zorg wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:43 am

Dovira wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 12:06 pm

If you stand up to him, he will cower.

As with him, with Putin, we will hope.

Yeah, that’s worked out just great so far.

It hasn't actually been done enough to say whether it has.

losthighway wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 3:20 pm

Gramsci wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:21 pm
I’m fairly economically savvy and for the life of me cannot figure out the reasoning behind the tariffs on Canada. Canada is the US’s largest export market, it’s nearly 20% of all US exports. All the waffling about immigrants and Fentanyl is just nonsense. I tried to figure out if there was some 5D chess going on but it just has no logic.

It turns out the imaginary fentanyl isn't just political spin, it's legal spin: The 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) permits the executive branch to investigate, block, prohibit or regulate any imports and exports with foreign countries in the case of an “unusual or extraordinary threat.”

I get the legal powers Trump applied. But I can’t see the reasoning. For Mr Deal, it seems very bad “deal making”. What’s the goal other than mindless dick swinging? Trump might be a monster but he’s a pretty savvy one. There’s no real issue with the northern border. There’s a sensible trade balance. All tariffs on Canadian imports will do is cause inflation. The genie is out of the bottle after NAFTA, you can’t just undo something like that. All he did last time was repackage it.

It must be a distraction tactic that appeals to economic nationalism within the US’s declined manufacturing sector. But to what end? This is a little like Brexit, in that it’s an idea, but not founded in the reality of modern supply chains. It’s basically economic self sabotage.

Who knows. Maybe there some 5D chess genius stuff going on I’m not seeing.

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 11:44 am

losthighway wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 3:20 pm

Gramsci wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:21 pm
I’m fairly economically savvy and for the life of me cannot figure out the reasoning behind the tariffs on Canada. Canada is the US’s largest export market, it’s nearly 20% of all US exports. All the waffling about immigrants and Fentanyl is just nonsense. I tried to figure out if there was some 5D chess going on but it just has no logic.

It turns out the imaginary fentanyl isn't just political spin, it's legal spin: The 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) permits the executive branch to investigate, block, prohibit or regulate any imports and exports with foreign countries in the case of an “unusual or extraordinary threat.”

I get the legal powers Trump applied. But I can’t see the reasoning. For Mr Deal, it seems very bad “deal making”. What’s the goal other than mindless dick swinging? Trump might be a monster but he’s a pretty savvy one. There’s no real issue with the northern border. There’s a sensible trade balance. All tariffs on Canadian imports will do is cause inflation. The genie is out of the bottle after NAFTA, you can’t just undo something like that. All he did last time was repackage it.

It must be a distraction tactic that appeals to economic nationalism within the US’s declined manufacturing sector. But to what end? This is a little like Brexit, in that it’s an idea, but not founded in the reality of modern supply chains. It’s basically economic self sabotage.

Who knows. Maybe there some 5D chess genius stuff going on I’m not seeing.

It's dick swinging. Removing all trace of Obama and Biden, for him. It's the ghouls who use him to do damage that know better who are the real problem.

I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 pm I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

Could it have something to do with the expansionist rhetoric? Maybe Trump is trying to create tension to predicate an invasion? Lots of resources in those Northern Territories.

That would be fucking insane, Trump doing to Canada as Putin does to Ukraine.

Dave N. wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 1:15 pm

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 pm I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

Could it have something to do with the expansionist rhetoric? Maybe Trump is trying to create tension to predicate an invasion? Lots of resources in those Northern Territories.

That would be fucking insane, Trump doing to Canada as Putin does to Ukraine.

A right winger posted "You can't be both an imperialist and aan isolationist". I'd say Donny seems curious about trying both, but we'll see where and if he follows through.

Dave N. wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 1:15 pm

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 pm I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

Could it have something to do with the expansionist rhetoric? Maybe Trump is trying to create tension to predicate an invasion? Lots of resources in those Northern Territories.

That would be fucking insane, Trump doing to Canada as Putin does to Ukraine.

I think the US military would do a coup if Don tried that.

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 pm I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

JB Pritzker said some great words a few years ago about cruelty and idiocy.

Speaking of idiocy and cruelty, this is one of the most disturbing things I've seen lately. These are the people we're dealing with:

https://youtu.be/89aB6SX2y40?si=gb2vGA3MRxs-5z5n

Gramsci wrote: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 pm I just find it strange as there’s usually a cruel logic to Trump’s behaviour.

It's rooted in puerile pettiness.

It's not enough to target illegal immigrants for deportation; he has to delete the Spanish language pages on the government websites and formally declare English the national language, and rename the Gulf of Mexico.

It's not enough to extort a mineral deal out of to Ukraine by threatening to withhold aid; he has to take it several steps further, by inviting Zelensky to the White House to insult and berate him to his face on national TV, and then revoke the legal status of Ukrainian immigrants.

It's not enough for him to excoriate the FBI for prosecuting him for his crimes, he ordered them fire every agent who worked on his cases, and then ordered the agency to paint over its "core values wall" in the building's lobby, which was decorated with words like "Fairness," Initiative," "Integrity," "Leadership," "Compassion," "Diversity"...

This is a man who harbors deep malice and spends a lot of time and mental energy dwelling on the pettiest of vengeance.