Is anyone watching this Trump car crash?

[soundsys]

WTF is happening? It’s like some bizarre performance art piece.

He’s holding up signs and shouting and throwing out hats it’s just 🤯

The problem with your fact correction is that it's missing the forest for the trees. Regurgitating fact minus context isn't all that useful.

Did Trump sell of TS stock right before crashing the markets? I don't know, haven't seen that particular nugget. Are he and his family engaging in corruption and graft at every opportunity? Absolutely. Is he tanking the international and domestic economies with no care and, seemingly, no plan? Another absolutely. Has he lied and cheated at every opportunity? Um, yes, absofuckinglutely.

You keep banging on about people not being able to separate character from policy. The question I have for you is why would you think character can be separated from policy? Would you hand your money over to a convicted felon, serial adjudicated sexual assaulter, who lies almost every time he opens his mouth, has bankrupted six businesses after having inherited a fortune - including notoriously impossible to bankrupt casinos, who drones on like a demented lunatic about Hannibal Lecter and the size of Arnold Palmer's cock, who skips honouring the remains of 4 people killed in service to the country he leads to golfs all weekend (as part of the family graft to enrich themselves further off the Saudis, by the way) after tanking the world economy, etc. etc.? I hope not. If you did, you'd be pretty effing stupid. Why on earth would you think that this person, who essentially every reputable economist on earth disagrees with, would be making good policy?

And by the way, it would only take a pretty small tax increase (the opposite of what he's trying to do) on the uber wealthy and highly profitable corporations to significantly reduce that national debt.

Oh, and a little fact nugget - did you know his 2017 tax bill lowered tax rates on profits generated abroad while raising them on profits generated domestically, thus encouraging more offshoring?

Trump does indeed seem to have a very loose relationship with the truth and facts.

For example the statement that the EU has tariff levies of 39% with the US is factually incorrect.

He lies

It really isn’t. I was repeating what was discussed on the DSR Daily news podcast from yesterday (which is Dem leaning but certainly not conspiracy), you’ve pointed out that it might not have been 100% correct which I’ll accept until I see otherwise but I was not peddling some conspiracy.

For the record I neither think Diana was murdered by the Royals or that 9/11 was an inside job which I assume is what you were getting at earlier… though not sure that would point to left wing conspiracies considering Laura Loomer is a firm believer in 9/11 being an inside job and she’s certainly not left leaning.

@lawpluslaw- Is Trump a thoroughly unpleasant character and person - absolutely yes.

The issue though is that voters voted for change and carrying on with the same economic policies that create a $1.2 trillion per year trade deficit and decimated US industry is not sustainable. And Harris's policy of no change and simply not being the other guy does not win elections (as she found out the hard way).

Getting back on the topic of the thread if anyone has any economic policies that addresses this $1.2 trillion per year trade deficit (other than tariffs or that Trump is an unpleasant person) then I would love to hear them.

China taking the p**s out of some of the ridiculous statements coming from the Administration like Lutnick with his millions of people in the US screwing teeny tiny screws into iPhones.

This is what is circulating on Chinese social media apparently.
Enjoy!

bsky.app/profile/newseye.bsky.social/post/3lmbz7r4lss2f

It's so curious you seem to prefer the slave labour of China which makes all our goods excruciatingly cheap to ordinary Americans having secure jobs in manufacturing.

Are you happy to be reliant on Chinese slave labour?

Also, the 'fat American' portrayed in your hilarious video - funnily enough Trump is doing something about that too. MAHA is a huge thing, well overdue, and I hope will be done here given the dire state of health in the UK too.

Ah yes MAHA. Tell me do you think that allowing measles to run rampant, killing children whilst also cutting Medicaid and Medicare is making America healthy again?

This is the reality of Chinese economic success:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrylgvr77jo.amp

Take a clear eyed look at what is happening. Reality is more than bad enough without slinging right or left conspiracy theories into the mix. It's happening and it's far from good.

I really don't know where you get your information from....oh wait...I do

You'll believe anything so long as it supports your Trump is Bad ideology

Hmm. We can see where you get your info from though. Might be better to keep it to yourself, does you no favours.

Is MAHA make America Healthy again? Hahaha, that's a laugh given you've got a vaxx denier and conspiracy theorist as Health Secretary. Let me know how the measles outbreaks are going. I feel for the american people with such a buffoon in charge of the nation's health.

Do you honestly think the people of America will take low wages in order to sit at an assembly line and screw in teeny tiny screws into iPhones! Or sit at a sewing machine for 12 hours a day. So instead americans are paid a going wage and that means iPhones cost twice as much... right...
The manufacturing boom is not happening, Trump harks back 70 years, he hasn't a clue.

Well one option is to figure out why trade deficits really matter. Most economists don't seem to agree with Trump's assessment. Some, in fact, seem to think he doesn't really understand anything further than we buy more from them than they buy from us = bad.

Genuinely, can you explain why it is that you've bought into the theories espoused by a liar with a demonstrably poor record of understanding business and economics over that of reputable experts? You seem to care, but not to have done much of a deep dive into the issues, so I'm curious about why you've chosen your lane so firmly.

I mean, you talk about US industry being decimated. Ok, first off, let's be honest that much of that industry, should we take the ten years to rebuild it, will be automated. Much can be automated now and in ten years, it will be even more, so we're talking very few actual jobs in very few actual places. Do US companies want to pay workers more than they currently do? I doubt it highly. Corporate law is structured so that the fiduciary duty is to maximise shareholder profits, so it would require some rewriting of that entire segment of law. Can most consumers afford to pay more for goods? First it will be increased prices due to tariffs, followed by increased prices because you can bet the retailers and manufacturers are going to pass the costs along.

I mean, show me a comprehensive understanding of revitalising the economy for people who have been left behind by globalisation, and I'd be interested, but pretending we can return to a 1950s economic model is bonkers.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-note-on-trade-deficits-and-manufacturing

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trade-deficit-what-does-it-mean-for-economy-trump-tariffs-rcna199999

What on earth are you on about? Measles is indeed running rampant and killing children https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2xyyj9w5o.amp

Medicaid and Medicare are indeed likely to be cut, considering the budget allowing it to be was passed by Congress. Given it pays for health coverage for millions of Americans I’m not sure how cuts to it MAHA. Could you enlighten me?

Or is that all FAKE NEWS?

@lawpluslaw

I agree that the first question is whether trade deficits matter or not.

The upside of a trade deficit is that a country can buy cheaper goods from other countries than it can produce itself. This in turn keeps inflation low.

The lower costs maybe because the other country has lower labour costs, lower worker conditions, lower environmental standards and lower (but dirtier) power prices.

The problem is that the deficit has to be financed somehow and this is usually by the country with the deficit issuing Government bonds. The problem then becomes that as that debt becomes larger and larger so does the cost of the interest rate payments. This then starts to cripple the deficit country's ability to invest in say schools or healthcare.

It also restricts the deficit country's ability to issue further bonds to invest in their country because they have to keep existing bond holders happy or face rising interest rate costs (as Liz Truss found out the hard way).

In addition running a trade deficit kills off domestic manufacturing resulting in unemployment especially amongst the lower paid working classes in places such as the rust belts.

These people then become economically inactive, feeling disenfranchised from society, leading to crime and drug addictions etc.

1dayatatime* *
How will you know when Trump is successful? How will you define that success? It's easy for him to come up with lots of soundbites, but much harder to turn them into reality - see Ukraine and (tariffless) Russia.

24 hours he said.......

No it’s not. It’s just incorrect information. And Trump spews that out more than most.

This ^^ with bells on.

After all the lies, vitriol, spite, racism and incomprehensible garbage that Trump spews out on a daily basis, I personally couldn't care less if some of the accusations made about him aren't entirely true.

I would doubt the motives of anyone that leaps up to defend him while saying that they are not a fan of Trump. Only fans of Trump would care enough to do this. You calling these 'hard left conspiracy theories' shows very clearly where your allegiance lies.

OK - because Trump lies and peddles untruths then it's all OK for those opposing his views to do the same?

Personally I think the truth matters.

So because Trump lies you don't care if the opposing views also lies.

Do you not care about the actual truth anymore- I think this is very worrying about the polarisation of politics today.