Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Corvus]

Australia's stockmarket opened 2% lower, while Japan went down 4%. Can't see the US doing any better.

[Edge-]

not for nothing, but the great depression started in 1929.

[Xath]

32% tariffs on Taiwan we are fucking done the tech industry is going to absolutely flee the US to literally anywhere else. Nobody but TSMC can do 3nm chips.

- - - Updated - - -

Eyyyyyyyy the thing I was told by many people would never happen is happening.

Republicans are breaking away from Trump and joining Dems to stop him.

Senate passes Tim Kaine's resolution to terminate Trump's declaration of emergency that is providing the legal underpinning for his tariffs on Canada. Republicans crossing: McConnell, Paul, Collins, Murkowski.




Whew, good thing we didnt shut down the government after-all.

I owe Mr. Schumer an apology line is over there.

Except the CR that was passed contained this one little provision preventing doing shit about Trump's ability to implement tariffs for a year. If it was a clean CR it wouldn't have been imperative to stop it it wasn't a clean CR.

[Breccia]

Trump puts 10% tariffs on Heard and McDonald Islands, near Australia.

"Who lives there?"

Literally nobody.

"...why tariff them? Why tariff them, then tell everyone he was tariffing them?"

What an excellent question. Hey @tehdang please explain the logic of not just putting tariffs on uninhabited islands, but also, advertising that you were putting tariffs on uninhabited islands. Bear in mind "he was joking" is admission of incompetence.

[Corvus]

Trump puts 10% tariffs on Heard and McDonald Islands, near Australia.

"Who lives there?"

Literally nobody.

"...why tariff them? Why tariff them, then tell everyone he was tariffing them?"

What an excellent question. Hey @tehdang please explain the logic of not just putting tariffs on uninhabited islands, but also, advertising that you were putting tariffs on uninhabited islands. Bear in mind "he was joking" is admission of incompetence.

Even odder, Norfolk Island (population 2000), which is part of Australia got hit with 29% tariffs, and I doubt it trades anything with the US.

[Breccia]

Even odder, Norfolk Island (population 2000), which is part of Australia got hit with 29% tariffs, and I doubt it trades anything with the US.

That's strange too, but as a mathematician I insist that dividing by zero is the real enemy.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

He did say we will see numbers we've never seen before numbers no one will really believe.

Bigly Big

[Elder Millennial]

Even odder, Norfolk Island (population 2000), which is part of Australia got hit with 29% tariffs, and I doubt it trades anything with the US.

The tariffs are not based on the tariff rates of other countries.

They are based on trade deficits divided by imports. Minus services, which would often tilt these deficits on the US's favor.

It's peak retardation.

Norfolk Island probably exports to the US some tiny fucking amount of some random super niche product, maybe worth a few grand a year but which amounts to some kind of a trade deficit because those 2000 islanders aren't drink much Bourbon or buying a lot of Harleys or whatnot.

It's hard to describe had fucking haphazard and retarded this entire thing is.

The numbers are literally just fucking made up.

- - - Updated - - -

truly, the idiocracy timeline where the idiocracy people are currently in the white house

I wish that was true.

I remember an old YT video that pointed out that Idiocracy doesn't apply to what we are experiencing.

In Idiocracy the government identified that it had a problem, even tho they were too stupid to understand the problem or have a solution, so instead they went out to find an expert or at least someone smart enough to deal with the issue, and when they found that someone they put him in charge and implemented the proposed solution.

Then when the solution worked, they actually promoted the guy and put him in charge of everything.

Despite of all the stupidity, they were still capable of admitting failure and course correcting.

Also, somehow they still respected principles like peaceful transfer of power and term limits.

[Corvus]

If we were being fair (and try saying that with a straight face), Macquarie and Heard islands are part of Australia and so get hit with the same tariffs. Doesn't matter no one lives there - they probably just downloaded a list of places from wikipedia and called it a day.

Out of curiosity, I looked up Norfolk Island's economy (most of which is tied to mainland Australia.). GDP: 146 million. Main economic activity is tourism. Exports: 2 million pa. Imports: 31.5 million pa. Main exports are shoes and seeds. Exports to the US: 655k. Imports from the US: 116k.

Yeah, the numbers are hilariously small.

[Milchshake]

Every semester be like
Kids, stop using AI to do your homework. The answers are usually bad and it makes you stupid and lazy.







But boomers and tyler perry really think that AI is going places.

[Bwgmon]

Proving the greatness of AI by giving it the reins and having it torpedo global trade and risk sending the US into a depression in roughly 3 months! It's the future!

[Doomcookie]

I don't do the performative fussing that I see many forum members find necessary for whatever reason. Tariffs are bad, they've always been bad. They may doom Trump's presidency and legacy and the Republican party in the midterms and 2028. But I gather the truth on tariffs is generally well-known here, so being the sixth or seventh person to predict economic damage to Trump's voting coalition (and the country at large) is quite unnecessary.

But, you proudly voted for this.

Why the lies, now?

[Teriz]

Unfortunately this catastrophe might be the only thing that breaks this delusional MAGA bullshit.

I've learned that conservatives only give a shit about anything if it affects them directly, and this is definitely going to do that. I hope stopping those 20 or so trans girls from competing in a high school sport was worth losing your job, home, and retirement.

[Edge-]

Proving the greatness of AI by giving it the reins and having it torpedo global trade and risk sending the US into a depression in roughly 3 months! It's the future!

it explains a lot, actually

they're just offloading all the actual work to unvetted, untested, opaque ai systems and letting them do all the heavy lifting and maybe just running it by some white house lawyers or something before shitting it out.

just people who don't actually want to work but want to wield power and authority, coming into power at a time when a technology exists to enable this absolute loser behavior

[Breccia]

It's time once again for Guess the Speaker!

The Trump Tariff Tax will cost American families more than $3,500 per year. The median American family earns about 101,000 a year. A new $3,500 tax would easily erase three years’ worth of pay raises for most families

That's the Advancing American Freedom Foundation.

"What Commie librul traitor runs that?"

Mike Pence.

[Polgara]

No, they can't. Canada and Mexico were able to make progress when it was basically just them. Now Trump has blanket tariffed the world, and is refusing to listen to anything remotely like reason. Maybe if Australia puts 10,000 people on the American border, Trump will remove their tariff?

"The Australian border...with America?"

I mean, it's counting on Trump being an idiot, so yes.

As long as we get labor back in (preferably majority government but the Albanese govt has been hitting sixes lately so it could be a possibility, and Duttplug (peter dutton opposition leader) is just being temu trump) it is likely this will barely hurt us outside the initial blow, albeit Kevin Rudd has been working hard to try and prevent the tariffs on australia, and considering how little we send to the US anyway this hurts them more than it hurts us (albeit it WILL have a minor hit on our markets before stabilization; we'll see how bad it is for us in a month).

- - - Updated - - -

Unfortunately this catastrophe might be the only thing that breaks this delusional MAGA bullshit.

I've learned that conservatives only give a shit about anything if it affects them directly, and this is definitely going to do that. I hope stopping those 20 or so trans girls from competing in a high school sport was worth losing your job, home, and retirement.

Even people who are welcoming of me still like to blather on about sanctity of sports and what not. Propaganda that works is scary, and it can penetrate even people who are not blithering bigotted shitcans. As it stands, though, it may take a bit more than this, wholly depends on the strategy to sell this nonsense, most people get all their education on things from soundbites and tidbits; just gotta make it easy to swallow for the non-cult supporters ("swing voters").

So far, the outlook is very good; but it doesn't take much to swing the pendulum. Cautious optimism is probably best when it comes to hoping the people who caused this learn from it.

[Bwgmon]

it explains a lot, actually

they're just offloading all the actual work to unvetted, untested, opaque ai systems and letting them do all the heavy lifting and maybe just running it by some white house lawyers or something before shitting it out.

just people who don't actually want to work but want to wield power and authority, coming into power at a time when a technology exists to enable this absolute loser behavior

Another thing I hope is on the top of the list if we manage to make it through this clusterfuck: Sweeping legislation that explicitly prohibits the use of AI in many-if-not-all governmental positions, because it's abundantly clear that the people who look to use it can't be trusted to govern, nor can the AI themselves be trusted to run things in lieu of an elected person.

And that should be on top of the common-sense regulations that need to be slapped on AI at large to stop it from being a massive copyright theft engine.

[Teriz]

Even people who are welcoming of me still like to blather on about sanctity of sports and what not. Propaganda that works is scaring people with men in women's sport, because most men know they'd be shitheads in that spot so they assume everyone does. As it stands, though, it may take a bit more than this, wholly depends on the strategy to sell this nonsense, most people get all their education on things from soundbites and tidbits; just gotta make it easy to swallow for the non-cult supporters ("swing voters").

So far, the outlook is very good; but it doesn't take much to swing the pendulum. Cautious optimism is probably best when it comes to hoping the people who caused this learn from it.

I don't think someone can spin their way out of running on lowering prices, and then intentionally raising prices as soon as they get into office. I've seen Fox News and other conservative outlets pretend like this is some righteous cause, but I just don't see Americans buying it. ESPECIALLY when they push those tax cuts through while people are getting laid off.

[Edge-]

Another thing I hope is on the top of the list if we manage to make it through this clusterfuck: Sweeping legislation that explicitly prohibits the use of AI in many-if-not-all governmental positions, because it's abundantly clear that the people who look to use it can't be trusted to govern, nor can the AI themselves be trusted to run things in lieu of an elected person.

And that should be on top of the common-sense regulations that need to be slapped on AI at large to stop it from being a massive copyright theft engine.

yep

but realistically our congress has been fucking paralyzed/gladly ceding authorities to try to make themselves less unpopular for decades and such bold legislative ideas like "don't allow untested ai systems to be deployed in government systems" are just too much to get any consensus on when they're currently arguing for the right for young mothers in congress to proxy vote. that's the most serious issue facing this nation, clearly. and like, totally, yeah, do it, but the fact that time is being wasted on it speaks volumes of the nonfunctional nature of congress

[Polgara]

I don't think someone can spin their way out of running on lowering prices, and then intentionally raising prices as soon as they get into office. I've seen Fox News and other conservative outlets pretend like this is some righteous cause, but I just don't see Americans buying it. ESPECIALLY when they push those tax cuts through while people are getting laid off.

I also thought being a convicted rapist would have sunk him, like I thought one of the few common pulses in society was don't go being rapey. Apparently I was incredibly wrong and enough people were capable of being ignorant to it, or willingly accepting it come the ballet box.

You may think it's something so blisteringly obvious you don't even need to market this shit; people will just feel it.

You aren't everyone, and neither am I. The right advertisement, targeting and misinformation can do a lot more damage than you or I could fathom. Never underestimate this shit, or what people are willing, or wanting, to believe. 2024 should have taught us this harder than 2016.