Political Roundtable Part XXXIV

[AFM]

It doesn’t appear that Golfy know tariffs are a tax
and this is a huge tax increase. But he knows that
his spokesperson can run her mouth with complete
falsehoods nonstop with complete excrement.

I wish MAGA voters would have listened more
carefully as tariffs have been an obsession
for Golfy even as nearly none of his voters have
remarked that they couldn't wait for them to be enacted.

Hoping this is what starts a stampede of voters
to disembark from the Trump train.

It's times like this that I wish conservatives would post in here. Nate is a smart guy and I would love to hear him defend this.

The only bright side: I was looking at the r/Conservative subreddit, which is as MAGA culty as you can get. And even they are perplexed, and extremely worried that Dems will obliterate them in the midterms and again in 2028.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1jq0el5/can_someone_please_tell_me_why_these_tariffs_are/

[dobrojim]

Popper, Bonscott, Da1....how are your IRA/retirement
account(s) doing?

Leavitt is saying Golfy is insuring stability with
a common sense policy.

[pancakes3]

Read on Twitter

no residents, only populated by penguins, and justified it because they are currently charging the US 10% tariffs. It's a tiny island chain 2,200 miles off the SW coast of Australia, 880 miles north of Australia.

It's pretty obvious that 0 thought went into these tariffs.

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Read on Twitter

?s=46

I don't know what exactly they're trying to do. The best I can figure is that it's part of the messaging that manufacturing needs to return to the US, and pushed along by some deranged powers-that-be who want the US to return to a Lochner-era economy (late 1880's-1930's often cited by armchair libertarians as the "free-est" economy the US has ever experienced). Except that's (a) impossible; (b) not what these tariffs would do; and these policies are being implemented in the dumbest way possible.

Also, the US soundly rejected the Lochner era because it produced monopolies like US Steel and Standard Oil, was marked by unsafe working conditions (Sinclair Lewis's the Jungle, triangle shirtwaist fire), and regularly used child labor. We've been down this road before. I do not understand the urge to recreate it.

It all just feels like some **** 11th grader's fever dream because he doesn't know any better, but somehow got ahold of unchecked, unprecedented presidential powers, and told - go make it happen. So the kid goes on ChatGPT, and does it.

[AFM]

Crashing the economy with no survivors. Well, at least there are no transwomen in NCAA pickleball.

[dobrojim]

Don’t worry, Trump will fix it!

(Actually, I dont think he could replace a light bulb)

[dobrojim]

Trump has been hearing for decades about trade deficits
and decided he had act act.

[AFM]

I don't think he understands deficits. If I give you $100 and you give me a $100 bottle of wine, you didn't steal $100 from me.

[FAH1223]

Trump has been hearing for decades about trade deficits
and decided he had act act.

Trump the Democrat from NY is stuck in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tariffs make sense when you do it with industrial policy. This is actually what the Biden administration was doing with tariffs and implementing the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

But this is literally tariffs for tariffs sake.

I don't think he understands deficits. If I give you $100 and you give me a $100 bottle of wine, you didn't steal $100 from me.

Yup. He has no idea.

Or maybe he does and he doesn't care. It's to make a point at whatever cost.

It's also funny how he talks as if he wasn't already POTUS from 2017-2021.

[Zonkerbl]

Never has a devastating economic apocalypse brought about by stupid and avoidable policies that will result in untold suffering nation and world wide felt so delightful.

I TOLD YOU SO IDIOTS. WE ALL TOLD YOU SO BUT YOU HAD TO BE SHEEP AND DRINK THE KOOL AID

Are you going to admit you're wrong now or will you gullibly swallow whatever spin the right wing blathosphere comes up with

Oh and thanks MAGAts for torching my retirement savings. Real galaxy level genius you voted for there.

[Kanyewest]

One of my friends is suggesting that Trump's tariff policy has been made up by Chat GPT and applied in cases even when there is a trade surplus which has lead to even worse results. The Trump White House is denying this but when have they ever lied before?

[Zonkerbl]

Since Jan 21st the Dow has fallen 7.2%

[pancakes3]

One of my friends is suggesting that Trump's tariff policy has been made up by Chat GPT and applied in cases even when there is a trade surplus which has lead to even worse results. The Trump White House is denying this but when have they ever lied before?

yeah. see:

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Since Jan 21st the Dow has fallen 7.2%

Newsmax IPO up 1000%

[FAH1223]

David Dayen says it best

Read on Twitter

[Wizardspride]

Read on Twitter

?t=XAk9S-P85TO-U1qdnNtpqA&s=19

[Zonkerbl]

One of my friends is suggesting that Trump's tariff policy has been made up by Chat GPT and applied in cases even when there is a trade surplus which has lead to even worse results. The Trump White House is denying this but when have they ever lied before?

yeah. see:

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Since Jan 21st the Dow has fallen 7.2%

Newsmax IPO up 1000%

Thanks for the references to AI models, I mentioned that in my divisional meeting today and got a chuckle

[dobrojim]

Bravo Eugene! We cancelled our subscription after the election non-endorsement.
I think I let our Prime subscription expire too. Eff Bezos.

[Zonkerbl]

I literally do not read the WaPo at all anymore. I hope the loss in ad revenue is worth it for Bezos. Turns out AP, BBC, Al Jazeera are just as good news sources. WaPo was nice because of the inside-baseball editorials you would get, so Bezos is basically driving out all the value add his organization has. I hope he burns in bankruptcy hell forever for the job loss his stupid political opinions are causing to vulnerable journalists. Getting really sick of billionaires buying up media assets to push a political viewpoint and ruin the asset entirely and just get away with it because they're rich.

[doclinkin]

Trump has been hearing for decades about trade deficits
and decided he had act act.

Trump the Democrat from NY is stuck in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tariffs make sense when you do it with industrial policy. This is actually what the Biden administration was doing with tariffs and implementing the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

But this is literally tariffs for tariffs sake.

I don't think he understands deficits. If I give you $100 and you give me a $100 bottle of wine, you didn't steal $100 from me.

Yup. He has no idea.

Or maybe he does and he doesn't care. It's to make a point at whatever cost.

The cost is the point. Tarriffs are a thing collected by the government. That means more money in a slush fund for Trump to do whatever he wants with. Including grift and theft. It also gives him a bucket of coins to appear to reward people who properly bow down. He literally does not care that it hurts 'his' people. He doesn't like those people. His people are billionaires and dictators. Everyone else is just a loser and a peon. Like wounded veterans. Sucks to be them. They should have been born rich like him.

In fact he wants people to suffer. Then he can deflect blame and make it someone else's fault. Direct that anger at anyone else. I fully expect he wants to foment domestic unrest, through starvation etc, and provoke protests, overreact to them with force, so that he can install martial law, domestic war, and suspend all rules of the constitution. As he tried to use wartime powers against immigrants, he'd love to declare civilians as enemies of the state and use those laws to both lock up his detractors and throw out things like term limits etc.

I have to be at the comics convention for work on Saturday, otherwise I'd be at the protest, but I fully expect he will try some bully tactics to incite the crowd. And again, they accuse everyone else of tactics they intend to use. They cry 'false flag' all the time, but I expect he will try to seed the crowd with folks who suggest bad ideas and try to spark something. I expect it will fail this time, but as the weather gets hot and the economy crashes I'd bet he finds enough trouble this summer that he has an excuse. All he has to do is murder some people in a public way. Drive an armored personnel carrier over a crowd or something. Have a George Floyd moment. As long as it happens in cities far away from the middle of the country and the victims are the proper color, he can blame protestors on the unrest and the economy as well.

[queridiculo]

Bravo Eugene! We cancelled our subscription after the election non-endorsement.
I think I let our Prime subscription expire too. Eff Bezos.

Mine ran out March 28th following my cancellation due to Bezo's non-endorsement.

I still reflexively go to the WaPo page and they're trying to rope me back in with $6 a month offers, but I'll be just fine with the NYT instead.

Looking forward to the EU taking a big chunk out of Amazon's revenue in response to Trumps tariffs.

[dobrojim]

David Dayen says it best

Read on Twitter

Others have pointed out that one reason Golfy likes tariffs is because he can make them
in a completely transactional and (obviously) corrupt way. No congressional approval needed.
Mob boss.