Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 06/06/25

Economics101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327705#Comment_123327705

Ok, so you berate the Democrats alleged uselessness. What do you suggest they should do, given their minority status in both House and Senate?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327606#Comment_123327606

It also seems to be that Trump didn't anticipate China hitting back immediately with huge tariffs. Not entirely sure what he was expecting, but the word is things didn't go to plan for him.

Edit: it appears he was convinced that China wouldn't retaliate, but would instead seek to open negotiations.

Sierra Oscar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327694#Comment_123327694

Hah, the Trump family may be seeking refuge outside the US if the current turmoil continues indefinitely!

I think a lot of people have become complacent in recent years and don't recognise the carnage that can unfold with a stock market crash. They're used to a couple of days in the red and a nice bounceback. We'll see how Trump fares if there is a sustained sea of red for a few more weeks if he fails to back down. His beloved DOW could be 30% off it's YTD high fairly sharpish, which will focus minds I suspect. The markets have bent many a US presidency beyond breaking point in the past and Trump will be no different.

The Republicans lost the White House for 28 years after 1928 and it's not beyond the realms of possiblity that the same sort of hardship is about to be foisted on the US economy.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327734#Comment_123327734

Well their message probably shouldn't be "tariffs are good, but he's not doing it quite right" for one. Absolutely braindead messaging. But there is a significant cohort on the left in the US who also love tariffs and protectionism.

Though in a practical sense they can't practically do anything to stop this disaster.

Will_I_Amnt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327734#Comment_123327734

I have already posted in this thread about what they should be doing. Which is doing exactly what Trump would be doing as one of the top news stories every single day if he was targeting 2028 and there was currently a Democrat president in the Whitehouse who is a convinced felon, who had launched his own crypto coin 3 days before inauguration, who allowed his billionaire mate to run roughshod over the government, firing numerous people who were investigating his businesses, who on this very night is hosting a dinner at Mar a Lago at $1 million to $5 million per plate (with another one coming up), who today was busy playing golf while 4 dead soldiers were arriving home.....I could go on and on and on. Where's the charismatic figure that people want to listen to? Where's the effort to appoint him/her the defacto party leader? All they're doing is pathetic ****. The filibuster was embarrassing, the pink clothes and stupid signs at the state of the union address made them look a complete shambles. Because they are. Trump is only president today because their own incompetence sabotaged their own 2024 campaign by not challenging Bidens candidacy from th3 start. They were and still are a shambles. Rant over.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327794#Comment_123327794

Where's the effort to appoint him/her the defacto party leader? All they're doing is pathetic ****. The filibuster was embarrassing

I mean, the filibuster was clearly an effort to push themselves into the spotlight. I find it a bit weird to decry that while demanding they get out there with their message more.

The next Democratic Primary is going to be wide open. I know you've suggested this before, but the reality is that having a defacto party leader at this stage is more or less impossible. They need to rely on Schumer and Jeffries and unfortunately neither are very good.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327641#Comment_123327641

Don't know .

Think unless he rows back soon to try to reverse this situation we may even see a move against him .

Thinking now the best way to get rid of Trump is for the rest of the world to push back strongly ..now is the time .

His Republican elite are out buying up falling stock and quite happy talking about" making the dollar weaker and 3 to 5 year plans to reshape the US economy" , and never mind the " short term pain " for ordinary people in the US !

Hal Lambert now talking on BBC Newsnight, very chipper about it , big Republican donor and billionaire .

Of course these carpetbaggers have been pushing for this ..Trump's their boy .

Will_I_Amnt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327805#Comment_123327805

Respectfully....nobody gives a ****....or was ever going to give a **** about the filibuster.

2 months after Bidens inauguration, The Republicans had a defacto party leader. Most people in the party should know at this stage who they want in 2028. They only people who won't get behind him/her are the handful who want it for themselves.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327824#Comment_123327824

The issue with the filibuster is... he wasn't filibustering anything. He wasn't doing it to delay or stop a certain bill from being passed or similar, it was just entirely performative.

Said a lot of very important things, but what did it actually achieve? F*ck all.

Strazdas

Wall Street has suffered its worst week's trading in five years (the start of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns was the previous negative event).

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327846#Comment_123327846

And most people could neither hear what he was saying nor could give a xxxx.

Baseball72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123146158#Comment_123146158

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327794#Comment_123327794

You are 100% correct about the Democratic Party—it is utterly leaderless and without a vision. Biden's presidency was a huge disappointment, and no clear and obvious credible leader has emerged. Bernie Sanders is a good guy, but Americans would never elect him.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327824#Comment_123327824

They had a defacto party leader 2 seconds after Biden's inauguration. And 2 seconds before it. Because it was the same person who has been their cult leader for 9 years now.

I'm sorry, but this is betraying a complete lack of understanding of how the Primary system works in the US.

golfball37

Calling people fascist for saying Biden wasn’t compus mentus a few years ago is really working out now isn’t it.

Trump is simply a symptom of a corrupt political system that favours the usual suspects. He is just looking to favour his own types and doesn’t care about social policy at all.

Telling poor people they are racist because they bought what Trump was selling has only emboldened him and his cult.

The same is already happening in Ireland . I hope we handle this with a little more maturity than the yanks but I’ll hold my breath on that one

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327877#Comment_123327877

Sanders would be an awful leader right now, because he is every bit as protectionist and anti-free trade as Trump.

y0ssar1an22

regarding tariffs, can someone explain the following to me:

say you have market A with 10 people, and market B with 100 people.

if market A has access to market B it will increase their revenue 10x (assuming same market share)

if market B wants to access market A it will increase their revenue by .1x.

fundamentally, is there anything wrong with charging someone some sort of fee to access a market that will massively increase their revenue?

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327178#Comment_123327178

He's probably just heard that Mike Vance was awarded the profile in courage award for 2025 by the JFK Library foundation for certifying Biden's election in 2020 and refusing to do as Trump wanted. As far as I could find out, the library gets no federal funding from the Govt so Trump can't defund it.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327888#Comment_123327888

fundamentally, is there anything wrong with charging someone some sort of fee to access a market that will massively increase their revenue?

Tariffs aren't charging them a fee to access a market.

The whole thing is utterly farcical. US manufacturing is low and they rely on imported goods because they are an insanely rich country who have better and more lucrative things to be doing. It would be like Musk complaining his cleaner isn't buying a Tesla off him to even out their trade balance as opposed to him just acknowledging his is offshoring tasks to someone else and using his time more fruitfully (or more damagingly of late).

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327517#Comment_123327517

The wikipedia entry for him has him as an investor and hedge fund manager and before his Govt service he was a partner at Soros Fund management. That, for a Trump choice, is some CV.

y0ssar1an22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327900#Comment_123327900

i thought a tariff was essentially an import charge - you pay a charge to access a (bigger) market.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327913#Comment_123327913

The importer pays the charge, not the one selling into the market.

y0ssar1an22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327920#Comment_123327920

i think thats grand. at its most basic level is a tariff a charge to access to bigger market?

greenfield21

This is so true...

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1908019051676434850

Bessent in his latest interview nails it…

The top 10% of Americans own 88% of equities, 88% of the stock market

- The next 40% owns 12% of the stock market

- The bottom 50% has debt

-Summer of 2024 more Americans were using food banks than they ever have in history

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327935#Comment_123327935

No, at its most basic level it is not. It is a charge levied on the bigger market. The person accessing the bigger market doesn't pay a dime (there will potentially be price impacts on their product, but it gets very complicated very quickly).

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327939#Comment_123327939

And making food more expensive helps the poor?

The tariffs were not targeted. They even apply to foodstuffs that the US can't grow, like coffee and bananas.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327939#Comment_123327939

I didn't realise the argument was now that Bernie Sanders was right all along.

Also, did you listen to the Obama clip in that tweet!? It in no way supports their stupid argument.

y0ssar1an22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327952#Comment_123327952

is that true, cos intuitively that makes no sense?

why would i pay a fee to access a smaller market that i already operate in?

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327913#Comment_123327913

It's not paid by supplier.

It's paid by importer, who passes cost on to consumer.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123327972#Comment_123327972

Well, what they are doing truly does make no sense. But I don't think you are grasping the concept of what tariffs fundamentally are.

The US is not charging Colombian companies to be able to sell coffee into the US. It is charging US customers for purchasing coffee from Colombia. Because they have some perverse logic that it will force Americans to buy non-existent American coffee instead.

Strazdas

The early signs are that this tariff thing has already gone totally pear shaped. You wouldn't see the stock markets falling to this degree if there were just some slightly anxious jitters around the announcements.