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

Or alternatively they'll just say that for him to do this makes him smart. The amount of fawning to the Big Manis odd and nauseating

I could think of a long list of insults in CJ-style rant I’m sure!

Apologies for lack of posting right now but we’re currently on hols in Egypt. I’m reading bits and pieces when I can but it’s actually nice to not have constant access/time to access the news!

I can see months of adding and removing tariffs depending on perceived slight ahead

Agree. Trumpy has such a paper thin ego that if anyone even one looks at him the wrong way he'll be changing the tariffs.

It's increasingly obvious that the Trump administration hasn't a clue about tariffs. They've messed up their and everyone else's economy by introducing them, then compounded things by suspending them.

Trump has just discovered the word Groceries.
It's clear he has never bought a pint of milk in his life

Trumpy loves the word 'groceries', he spoke for about 5 minutes about the word!

Apart from buying low and making a profit, has trumpy actually said why he has paused the tariffs for 90 days? I am at a loss to understand, it's not pausing for a week it's pausing for three months! Why? What is the reasoning. I thought I was on top of all of this, because I have been following it here and there but I just don't understand.

All I see are his lapdogs and Bullshit Barbie blowing smoke up his arse with excuses

I seem to remember last time he was in power that his sycophants had to vehemently defend his policies and then when he changed his mind, they had to vehemently defend that as well.

It takes a certain mind set to be able to do that.

Trump's tariff report card ...so far.

Imposed to

• Restore US manufacturing
• Create jobs
• Bring in billions to the economy
• Rebalance unfair trading practices
• Bring US national debt down
• Punish China's lack of respect

In reality

• Increased volatility in global stock markets
• Negatively affected the corporate bond market
• Paralysed short and long term planning for US companies using a foreign supply chain
• Made the rest of the world wary of on/off American policy
• Made penguins worldwide heroes
• Reset TDS meaning to refer to diehard Trump supporters

CNN take

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/10/politics/trump-tariffs-china-recession-bond-market-navarro-bessent/index.html

"Personality cults require the great leader to be praised to the skies whatever he does, even if he contradicts himself.

Last week, Bessent lauded Trump for signing the “Declaration of Economic Independence for the American People.” Exactly a week later, with the tariffs only in effect for 12 hours before they were paused, he lionized the president for doing the reverse. “It took great courage — great courage for him to stay the course until this moment,” Bessent told reporters at the White House."

"While the White House took a victory lap on Monday, it hasn’t made any trade deals yet. Countries might be ready to talk, but they might now suspect Trump was bluffing with his vow to punish them. "

"One lesson China might draw from Wednesday’s mayhem is that Trump backed down when faced with the consequences of his policies. It will also note the disturbance in the bond markets as one of the largest foreign holders of Treasury securities. China has already signaled it’s ready to fight to “the end” in the trade war. And President Xi Jinping’s credibility and that of his nationalist project to restore China’s respect and influence are now squarely on the line. As an authoritarian leader he may be ready to inflict more pain on Chinese nationals than Americans will bear from Trump. While China’s manufacturing base could be severely hurt if its exports to the US dry up, the tariffs will hammer US shoppers. A dip in consumer spending could help tip the US economy into a downturn. "

Apologies for the lack of understanding and stupid question but what would be the impact of China dumping the US treasury securities (is that even what could happen?)

But according to Fox, he's being pragmatic

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trumps-tariff-pause-latest-example-pragmatism-political-stage

Trump told the media people were "yippy" over the tariff plan and "queasy" over the bond market, adding he has to be "flexible" as president.

"I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy. You know, they we're getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. … I know the presidents, they wouldn't have done it, and it had to be done," Trump told reporters Wednesday outside the White House.

Trump added he has to be "flexible" when asked about his credibility in announcing a pause after publicly vowing there would not be a pause to the reciprocal tariffs.
"You have to have flexibility. I could say there's a wall. … Sometimes, you have to go around or under the wall. Financial markets change. Look how much they changed. I think the word would be ‘flexible.’ You have to be flexible," Trump said.

So either he was bluffing all along or he was being pragmatic in face of changing circumstances...

What would a Trump supporter say?

And his media supporters such as Fox have to follow this as well - saying how clever he is doing the tariffs and the benefits it will bring the USA and then - when he changes his mind, they have to completely ignore everything he just said.

I wonder what he made of the story of the Boy who cried Wolf?

Your right. I'd like to retract that statement as I realise it is unfair to all the 10 year olds out there who would at least ask an adult for help.

The parallels between the total bollocks spouted by Brexiteers and those supporting Trumps tariffs are to close to be a coincidence.

Remember those Bigly Brexit Freedom trade deals that promised a whopping 0.0001% bump in UK GDP over a century ? How they were worth flushing 10% of our GDP down the toilet for ?

I am 'fiscally dense' so there will be others on the thread who can maybe explain! I found this report from Forbes helpful.
www.forbes.com/sites/joelshulman/2025/04/09/us-rally-at-risk-as-china-may-be-dumping-treasuries/

https://chatgpt.com/share/67f77858-b374-800c-a41a-5cac789e67d7

This fully answers your question. Thank you AI!

But ChatGPT doesn't "know" that the Chinese think in decades, not years.

This is critical to understanding how to engage with them. If it takes a couple of years pain to be in a better position in 20 years time, they're on board with that.

One of the reasons the potential MG Rover deal in the early 2000s failed was because none of the UK investors was going to wait 15 years for a return. Whereas the Chinese consortium felt 20 would be rushing it.

(The famous, but misunderstood Chinese answer tp question the effects of the French Revolution underscore this ...)

An additional twist to the question is to add " with particular regard to the Chinese financial strategy since the revolution"

https://chatgpt.com/share/67f77c96-343c-8010-8d63-c05fc7874b28

Safe to say AI scares the hell out of me so I’m useless with it 😂

Where are all the ‘we couldn’t have got 10% tariffs without Brexit’ posters now everyone is on 10% without conceding a thing?

Are there any updates on how the American public is feeling after this fiasco?

And where does the recent extension on the TikTok sale fit into this? He must be kicking himself on that, likes cheap and effective Chinese imports as much as anyone.

He has revealed himself now with his comment that it is a good time to buy shares. It does seem to suggest that he has been manipulating the markets. I wonder if he profited or whether just his cronies did.

https://www.indy100.com/politics/trump/donald-trump-tariffs-insider-trading-stocks-investigation-explained

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-market-manipulation-tariffs-b2730542.html

I just hate the way he talks. I don't think what he says qualifies as speech, it's more that he opens his mouth and out pours a smoke screen designed to allow him as many escape routes as possible.

Since today's market 'rebound' (such as it is), 'Pondini the Great' predicts that we will hear these words from Scrotus' mouth amid the verbal vomit:

"I meant to do that. That was the plan all along except for China"

Markets are down

but 'make America's showers great again'