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

The comments on this are glorious
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g37elkrxdo

I didn’t sign up for this.

Oh yes you did.

I wanted reform, not cruelty. Strength, not delusion. I’ve been a lifelong republican, and I know I’m not the only one starting to feel this way. We need to seriously ask ourselves: is this what we voted for, or just what we’ve been sold? It is hard to not feel conned. And I’m angrier than I’ve been in as long as I can remember.

You won. Get over it.

So much for free speech.

So now he's escalated to demanding tariffs AND reparations from Europe.

bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lm6neq7col22

Am I too optimistic that we might be reaching the tipping point? That China’s resolve to drag the US to hell might get the right people up start talking up?

Am I too optimistic that we might be reaching the tipping point?

Thiel and Musk's place man Vance. Are they whispering in his ear

Even if he backs down now, the damage is done, confidence is lost. I really hope this is it.

Lots of chat on bluesky that Trump's arranging a military parade for June 14, his birthday.

Pleased to see that they've found a place to put the DOGE waste, fraud and abuse savings.

I've been thinking some for of that almost every day since 2016. Alas, he's the turd that seems unflushable.

The theory is that it's a negotiation tactic. Levy massive tarrifs then the countries affected call him and offer to drop theirs.

Either that or, when he reverses, because he knows the date he'll announce, he can make a killing by buying up the shorted shares and ride the rebound of the stock market.

Probably both.

And there will be enough of the BASE to think he's a genius

Just catching up...

How very North Korean.

This website’s gone now

It came up for me?

I wonder when he'll start wearing a pseudo-military uniform? He did spend time at a military academy didn't he, so that should be a good enough excuse. Something à la 'Generalissimo' Stalin?

https://www.betrayedbytrump.com/stories

Childish of me I know but he always looks like he's just coming out of the bog when he does these pieces to camera.

Sorry 😬

As the tariff imposed on China is increased by an additional 50% , this article discusses how China could choose to react, given that it is the second largest holder of US debt
the Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/9d458971cb7f7b23

Based on that WH post about the deportation I can see this ending up with Trump sticking his tongue out and announcing infinity % tariffs on Chinese imports.

An interesting look by Guardian journalist, James Meadway, on how Trump's tariff policies could actually work for the US - "Already, countries such as Vietnam are promising to cut all their tariffs on US goods – a clear and brutal demonstration of the US’s continuing economic power."

archive.ph/ZS3wJ

An interesting article in the Guardian that contradicts the view that Trump just wants some deals.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/07/donald-trump-world-economy-shock-us

"What it ultimately wants is a cheaper dollar to revive US manufacturing and Chinese competition held off, all the while keeping the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. And the rest of the world will pay the price"

If so, Trump is getting this done now, well before the mid-term elections and the tariffs will stay.

These, and the platform's blue tick verification system, have been cited as tools to prevent misleading impersonation while allowing speech and discussion.

Feel like this is the point in that article where the writer should be pointing out that Musk destroyed what used to be a verification system and is now an ‘I pay for Twitter’ system where people can claim to be whoever they like.

Yes, this Mar-A-Lago Accord stuff. But Bessent and Miran seem to be the only economists who think this is workable. None of the myriad other economists weighing in seem particularly enamoured of this as a strategy, but I guess you never know.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/opinion/tariffs-trump-dollar.html

I hadn’t realised it was today that Netanyahu was in Washington. For some reason I thought it was TBC. They’re going to have a “big beautiful news conference”

Be fair. It's only really free speech when Musk says it is.