Are We Feeling Liberated Yet? - Trump thread #141

[Spandauer]

King Donald has bigly new tariffs, First Lady Elmo turns out to be ballot box poison and 'Pick Me Girl' Vance is a meanie to the EU.

(But at least the penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are wearing suits)

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5297058-trumpmusk-the-doge-and-pony-show-continues-trump-thread-140

But the core, the heartlands, the veterans and farmers, they will make the difference.

Apologies for referencing China again, but they are showing readiness to engage in a tit for tat war. Their retaliatory 34% tax ('cause that's what Trump's tariff is) on all US imports must be worrying US farmers just as it's sowing time. And where will all those hog heads go now? There's only so much brawn Brits can consume!

WTAF? Completely delusional.

And chicken feet ....
The international trade in 'secondary cuts' of animals is what keeps food prices low in the west.
If China stops buying those from the USA, LOTS of farms will go bust.

Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein having an interesting and very rational conversation around the tariff policy - I thought it was an interesting listen

Nothing to add except thanks for all the links and photos being posted. I love breadth of conversation on this thread.

OK, I was wrong when I said President Obama was taking sideswipes at Trump, I hadn’t realised he had gone full-frontal attack.
www.thepoke.com/2025/04/05/barack-obama-chastised-people-laughing-at-donald-trump-because-its-no-laughing-matter-and-finally-a-statesman-entered-the-chat/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pic&utm_campaign=facebookpic&fbclid=IwY2xjawJfj0RleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHpog-v7U777bK--Cay_3Igp93nVMZrRn4ihWLg2wluxEtEX5xwLvJUAYcQxu_aem_uN2ksE4WrYVuil-QtK7QFg

https://bsky.app/profile/ericlipton.nytimes.com/post/3lm3oapu4qc25

Even as the stock market crashed, President Trump was in Florida at his Doral golf resort and Mar-a-Lago club helping pump up family businesses, evidence that Trump continues to monetize the presidency.

A NYT behind-the-scenes look with Theodore Schleifer and Zolan Kanno-Youngs https://nyti.ms/3XPqyIa

Apparently now deleted but !!!!!

Probably deleted for the spelling mistake.

Evanston IL 👏

Are you sure?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-trump-american-golden-age/

Ah. I take that back then. Got it from Horse and Hound site

It's so easy to think something is real - especially when you think it's exactly what someone would say.

WTF was that?
I've had a long day and can't tell if I'm being a bit thick or if that was just pure gibberish.. 😂

More indications reported in the Guardian today indicating that the tariffs are just a negotiating tactic.

First, Trump is reported to have said that 50 countries are seeking trade negotiations.

Second, this:

"US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said that the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump will remain “for days and weeks.”
Speaking to CBS News’s Face the Nation, Lutnick said:
“There’s no postponing. They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks.”"

Third, a lol:

"He also said that some barren islands including the Heard and McDonald Islands which have also been hit by Trump’s tariffs and are mosly populated by penguins were also included on the list so countries could not use them as a loophole."

That's not serious. Someone ballsed up and he's covering. I know that legal loopholes are a thing but I would have thought the Americans would be capable of drafting a law preventing that. For starters, the islands are part of Australia, which has had a tariff put on it.

Is Tristan da Cunha on the list? There's actual people there.

A day is a very long time in Trumpland.

@TomPinch presumably 'negotiating tactic' is a euphemism for 'method of enforcing deference'?
and loophole my arse, he's the fecking loopy one😡

Well Trump was talking to Putin for weeks before that first call. He's lied and dodged the truth at every turn. Who's he going to negotiate with first? The penguins? He's made up so much bull shit I'll believe it when I see it has actually happened.

Days and weeks?!
How can any business plan ahead when you've got a 25% tax hike (or more) that may or may not be there in a month's time?

It's self-inflicted financial sanctions. How can anyone have confidence to invest with the US if the goalposts change constantly like this?

Maybe that's why Jaguar Land Rover have "paused" deliveries to US for a while?

Bit of a bugger if you're waiting for your new car.

The situation could look very different in a few months time. I think it's quite likely that Trump does a bunch of hasty 'deals', drops the tariffs before any lasting harm is done, and then claims a massive victory for the USA. Everything he does is to aggrandise himself and he does portray himself as a deal-making genius. I think all the logic for all this nonsense is right there and nowhere else. It's actually an opportunity for shrewd governments to improve their trading position with the US. For example, I would love know what, say, the Swiss are planning.

It's useful to recap here the record of Trump's dealmaking in government:

North Korea: outright failure.
Gaza: ceasefire broken after a promising start.
Ukraine: no genuine cease-fire yet.
Trade: every agreement broken

Ie, no genuine successes at all.

That's not serious. Someone ballsed up and he's covering.

Surely if this administration had a motto, that would be it?

2nd child dies from Measles in Texas

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/texas-measles-death-child

A darkly opposite view: Trump is the useful idiot with people like Thiel are pulling the strings. It's not about economics: the plan is crash the US economy for personal enrichment.

https://open.substack.com/pub/danielpinchbeck/p/paul-krugman-is-wrong?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=615mx

Still mulling this one over. I'm not convinced people like Thiel are that insulated from it (the lack of certainity hurts multinationals just as much as small businesses) and Musk's Twitter/xAI /Tesla shares are wildly overvalued. When the AI bubble busts, he will be exposed.

However...I do think anyone corrupt and well placed will do their best to enrich themselves and the USA's institutions will take a severe beating. How much worse it will get depends on when the Republicans find their red line, if Vance takes over before midterms and how bad the courts will clash with Government.

Hypocrite. 2 children dead.

‘Most effective way’ to prevent measles is vaccination, RFK Jr. says, in most direct remarks yet.
Statement came during HHS secretary’s trip to Texas for funeral of second U.S. child to die in outbreak there
www.statnews.com/2025/04/06/rfk-jr-measles-statement-west-texas-outbreak/