nation begins.
Per "The Opinionated Ogere" reprise from February: "...all the money in the world will not stop a bullet. Body armor and bodyguards and bullet-proof glass will only work for so long if a country filled with guns decides you have to die."
The peasants are now armed with semi-automatic pitchforks and long-range torches. How long will soldiers train their weapons on family and neighbors? I've got to find a thesaurus because mind-boggeling shit-show just isn't doing the work.
It’s a start, but recall that businesses are the proxies of billionaires, so if we aren’t serious about taxing them too, it is easy for the billionaire to just shift the money there.
One thing that makes it easier for them is that 401k owners generally can’t vote their shares and end up rubber stamping whatever the wealthy minority wants. The SP500 is now 80% institutionally owned. It’s a hell of a thing to be able to cash out of 80% of the risk of owning a business while still maintaining 100% control. (Privatize the profits, socialize the losses!) Musk would not now be proposing Tesla buy out his mistaken purchase of Twitter at favorable rates if the public was able to exercise their corporate governance rights. So in addition to all this taxation (which I expect they will be able to avoid) we really need to put the public governance back into publicly traded companies.
"Why do people work? Not to be able to boast that they ran trade surpluses with their employers — 'Hey, they paid me a lot, and I hardly bought anything from them.' No, people sell their labor so that they can afford to buy stuff."
Side point, but that's a really interesting juxtaposition. It never occurred to me before, but there does seem to be a throughline between Trump's assertion that we're subsidizing other countries by buying their stuff and the classic Republican belief that the wealthy are generously supporting the rest of us by buying our labor.
Agreed but the bond market and liquidity crisis (stock market crashes) leads to depression. That could be 5-10 years to turn around with then that to the just break even point .........CRIMINAL ! And lets not forget the GOP can stop all this today..... if they were not spineless and 200 % USELESS...this is on them as much as it is trump
It is not on the GOP; it is on the people of US who voted for them. The US brought this to itself. It is a version of 'cutting your nose to spite the face'.
Is it that hard to accept a female president? What is so despicable about a female that a convicted criminal is better?
The saddest part is that my congressman is a diehard trump sycophant. I've written him countless emails asking him to use his congressional authority to stop the chaos. All I've gotten in response is his form letter saying that he supports trump's "bold agenda to promote economic growth..." and other nonsense.
Maybe if he is that stonewalled. Is it time to spell out the raw truth to him. What you really think, don’t hold back any truth. At least your conscience is clear you tried everything with him and in the (God willing ! ) 2026 - work like he….. for his opponent:) and Praying is more important than ever ❤️
Nope, they won't. They'll find ways to blame China. Or Canada. Or the EU. Or all of the above. Or Dems in general. Or the Biden Crime Family.
The one thing they won't do is blame Hippo Don. Because then they'd have to admit they voted for the wrong candidate and are responsible for their own misery.
Few things are as hard to confront as buyer's remorse...
In fairness, they have been ruthlessly mocking people who voted for Biden in 2020, even while Biden was working hard to help red states, and inflation was coming down and the stock market going up. They accused Dems of tanking our economy and values, got themselves elected in 2024, and the Repubs are now ACTUALLY tanking our economy and spreading their hate, racism, misogyny, and lies! The thing about it is that Dems don’t actually want to be proven right about how bad the Repubs are at governing. We need a functioning second party, not a Christo-Fascist, technocratic, oligarchic, monarchic, misogynistic, racist Nazi party (there’s a song in there somewhere!), in which each group is united only in their desire to oppress people & steal wealth & power. Enlightened Repubs will try to sneak in with the Independents, who don’t want them because Repubs are full of hate for people who aren’t just like them. Education & exposure to different cultures is the key. When Dems are back in power, every student should be required to live abroad for 2 years after high school, like the Australian walkabout. Or spend 2 years in a Peace Corps-like program for high school graduates, learning hands-on skills.
They just killed Americorps which teaches millions of children how to read, among other things. We are going to have to rebuild it, make everyone serve their country for a year by helping their fellow citizens.
We would be lucky it Trump’s incompetence, greed and criminality simply ends with a recession. My grave concern is that the country has already been mortally wounded by this collaboration between right wing oligarchy and Putin’s puppet.
Note that the trump administration is crowing about imprisoning, beyond the reach of the courts, an innocent man. Zero evidence presented to support their lies about him. Who thinks it stops with one brown immigrant?
The whole world sees us as the baddies now. Kamala wasn't perfect, but this shitshow is insane and none ofthis would be happening with her in charge. We have destroyed the countries reputation for a generation. We are just a richer Russia now.
Worst yet, if we have put those sociopaths TWICE in charge, who says we will not do it again? From other countries' perspective, those sociopaths are not the problem, we are.
Donald Trump is not a "strategic genius." Oh my heavens.
He suffers from Pathological narcissism. These people will lie, manipulate, cheat, betray and hurt those closest to them. Extreme vindictiveness is a hallmark of this exploitive and entitlement style. He is leaning towards psychopathy now, a pattern of remorseless lies and manipulation. We are pawns in his game of retribution, no empathy, no compassion no judgment. He is functionally impaired with his psychiatric burden and we should get the needed nonpartisan specialists, to evaluate him and make an assessment as he is poised to bring us to the precipice of disaster in multiple arenas. I am so surprised people do not see how impaired he is. He also needs a cognitive test; erratic, unfocused, inattentive, distorted thinking are hallmarks of early decline. Frame him as a diagnostic entity. Get him the treatment he so richly deserves.... Kathleen
He's a psychopath (google it). And he's surrounded by yes men (Bessant, Johnson, most Repulican politicos) dummies (most of his cabinet) and others on the sociopath/psychopath personality spectrum (Vance, Musk, Miller)
He lies because it's what he's always done. Half the time he makes it up as he speaks and really doesn't care about facts. It's always worked for him, why not now?
He is delusionary...he really thinks he can shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a vote....and he may be right. But that is more a reflection of the American electorate than him. He really doesn't care about democracy; people; egg prices. It's all about power and money.
What's amazing when you think about it, he only went bankrupt 6 times.
So, can you find this so called cognitive test on line? It might be appropriate if all voters take it as we need to see just how psychologically inept we are.
Legally, as long as the republicans in congress will not impeach, and he ignores the courts, there is no recourse except wait for 2026 to replace congress, wait for 2027 when they can be sworn in then wait for an Impeachment trial.
There is no way to challenge him. We can demonstrate but he knows as well as we do that it can have no effect, he certainly doesn’t listen, he will probably just feed off it, and ultimately we wait for 2027 anyway.
Trump does not honour agreements. He does not honour the American constitution. He does not honour the rule of law. The Republicans in congress are puppets unwilling to challenge Trump. Why would any country negotiate a trade deal with the United States?
The Republicans won't challenge Trump because he's getting them what the party has worked for since FDR - elimination of all of the policies Democrats have put in place since FDR was elected.
It is not only about Trump, it is even worse .Is there no one in the House of Representativs that has the common sense to stand up and not support this anti democratic behaviour?
Thank-you for all of your insight that helps to keep us sane, and also - thank-you for your fantastic musical codas, the Fleetwood Mac cover by the Highwomen was brilliant
I think intelligent people read way too much into these “tariffs”. There is no plan or objective beyond Trump’s narcissism. He wants countries, businesses, billionaires and the American public to worship him, in his words, to kiss his ass. All hail the King! All his supporters scramble around trying to avoid this reality.
There is a saying that a Republican candidate just has to show up but a Democratic candidate has to be absolutely perfect to get votes from their constituency.
Republicans are a conglomerate of forces working together to accomplish their goals; you have Trump, Elon, the tech-bros, Project 2025, etc.
The "system" could get rid of Trump but Trump isn't the problem; he is the symptom of something greater and that something greater wants Americans to stop depending on China for everything.
Now what this means in practice or theory I don't know.
I don’t think china is the problem. I think the chances of success for the non-college educated people in the country is the problem and China and immmigrants are getting blamed for it.
However, really the problem is that wages haven’t been increasing commensurate with productivity and they’ve been falling behind for 50 years. China and Mexico are at best only slightly associated. They aren’t the ones setting wages, corporate boardrooms ultimately do that and over the 50 year period they have been practicing shareholder primacy. Translation: workers as costs get as little as possible so shareholders can have more. The rest follows.
Trump only has one goal - worship me. "Only I can fix it". As long as the billionaires or white supremacists, christian nationalists or whomever is useful in convincing people that he is the chosen one to worship, then he is fine with whatever goals they may have.
The "tariffs" have really nothing to do with China per se. If he can convince people that the latest boogy man is the evil Chinese and he is the only one that will save America from them, then that's narrative he will follow until. Until he needs a new boogy man, maybe the Canadians are next? If average Americans really wanted to stop depending on China for so many products, why do they buy from them in the billions each year? One would think a "buy American" movement would have been started decades ago.
Do all countries want some control over some key industries? Of course they do. Many countries put in support programs for industries that they believe are key or need support. Highly targeted tariffs and subsidies are tools used for this purpose. Tariffs on every country and island on the planet - explain how that works.
Trump gets people to focus their fear on "they", the others. They are evil and the root of all your problems. The magic is that he lets people pick their "they". It started with black people, he then moved to Mexicans, then all undocumented people, Democrats of course, then the Chinese. He recently has gone back to the "elites" (Ivy league universities). Here is his message - be afraid of X (you get to pick your X) and only I can save you and here is my latest suggestion of who or what to be afraid of.
I still have a hard time understanding how a nation that has lead the World for the biggest part of 80yrs can elect a convict that has been the biggest business failure in US History. Casinios have proven long ago Trump has no sense of business and as Steve Bannon said if Trump had not been laundering money for the Russians he would have been broke and gone long ago. On top of this Pelosi gave McConnell two chances to rid us all of this nightmare and Moscow Mitch dicided it would be better to allow Trump to destroy the USA and the future of all our children rather than be done with him. Red States have a bad problem with electing bad stupid people and my state of Alabama is one of the worst. Who in their right mind would elect Tuberville to dog catcher much less US Senator and it now is looking like they are going ot make him governor, the 1st person in Alabama to become governor while not living here. Amazing.
Yea, I guess so, sad though because they are about to flush the entire country down the tubes for something that is going to change whether they like it or not. What idiots.
Focus on public healthcare. We spend ~$13,000 per person — nearly 3x the OECD average — yet get worse outcomes. Public systems are more efficient and don’t funnel profits to the rich. In the U.S., that money is being extracted by the wealthy and protected by their lobbyists.
Exactly, the insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers and the pharmaceutical companies are all being allowed to take rent off American workers, and to a lesser extent those on Medicaid and Medicare, in exchange for almost zero added benefit to patients. We need a single payer healthcare system. We also need to make medical education free for nurses, doctors, physicians assistants, physical therapists and other providers, then put them on a salary - that is how the Canadians and Europeans mostly do it. That encourages more people to go into medicine, knowing the education cost won't be ruinous and that they will have a comfortable life. They won't get super rich, but they also won't be paupers if something prevents them from practicing after they get educated and qualified.
The point isn’t to “win” a trade war or anything else. The point is to destroy America so completely that it will never recover. All of Trump’s actions are so much simpler to explain if we just accept who he is working for. It’s not the USA.
True. Better to be king of a pile of rubble than to iron an orange jumpsuit...
tRump’s one and only objective, ever, is to be the subject of today’s news headline. There’s never a plan or objective beyond that
The "Netanyahu Effect". Let's hope it doesn't start directly costing lives.
It’s already costing lives - people are in Guatemalan prisons.
Conceivably, if they're in prison, they're still alive.
I was thinking more along the line of some 50,000 dead Palestinians — including many doctors, nurses, aid workers, and journalists, as well as women, children, and other obvious non-combatants.
There's still an order-of-magnitude difference between Trmp and Bibi — so far.
....or Putin's one million soldiers he has mass sacrificed for his ambitions for Ukraine's resources and strategic location....Trump's dying to get there and use the military against ordinary citizen dissenters (we could count the 500K+ - 1,000,000 that died of covid because they wouldn't get vaccinated or wear masks)
"that died of covid"
He and Fox News killed my Dad.
My sisters took him in for the first two vaccines. When it came time for a booster, he told my sister, "Fox News says I don't need no booster!"
A year later, he was dead of COVID.
There's no doubt he's always had that at the back of his Adderall addled mind. Of course, there are other benefits as well to being the Tin Pot Despot of a banana republic.
Better to rule in hell...
That’s irony right?
He is simple and angry guy in over his head in a complicated world. a dangerous combination for everyone
Putin 2.0 - putin lives just FINE...and steals billions of money $$$$....the people - not so much but mgghhhh
Completely agree. Elon Musk is not even close to being the richest man on earth. Trump's mentor, role model and spiritual advisor has likely stolen over a trillion dollars (in Rubles) from the Russian people. The Trump Family office will get a payday for his work...
YES!!!
“The Trump administration is, in fact, very competent in achieving its main goal: stripping America down for parts and selling those parts to the highest bidders.”
— Sarah Kendzior, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America 
“Trump and much of his cohort… want the country to collapse. A depopulated, partitioned United States is easier to exploit and control… To them, the state is just something to sell… The United States of America is merely a landmass to split into oligarch fiefdoms.”
— Sarah Kendzior, They Knew 
Who does he work for. Rachel Maddow did an amazing segment last night 4/15 https://tribune.com.pk/story/2540291/whistleblower-claims-doge-gave-russia-access-to-us-data-via-starlink
That scared the bejesus out of me!
Trump isn't working for Russia. He likes Russia. He likes Putin. Putin probably has the goods on him for some of his sexual escapades in Moscow back in the '00's. One wonders, what ever happened to those pee tapes? But he's not working for Russia. What he's doing, at least in what passes for his mind, is saving and restoring America. He really believes that international trade is a zero sum game - that America reached its peak under Mckinley. He really believes that somehow he can bring back all the manufacturing jobs that were lost to cheaper overseas producers, and that somehow, magically, the U.S. will be restored to some retro version mashup of various domestic comedy B movies and 1950's sitcoms. He thinks that he was chosen by God to do this and all the other horrible things he's doing because his would be assassin was just a little off in his aim; and, as we all know, nothing happens by accident (this might be the scariest thing of all!). In other words, he's doing what he's doing because he's an ignorant, delusional, semi-senile idiot.
But ultimately whether one thinks Trump is doing what he's doing because he's a fool or because he's secretly a diabolical criminal genius is a distinction without a difference. Either way you look at it, we are all well and truly boned!
This is most cogent and convincing explanation of Trump's agenda that I've read anywhere. Your description -- an ignorant, delusional, semi-senile idiot -- is spot on!
"Trump isn't working for Russia. He likes Russia. He likes Putin. Putin probably has the goods on him for some of his sexual escapades in Moscow back in the '00's."
What is the functional difference between your first sentence and your last sentence?
In any case it's absolutely not something to express certainty about. Why do we do shit like this? Just let our enemies off the hook with complete confidence that it's the right thing to do? There is enough circumstantial evidence of Trump working directly for Russia that it blows my mind anyone would rule it out.
But then, I'm consistently frustrated by liberals' complete refusal to question any official narratives, including two or three major events in 2024 that I won't even mention because it will make 3/4 of y'all immediately dismiss me as a crank.
In practical terms, not much. But someone can like someone else even if that person has some advantage over him. Think Stockholm syndrome or an abused wife who still has fond feelings for her abuser. I believe that Trump would be doing what he’s done for Putin even if Putin didn’t have videos of Trump doing dirty things with and to Russian prostitutes. It kind of like Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler. Ford liked Hitler because Hitler hated Jews. And Trump likes Putin because Putin is the authoritarian strongman Trump dreams of becoming.
Even if full length videos of Trump playing and pissing on Russian whores were to be released, his cult would ignore them and his spokespeople would defend him. Fox would ignore the clips and never air them, or say the behaviour is normal. Remember he has been found guilty of sexual assault, convicted of 34 felonies, impeached twice and has credibly accused of extra marital affairs with Stormy and that Playboy bunny. (And you can be sure Laura Loomer has orange on her lips.)
Yep, dementia can do that
Another thought: intentionally send the world into a depression so the American oligarchs can buy everything up at fire sale prices. Perhaps he really does have a plan.
I don't think he's complex enough to carry off a subterfuge.
He's telegraphed every move he's made to date.
He demands praise, and he wants to be able to say "See? I told you I was going to do that!"
Now, the people he's chosen may have different plans that they aren't telling him…
Well, yes. I think the puppet masters have lots of plans they aren’t telling him. And I’ll bet they are goading him to ever-greater heights of breakage. Then, when everyone finally blames him, they will knock him off the Resolute Desk, pick up the broken pieces and mold them into what the REAL masters want.
The "real masters" probably didn't want him doing things like bragging on camera about Literally Charles Schwab, The Guy making over $2 billion in a day because of his idiotic policy gyrations, and they probably aren't happy with how this whole thing is going overall.
So is Vance picking out new drapes for the Oval yet? I’ll bet he is!
Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" on steroids…
Or, as someone mentioned above, he could be a Russian operative brilliantly destroying the West.
Unfortunately, you're probably right. Probably malignant folks are whispering global depression plans into his ear.
My best guess is that there are Russian operatives manipulating and/or working hand-in-hand with the more self-interestedly malignant. A true coalition government.
If the republicans of today were as concerned about Russian interference, influence, and infiltration as the republicans of Nixon and McCarthy's day, we would have a chance.
We would have a chance? If the Republicans of today were as concerned about Russia as Nixon/McCarthy Republicans then Donald Trump wouldn't have ever been President. Certainly not twice.
Hell, if they were ONE TENTH as concerned, he wouldn't have ever been President.
He's punishing the entire country for voting for Joe Biden in 2020. It's likely no more complicated than that.
And for Obama ridiculing him at the WHCD in 2011. Being made fun of! By a Black man! THIS CANNOT STAND!!
He believes the 2020 election was stolen. He’s obsessed with that idea.
Explaining why they do stupid things is a wasted effort. We need to do what we can to stop undemocratic or just plain stupid actions.
It's really funny that we stopped pointing out he is a direct agent of Russia after a few months because people told us it was "cringe."
Working for Russia, Billionaires, Murdoch, Koch, Thiel, assorted other racists, 'dicktators.'
You're so right
Yes I completely agree. I really think it’s China and Russia and and and behind it
I hesitate to say this, but we MIGHT have a bit of a chance if there weren't so many players influencing Trump at every turn and Trump seemingly blindly and seemingly mindlessly trusting them. Advisors can likely avoid jail, but I doubt that's true for the President. The buck stops with him. And without a playbook I doubt Trump would know what to prioritize.
“China needs to make a deal with us. We don't need to make a deal with them. So China, make a deal. You can make a deal. Call us to make a deal. And we'll respond with a deal. So you can call any time. And we will answer. You hear? We will pick up the phone. If you call us. All you have to do is pick up the phone. So pick up the phone, alright? Call us, ok? Please call us. Please! Please?”
Hearing his words are aimless enough. (They regularly demonstrate his lack of understanding reality). However seeing the transcript of his words is even more preposterous and unworkable. Eric Edelman of The Bulwark said, “It’s policy by presidential whim.”
Yeah. It's mindboggling that the future of the world economy depends on a game of chicken - on who is going to pick up the phone first.
I predict that Hippo Don is going to claim Xi called, which will just be another lie. Then he'll declare victory and reduce the tariffs against China to zero.
That's when Xi decides to keep his tariffs in place...
Whim and escalating dementia, with the not surprising surfeit of delusions of grandeur mixed with paranoia.
It appears that China can purchase its standard imported goods from many countries around the globe. There are a number of items we can only buy from China. However China buys a tremendous amount of higher education from us and we appear to be actively squelching that too. What a foolish administration we have
I can only see a plunge in the attractiveness of higher education in USA going forward with its hostility and full body cavity searches. Already academics have left for Canada. Europe will become more attractive.
There's also the unfortunate fact that, while some American universities truly used to be asking the world's best, they haven't been for decades now. What the Ivy League retains isn't excellence, it's *prestige*. In exchange for having the cachet of tacking "Harvard" or "Yale" after your graduate degree, however, American students pay hundreds of thousands. Foreign students pay so much more, unless they get a scholarship - but very few go to foreign students.
Now that being on a student visa or even a green card is no guarantee that you won't be arrested without cause, jailed for days, weeks or months without due process, and either deported or sent to El Salvador due to another "administrative error", why would foreign students continue to go to the US? They can get better educations for less money in greater safety elsewhere, and in so doing, they'll increase the prestige of universities where educational excellence is still the top priority. The situation will only be worsened by the departure of many of the best academic minds currently working in America. Other schools will gleefully give them tenure. Foreign students, especially graduate students, will follow those academics because learning from the best is greatly to be desired.
It's a brain drain, a money drain and a prestige drain, all from schools that are also currently facing the choice of losing federal grants or knuckling their foreheads to Mango Mussolini.
And oh yes, this is one thing the Trump administration is doing deliberately and well. The best young minds in America will be leaving the country too, and that only makes Trump's agenda easier to implement.
Even for students who are apolitical or not worried about personal security, with the loss of Federal funding for scientific and medical research, U.S. universities will not be very attractive for people in those fields.
They don't even need us for that anymore. They have enough U.S. trained academics over there for their own universities.
"Trump is killing one of our strongest exports" by Catherine Rampell discusses how the attacks on universities will worsen the trade deficit, as universities are a more valuable export than natural gas and coal combined. Not to mention the loss of future competitiveness by decimating research grants that produce tomorrow's breakthroughs and scientists. MASAA! (Make America Stone Age Again)
Or they can go to Canadian universities.
Australia and the UK are already telling Chinese students how welcoming (& safe) they are.
Very true. They still like(d) to come to our universities as have others from many countries but Trump is killing that too
The Chinese are using the strategies created by Sun Tzu in the Art of War. They have a strategy and the will to enforce it. US has no strategy, no ideas- only an incoherent show. Strategy will win every time and there is no need to crawl to Trump. US is doomed to lose
Per Krugman: “… Second, even if U.S. negotiators are trying to cut deals with other countries that would isolate China, they will be unlikely to succeed because Trump has lost all credibility.”
Yes, but the US electorate also lost credibility by putting an ignorant blowhard in the White House. Twice. How could any government, corporation, or individual trust the United States after that? It was a catastrophe that the American electorate gave the nitwit son of the elderbush enough votes to allow SCOTUS to install him in the presidency, which installation severely damaged the US reputation, worldwide. The election of the felon (twice!) destroys that reputation entirely.
In addition the US has no OODA loop; decisions triggered by random noise. Unpredictable and ineffective. But immensely satisfying to those who like action.
An OODA loop would require careful analysis and planning. Trump can’t tolerate either of them.
Right. Their strategy is to just sit back and watch the U.S. self-destruct.
And that strategy is working great so far. Except that I don't think China has any desire to see the US collapse into anarchy. They prefer order, and the US isva big export market for them. Russia, on the other hand, would love to see the US self destruct.
China would prefer order - but one they impose.
Putin just wants to own us - and he's doing a damn good job of it. King Krasnov is following orders to the letter.
Will Monty Hall answer? What is behind door #1... tRump is Vlad's useful idiot (and agent). Toward his goals Vlad has given Donnie a playbook which fits in with Donnie's prejudices, complete lack of understanding of economics and trade, impulsiveness, ADHD, etc. He is playing tRump like the tool/instrument he is. All of this together will trash the dollar, trash the markets, and tank the economy - because nobody among his kakistocrats would recognize an off ramp if it bit them on the nose.
You’re letting Project 2025 off the hook here.
It’s a combination of these factors.
yes...putin has played trump for 15? years or more !! Look donnie....a throwne...I shall make you president and we shall rule the world.........till I find an open window in that huge house ! Stairs will work too
I suspect that is what happened to Ivana - she knew where too many bodies were buried and Donnie asked BFF Vlad to rid him of his ex-wife.
I came here to say the same thing.
Huh? I thought she died in her bed…
Only if she ‘slept’ in the stairs.
She had some broken ribs from a "fall down the stairs" just before she was supposed to testify in one of the NY cases, if I remember correctly.
"On Thursday afternoon, emergency responders investigating a call from Ivana Trump’s home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side found her unconscious. They pronounced her dead at the scene and noted that there did “not appear to be any criminality”, police said in a statement.
Trump, Donald Jr and Ivanka were supposed to be questioned Friday as part of a New York civil investigation into their business dealings.
But the New York state attorney general’s office postponed the depositions as a result of Ivana Trump’s death. New dates for the depositions weren’t immediately set."
theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/15/ivana-trump-donald-trump-wife-death-cause
She was found at the bottom of the stairs.
Either Monty Hall or Rod Serling.
Well said!
China is too busy making trade deals with long-time enemies Vietnam and Japan. The fact that these nations are setting aside centuries of enmity to negotiate trade deals shows just how weak the US’s position is.
Yes John, and China, Japan and South Korea’s trade ministers met last week for the first time in over six years. Trump’s foolish and feckless actions are new cooperation among ancient enemies.
Sounds like he's starting to understand, at some level, how weak his position is and it's going to get weaker. His first line was that Xi ought to get on the phone and kiss presidential ass: he bragged about it to fat cats and his sycophants in Congress. Pretty soon he'll progress to sending a trade rep over to Beijing to grovel a bit to seek surrender terms before the trade losses cause the fat cats to drive him completely out of power. The only question is how much face the Chinese will let him keep and given his public arrogance it's not likely to be much.
"...that even relatively sophisticated Trumpers like Bessent..."
Whoa, Paul, that's a colossal stretch to the breaking point, but I'm sure Bessent appreciates you doing him a solid on his "acumen" and — yes, his "sophistication".... LOL!
China leave phone off hook
As far as I know, Trump hasn’t said what is quoted above (“So China, make a deal.”). But according to his press secretary he did say something similar: “China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them.... China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have, the American consumer. Or to put another way, they need our money.”
So Trump doesn’t understand the concept that Krugman lays out. What China want’s from trade is ultimately stuff like soybeans, not money.
Source: press briefing by Karoline Leavitt, April 15, 2024, at the 24:21 mark.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/past-events/press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-briefs-members-of-the-media-apr-15-2025/
I like that we can make meaningful connections and have honest conversations here in Substack. Kind of reminds me of Twitter.
Never been on Twitter, but yeah, love Substack!
Like Twitter was once upon a time. Bluesky the new-old Twitter.
Longform Twitter. Actually better than twitter.
When Xi calls us, the president will be incredibly gracious, but Xi has to call us (Leavitt).
Xi will never call. The loss of face would be prohibitive.
Good point. Perhaps if he's played DJT so far into the corner that he can destroy him in which case the real players on the world stage will know who was in control. If Xi is playing from "The Art of War" Donnie doesn't stand a chance. Xi is likely to focus on the outcomes and let lying Donnie pretend he won. Will be interesting to watch this play out.
Mike: yes, and just as with the bond market meltdown, everyone will know who “won”. Xi doesn’t need to brag just as Mark Carney didn’t. Trump can woof all he wants that he “paused” because a few people were getting “the yips” but the real players know how close the world came to a meltdown and that Trump blinked, just as he will blink with China (eventually). All the same, the damage can’t be undone.
Hi Will, Indeed the damage has been done and as you note at least some portion can't be undone or at least not quickly. Eighty years of building trade and military alliances, notwithstanding having a few faux pas along the way, has now been severely thrown into question due to the economic ignorance of one man and a complicent congress and cabinet.
I grew rather uneasy with Trump's random ranting in mid-February and moved my IRA and my wife's to 50% cash and was really considering going 100%. In hindsight the latter would have been the better choice. I'm moving in the latter direction now as while I'm frequently contrarian this time around I think Trump's complete lack of skill as a statesmen and massive economic ignorance is going to continue to keep the economy in chaos and bring on at minimum a rather strong recession.
Gracious, as he has been with other leaders who made the mistake of meeting with him.
Boy, are they going to be in trouble. Wait till the rest of the world hears about this! Hysterical Michiel:-)
China has already answered. Don’t sit by the phone Donnie, we don’t need you
😂
Reminds me of Canada. Won’t be long before Conold starts calling world leaders pleading for them to get their consumers to buy from the US. They will by then have realised that the ROW has better stuff at better prices. And anyway, something, something, sex and travel yourself Conold.
Not a hope in hell that China will call first. Bringing a knife to a gunfight is spot on! China grew up suffering but the US has not.
Yes, a butter knife.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner. The tariffs imposed by Trump on us wouldn't have that much of an effect - although in the words of our Prime Minister " that's not how you treat friends". The US's tariffs on China however will have a much bigger effect. Now, we know Trump is wanting us to join in his trade war with China- but we would be struggling to find a good reason to. It would do a lot of damage to our economy- and for what? To please someone as capricious as Trump who has already proven himself untrustworthy? As it is, China is happy to buy beef from us that has gone to the US market.
And I have a beef about beef. Bessent has made claims that Australia is lying about our reasons for not importing US beef. We do import beef products from the US but our biosecurity concerns are real, not fabricated as Bessent claims. That kind of talk further alienates us.
Honestly, if Trump wants to play a game of "US versus the world," Australia is better off on the world team. I am hoping after our federal election early next month we will see the PM being a bit more direct in telling Trump to take a running jump. Unfortunately with a Murdoch dominated media landscape he has to be careful until then.
Canada too. We have our election at the end of April to officially place Prime Minister Carney (hopefully, he'll win) as our leader. He already has plans to bypass Trump and be on the 'world team.' I think he's working closely with Australia now too.
Yes, my understanding is that they have negotiated a couple of things .... and i expect there will be more agreements in the future. Your PM is definitely the right one for these times. All the best for your election - ours is May 3rd.
As an American, I wholeheartedly support your thinking here. Our allies like Australia may be our salvation—ramp up these natural consequences for our orange führer’s malevolent idiocy and we may yet snuff out this fascist movement trying to destroy our country!
Obviously, this sentiment is foremost in all of our former allies worldwide. How could it not be?
Trump and the 2025 folks who are really running this program, envision the US as an island out of the Ayn Rand dystopia of a self-sufficient society isolated from mutual obligations. They fantasize about a utopian Christian theocracy with a benevolent ruling class (which of course is them) headed by a king. I don't think succession has been determined.
It will be populated by little people in factories and mommies at home in their big kitchen gardens.
Ayn Rand was also a hippocrite: she accepted social security and Medicare under her husband's name. So much for her ranting about a "self-sufficient society."
I thought some countries didn’t import US beef because of the hormones and pesticides forced into these creatures.
That's the case for the EU, and it may be a factor here,but we do not import any unprocessed beef products from any country. I think it may be due to BSE, but for historical reasons, there are a number of diseases and pests that we have never had here - and we want to keep it that way.
You learned from the rabbits, cats, stoats, and cane toads.
Not sure about stoats, never heard of them being a problem, but there are numerous other introduced species that have done phenomenal damage, especially to native fauna. Even within Australia, we have strict quarantine requirements to prevent the spread of unwanted pests.
The stoats hit New Zealand more; IIRC, they were introduced to reduce the problem caused by bringing in rabbits. We have the same sort of thing in the States. The most famous example was the idiot who tried to introduce every type of bird mentioned in Shakespeare's works, but we also have kudzu, which was brought in as cattle feed and rapidly covered the South.
Cane toads were introduced to address another pest problem here as well only to become an even worse pest. I have heard foxes were introduced to address the rabbit pest, but also that they were introduced so "gentlemen" could enjoy the cruel sport of fox hunting. The introduction of foxes (along with feral cats) has caused the extinction of a number of native species. My concerns now primarily relate to diseases decimating plant species.
Only the smart ones.
I would be very happy to see the Australian government tell Trump to fuck himself sideways with a rusty machete but if he's in the middle of a campaign, yeah, he's got to watch his mouth for the moment. Same thing happening here in Canada - and lord, if Carney wins PLEASE let him tell "Sir" to hoop his forehead! I would pay to hear those exact words come out of Carney's mouth...
If Bessent is the relatively sophisticated one among them, god (no specific deity implied) help us. The Keystone Kleptos are running things.
This time around each cabinet head is a mirror of the man who chose them: ignorant, full of contempt and hatred toward government and everyday people, and synchopants to Dear Leader.
The billionaires that turned our nation into a dictatorship by empowering snd propping up this lunatic in exchange for tax cuts need to have their heads put on pikes. One way or another, a reckoning is coming, I refuse to believe most of the country will submit to these idiots forever . Once they declare national martial law in a few days, the real fight for the soul of the nation begins.
Per "The Opinionated Ogere" reprise from February: "...all the money in the world will not stop a bullet. Body armor and bodyguards and bullet-proof glass will only work for so long if a country filled with guns decides you have to die."
The peasants are now armed with semi-automatic pitchforks and long-range torches. How long will soldiers train their weapons on family and neighbors? I've got to find a thesaurus because mind-boggeling shit-show just isn't doing the work.
I'll bring the pikes!
Pikes are made in China and more expensive with the new tariffs, but still well worth the outlay.
I have some already. Never want to be caught short when they’re needed.
Good planning. The farmers who lost their export markets in China can beat their plows into guillotine blades.
Yep. After they attack Iran.
It’s a start, but recall that businesses are the proxies of billionaires, so if we aren’t serious about taxing them too, it is easy for the billionaire to just shift the money there.
One thing that makes it easier for them is that 401k owners generally can’t vote their shares and end up rubber stamping whatever the wealthy minority wants. The SP500 is now 80% institutionally owned. It’s a hell of a thing to be able to cash out of 80% of the risk of owning a business while still maintaining 100% control. (Privatize the profits, socialize the losses!) Musk would not now be proposing Tesla buy out his mistaken purchase of Twitter at favorable rates if the public was able to exercise their corporate governance rights. So in addition to all this taxation (which I expect they will be able to avoid) we really need to put the public governance back into publicly traded companies.
"Why do people work? Not to be able to boast that they ran trade surpluses with their employers — 'Hey, they paid me a lot, and I hardly bought anything from them.' No, people sell their labor so that they can afford to buy stuff."
Side point, but that's a really interesting juxtaposition. It never occurred to me before, but there does seem to be a throughline between Trump's assertion that we're subsidizing other countries by buying their stuff and the classic Republican belief that the wealthy are generously supporting the rest of us by buying our labor.
Ohhh yes. Spot on insight, Joshua!
My barber owes it all to me.
If it takes a recession to shake the country loose from maga so be it.
Agreed but the bond market and liquidity crisis (stock market crashes) leads to depression. That could be 5-10 years to turn around with then that to the just break even point .........CRIMINAL ! And lets not forget the GOP can stop all this today..... if they were not spineless and 200 % USELESS...this is on them as much as it is trump
It is not on the GOP; it is on the people of US who voted for them. The US brought this to itself. It is a version of 'cutting your nose to spite the face'.
Is it that hard to accept a female president? What is so despicable about a female that a convicted criminal is better?
No. The sane people of the U.S. didn’t force our idiot countrymen and women to vote for a fascist movement. It IS on the GOP.
And on Murdoch.
same-same. he's just their propaganda guy.
Not exactly. He's a self-proclaimed anarchist. He's also done this sort of damage in Britain and Australia.
You probably need to ask the ones who voted for that orange thing…most of the people who can read & educate themselves voted for the woman.
I don't talk to them. Their idea of "free speech" include bricks through my windows.
Can’t blame you. You’d get more out of the brick I think.
The saddest part is that my congressman is a diehard trump sycophant. I've written him countless emails asking him to use his congressional authority to stop the chaos. All I've gotten in response is his form letter saying that he supports trump's "bold agenda to promote economic growth..." and other nonsense.
Maybe if he is that stonewalled. Is it time to spell out the raw truth to him. What you really think, don’t hold back any truth. At least your conscience is clear you tried everything with him and in the (God willing ! ) 2026 - work like he….. for his opponent:) and Praying is more important than ever ❤️
The recession may be a blessing in disguise if people actually wake up to Trump's incompetency, destruction, and treason.
Nope, they won't. They'll find ways to blame China. Or Canada. Or the EU. Or all of the above. Or Dems in general. Or the Biden Crime Family.
The one thing they won't do is blame Hippo Don. Because then they'd have to admit they voted for the wrong candidate and are responsible for their own misery.
Few things are as hard to confront as buyer's remorse...
You forgot Hillary! Lock her up! /s
Every person who has publically expressed remorse over their vote has been ruthlessly mocked. Most people will keep their regret to themselves.
In fairness, they have been ruthlessly mocking people who voted for Biden in 2020, even while Biden was working hard to help red states, and inflation was coming down and the stock market going up. They accused Dems of tanking our economy and values, got themselves elected in 2024, and the Repubs are now ACTUALLY tanking our economy and spreading their hate, racism, misogyny, and lies! The thing about it is that Dems don’t actually want to be proven right about how bad the Repubs are at governing. We need a functioning second party, not a Christo-Fascist, technocratic, oligarchic, monarchic, misogynistic, racist Nazi party (there’s a song in there somewhere!), in which each group is united only in their desire to oppress people & steal wealth & power. Enlightened Repubs will try to sneak in with the Independents, who don’t want them because Repubs are full of hate for people who aren’t just like them. Education & exposure to different cultures is the key. When Dems are back in power, every student should be required to live abroad for 2 years after high school, like the Australian walkabout. Or spend 2 years in a Peace Corps-like program for high school graduates, learning hands-on skills.
They just killed Americorps which teaches millions of children how to read, among other things. We are going to have to rebuild it, make everyone serve their country for a year by helping their fellow citizens.
We would be lucky it Trump’s incompetence, greed and criminality simply ends with a recession. My grave concern is that the country has already been mortally wounded by this collaboration between right wing oligarchy and Putin’s puppet.
The first step in recovery is to stop plunging the knife in your own neck.
They won’t.
The US has less than 5% of the world population
We'll miss you, but get along without you.
Note that the trump administration is crowing about imprisoning, beyond the reach of the courts, an innocent man. Zero evidence presented to support their lies about him. Who thinks it stops with one brown immigrant?
The whole world sees us as the baddies now. Kamala wasn't perfect, but this shitshow is insane and none ofthis would be happening with her in charge. We have destroyed the countries reputation for a generation. We are just a richer Russia now.
Worst yet, if we have put those sociopaths TWICE in charge, who says we will not do it again? From other countries' perspective, those sociopaths are not the problem, we are.
Well said
Donald Trump is not a "strategic genius." Oh my heavens.
He suffers from Pathological narcissism. These people will lie, manipulate, cheat, betray and hurt those closest to them. Extreme vindictiveness is a hallmark of this exploitive and entitlement style. He is leaning towards psychopathy now, a pattern of remorseless lies and manipulation. We are pawns in his game of retribution, no empathy, no compassion no judgment. He is functionally impaired with his psychiatric burden and we should get the needed nonpartisan specialists, to evaluate him and make an assessment as he is poised to bring us to the precipice of disaster in multiple arenas. I am so surprised people do not see how impaired he is. He also needs a cognitive test; erratic, unfocused, inattentive, distorted thinking are hallmarks of early decline. Frame him as a diagnostic entity. Get him the treatment he so richly deserves.... Kathleen
Murphy MD
The complicity is chilling
No one challenging him
He's a psychopath (google it). And he's surrounded by yes men (Bessant, Johnson, most Repulican politicos) dummies (most of his cabinet) and others on the sociopath/psychopath personality spectrum (Vance, Musk, Miller)
He lies because it's what he's always done. Half the time he makes it up as he speaks and really doesn't care about facts. It's always worked for him, why not now?
He is delusionary...he really thinks he can shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a vote....and he may be right. But that is more a reflection of the American electorate than him. He really doesn't care about democracy; people; egg prices. It's all about power and money.
What's amazing when you think about it, he only went bankrupt 6 times.
So, can you find this so called cognitive test on line? It might be appropriate if all voters take it as we need to see just how psychologically inept we are.
Person-woman-man-camera-TV, so there.
Legally, as long as the republicans in congress will not impeach, and he ignores the courts, there is no recourse except wait for 2026 to replace congress, wait for 2027 when they can be sworn in then wait for an Impeachment trial.
There is no way to challenge him. We can demonstrate but he knows as well as we do that it can have no effect, he certainly doesn’t listen, he will probably just feed off it, and ultimately we wait for 2027 anyway.
Trump does not honour agreements. He does not honour the American constitution. He does not honour the rule of law. The Republicans in congress are puppets unwilling to challenge Trump. Why would any country negotiate a trade deal with the United States?
The Republicans won't challenge Trump because he's getting them what the party has worked for since FDR - elimination of all of the policies Democrats have put in place since FDR was elected.
It is not only about Trump, it is even worse .Is there no one in the House of Representativs that has the common sense to stand up and not support this anti democratic behaviour?
No one in The House? Sure. Plenty. Just not on the Republican side.
Yep. Minorities vote but majorities win.
Thank-you for all of your insight that helps to keep us sane, and also - thank-you for your fantastic musical codas, the Fleetwood Mac cover by the Highwomen was brilliant
I think intelligent people read way too much into these “tariffs”. There is no plan or objective beyond Trump’s narcissism. He wants countries, businesses, billionaires and the American public to worship him, in his words, to kiss his ass. All hail the King! All his supporters scramble around trying to avoid this reality.
There is a saying that a Republican candidate just has to show up but a Democratic candidate has to be absolutely perfect to get votes from their constituency.
Republicans are a conglomerate of forces working together to accomplish their goals; you have Trump, Elon, the tech-bros, Project 2025, etc.
The "system" could get rid of Trump but Trump isn't the problem; he is the symptom of something greater and that something greater wants Americans to stop depending on China for everything.
Now what this means in practice or theory I don't know.
I don’t think china is the problem. I think the chances of success for the non-college educated people in the country is the problem and China and immmigrants are getting blamed for it.
However, really the problem is that wages haven’t been increasing commensurate with productivity and they’ve been falling behind for 50 years. China and Mexico are at best only slightly associated. They aren’t the ones setting wages, corporate boardrooms ultimately do that and over the 50 year period they have been practicing shareholder primacy. Translation: workers as costs get as little as possible so shareholders can have more. The rest follows.
I'm not saying China is or isn't a problem. I'm saying there are forces bigger than Trump that want trade with China to stop.
Trump only has one goal - worship me. "Only I can fix it". As long as the billionaires or white supremacists, christian nationalists or whomever is useful in convincing people that he is the chosen one to worship, then he is fine with whatever goals they may have.
The "tariffs" have really nothing to do with China per se. If he can convince people that the latest boogy man is the evil Chinese and he is the only one that will save America from them, then that's narrative he will follow until. Until he needs a new boogy man, maybe the Canadians are next? If average Americans really wanted to stop depending on China for so many products, why do they buy from them in the billions each year? One would think a "buy American" movement would have been started decades ago.
Do all countries want some control over some key industries? Of course they do. Many countries put in support programs for industries that they believe are key or need support. Highly targeted tariffs and subsidies are tools used for this purpose. Tariffs on every country and island on the planet - explain how that works.
Trump gets people to focus their fear on "they", the others. They are evil and the root of all your problems. The magic is that he lets people pick their "they". It started with black people, he then moved to Mexicans, then all undocumented people, Democrats of course, then the Chinese. He recently has gone back to the "elites" (Ivy league universities). Here is his message - be afraid of X (you get to pick your X) and only I can save you and here is my latest suggestion of who or what to be afraid of.
I still have a hard time understanding how a nation that has lead the World for the biggest part of 80yrs can elect a convict that has been the biggest business failure in US History. Casinios have proven long ago Trump has no sense of business and as Steve Bannon said if Trump had not been laundering money for the Russians he would have been broke and gone long ago. On top of this Pelosi gave McConnell two chances to rid us all of this nightmare and Moscow Mitch dicided it would be better to allow Trump to destroy the USA and the future of all our children rather than be done with him. Red States have a bad problem with electing bad stupid people and my state of Alabama is one of the worst. Who in their right mind would elect Tuberville to dog catcher much less US Senator and it now is looking like they are going ot make him governor, the 1st person in Alabama to become governor while not living here. Amazing.
Short answer: Racism
Slightly longer answer: US White majority in process of becoming merely a plurality backs the now criminal GOP
Yea, I guess so, sad though because they are about to flush the entire country down the tubes for something that is going to change whether they like it or not. What idiots.
The electorate is mad. It no longer has room for reason and was never about self interest.
Focus on public healthcare. We spend ~$13,000 per person — nearly 3x the OECD average — yet get worse outcomes. Public systems are more efficient and don’t funnel profits to the rich. In the U.S., that money is being extracted by the wealthy and protected by their lobbyists.
Exactly, the insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers and the pharmaceutical companies are all being allowed to take rent off American workers, and to a lesser extent those on Medicaid and Medicare, in exchange for almost zero added benefit to patients. We need a single payer healthcare system. We also need to make medical education free for nurses, doctors, physicians assistants, physical therapists and other providers, then put them on a salary - that is how the Canadians and Europeans mostly do it. That encourages more people to go into medicine, knowing the education cost won't be ruinous and that they will have a comfortable life. They won't get super rich, but they also won't be paupers if something prevents them from practicing after they get educated and qualified.