Re: Politics
4741No, he’s just a dumbass. There’s no Hudsucker Proxy plan to vacuum up stocks. This is just pure, useless wealth destruction.
Re: Politics
4742I've read some commentary that suggests it's partially just Trump enjoying being a bully, trying to look "strong", without any real understanding of how markets work -- and when some of the backlash inevitably gets so bad that he backpedals on some of it, he gets to look like the good guy. "Forget the fact that he cut my arm off, he just gave me a Band-Aid. He's a good guy". Given the national attention span and general outlook of the MAGA voter, this certainly seems plausible.
Whether that description of his motivation is accurate or not is a moot point though, of course. It's a tragedy regardless.
Whether that description of his motivation is accurate or not is a moot point though, of course. It's a tragedy regardless.
Re: Politics
4743The fact that the other countries included unpopulated islands and that their “tariffs” were “calculated” using phony math should provide a pretty good indication that we’re not working with scheming masterminds here.
They really are that dumb.
They really are that dumb.
Re: Politics
4744I mean, that's how he works. He does some stupid shit, back pedals, and then he'll say he fixed it, but it was someone else's fault. Watch, he'll say the issue was from Biden and if it wasn't for Biden, his plan would have worked.offal wrote: Fri Apr 04, 2025 3:20 pm I've read some commentary that suggests it's partially just Trump enjoying being a bully, trying to look "strong", without any real understanding of how markets work -- and when some of the backlash inevitably gets so bad that he backpedals on some of it, he gets to look like the good guy. "Forget the fact that he cut my arm off, he just gave me a Band-Aid. He's a good guy". Given the national attention span and general outlook of the MAGA voter, this certainly seems plausible.
Whether that description of his motivation is accurate or not is a moot point though, of course. It's a tragedy regardless.
Re: Politics
4746The Trib’s evening edition headline is “Trump Hits the Golf Course as Stock Market Plummets over Tariffs.”
Pretty funny, but also pretty fuck those guys, who declined to make a presidential endorsement last year.
Pretty funny, but also pretty fuck those guys, who declined to make a presidential endorsement last year.
Re: Politics
4747I don't think he's clueless. But I don't think he's a chessmaster, either. Sort of like The Wrath of Khan... two-dimensional thinking.Wood Goblin wrote: Fri Apr 04, 2025 2:56 pm No, he’s just a dumbass. There’s no Hudsucker Proxy plan to vacuum up stocks. This is just pure, useless wealth destruction.
Anyway, I'll stop speculating. His behavior is unnecessarily damaging, regardless.
jason (he/him/his) from volo (illinois)
Re: Politics
4748This step is very unique to me. In 1.1 presidential terms he's almost only made frustrating, stupid and awful policy moves. What stands out about this is it's particularly weird. Like you could reach and link it to some right populism, but it's pretty far from the standard issue evil he's been invested in.
Re: Politics
4749You're not dealing with a sane person, and Howard Lutnick et al know they can buy for pennies on the dollar during their manufactured depression.
I'd rather be throwing darts.
Re: Politics
4750I love the book Citizen Hughes, and one of my favorite revelations was that Lyndon Johnson—the arch political operator; the man who knew every weakness that lay in the hearts of men, and how to exploit it—was at his wits’ end trying to deal with Howard Hughes. Even though Johnson felt like he knew every angle in the book, he could never figure out what Howard Hughes’s game was … because it never occurred to him that he was dealing with a madman.Krev wrote: Fri Apr 04, 2025 5:54 pm You're not dealing with a sane person, and Howard Lutnick et al know they can buy for pennies on the dollar during their manufactured depression.
Tone attorney.