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

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328953#Comment_123328953

You can't fix stupid.

However, there's plenty of ignorant folk that might eventually cop on when they start to feel the pinch.

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328706#Comment_123328706

go to page number 589 - as per my I pad

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328957#Comment_123328957

An absurd number of people who voted for him simply didn't believe he was going to do the things he was very explicit that he was going to do. I don't know what anyone can do to counteract that level of deliberate ignorance.

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328957#Comment_123328957

They'll double down, believe that lost jobs are being stolen rather than a consequence of Trumps tariffs, that inflated prices are just foreign countries extracting profits from the great USA.

They reelected "every day is table flip day"! Trump voters don't even believe in government, they think it's a conspiracy against them.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328970#Comment_123328970

My father-in-law is a staunch conservative, my wife remembers him having shouting matches with his dad (who was a Democrat from an immigrant family) over politics. I brought this up during the summer and he dismissed it all as scaremongering, saying that the courts wouldn't let him do even half the stuff he proposed. But on a recent call, his tone has changed to one of concern.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328834#Comment_123328834

Yeah I’m listening to you and you make a good point in that if a republican thinks they’re about to lose their seat, they may not play the MAGA game - a long way off I guess and plenty more bull to come no doubt before mid-term.

It’s the people though that decide - I’m hoping their tolerance for less money in their pockets will win out on the day but even that isn’t a certainty anymore

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329004#Comment_123329004

US uncle wouldn't be particularly liberal but hated Trump since day one. He kept telling my mother as he was coming in for term 2 that checks and balances would kick in. But honestly his tone has changed dramatically. Basically he prefers not to discuss the direction the country is currently going at this stage.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328752#Comment_123328752

Thanks for this . Worth watching

She doesn't pull her punches Rachel Maddox .

I didn't think I could be more shocked by what is going on in Trump's Presidency but this .. Jared Kushner finding an advisor for Trump based on a book cover and this guy Peter Navarro inventing his own personal " expert " Ron Vara , and advising Trump on his favourite trade policy , world wide tariffs under this pseudonym .

This just says it all . I am gobsmacked by how a business man, never mind the leader of the biggest economy in the Western World could even have somebody like that getting near enough to email them never mind advise them on World Trade Policy .

It just beggars belief 😐.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329062#Comment_123329062

There'll be worse. It's Trump.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328911#Comment_123328911

I think the first step has to be getting the differential in tariff with competitors removed. That's damaging in itself. The UK, Turkey and more than likely next week Israel will all be on the 10% baseline tariff. Our exporters will be left with 20%. That's an immediate competitive disadvantage.

That difference could have faster impacts on us especially with the UK if Irish companies decide to move production to take advantage of that. It's not a comfortable position for Irish companies who export goods like food and drink to the US. I think that will impact Irish jobs faster than the actual tariff tbh.

Let's start there anyway.

RickBlaine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328097#Comment_123328097

The funny thing about those digital ones and zeros is that they can be exchanged for goods and services like food and medical care!

I don't know if sycophants like that genuinely believe the sh*t they are shoveling, or if it is part of a rage baiting for clicks scheme, but if I ever posted something as nonsensical as that I'd be embarrassed to leave my house.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329074#Comment_123329074

It's too depressing . Am off out into the blue 😎

Big Ears

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328059#Comment_123328059

The first and most simple thing a company with do is pass the extra cost of the tariff onto the consumer.

Some companies might decide to take a hit, and reduce the profit they make per sale, in order to keep the quantity of sales higher. This may also be done in conjunction with increasing the cost on the consumer somewhat.

Some may look to see if the foreign company selling the product will reduce their price, but that becomes much harder if the dollar becomes devalued (and the sale is in $). There is no guarantee the foreign company will accept this, and even if they agree a small reduction, they may still have to increase the price on the consumer to maintain the same level of profit.

So while occasionally you'll have exceptions, in the main the primary thing tariffs will do is increase the price on the end consumer.

aloyisious

Smerconish had Navarro on his TV show and put a question to him from a US cycle shop dealer who had an order of cycles from abroad and was faced with the new high tariff charge on the order making it a negative cost for him. Navarro's answer was that the shop owner would have to swallow the cost increase then went off on a tangent that when he was younger he and his pals used Schwinn cycles made in the US. Smerconish asked him about production at home, Navarro told him there were a lot of empty factories at home and there were a lot of workers and robots to do the work. The obvious disadvantage of the tariffs doesn't seem to compute with Navarro, probably because he is behind that plan and retraction also doesn't compute.

On the issue of the market, apparently Smerconish intends to follow up on that with Navarro tomorrow.

gral6

President Trump insisted that he is ''a very genius''

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328936#Comment_123328936

Trump didn't 'find himself' at the head of a cult like he was just kicking around one day and suddenly there was thousands of people showing up to adore him. He leveraged his existing fame, firstly, and then knew what words to say to both electrify the political sentiments of millions of Americans while lambasting his rivals for the Republican nomination. This may not be the most advanced ability in the world or the most advanced strategy in the world but nor is it inconsiderable, and this is what his opponents fail to recognise when they say, flatly, that he and his supporters are dumb.

It's dismissive and refuses to truly engage with the issue, and it's that mindset which has helped Trump to stick around and Trumpism to fester. We know this from life - it should be common sense - if there's a problem and you just dismiss it, it generally doesn't go away. So why is this such a popular response to Trumpism? "He's dumb. They're all dumb." hasn't done anything. The problem has become worse, and nothing has been done about it owing in large part to this attitude. If he is so dumb, and his supporters are all so dumb, then why can't some sort of political/social antidote be figured out to quell the whole thing once and for all?

sock.rocker*

It's frankly remarkable how much the EU and UK did to minimise Brexit when compared to what the US is doing. All the talk of problems at ports etc. was so grounded and realistic. What's happening with the US is so completely insane in comparison.

sock.rocker*

Can you imagine individual tariffs on Ireland based on their math if we weren't in the EU… 72bn exported to the US vs. 22bn imported. So 35%.

Edited because I am bad at math.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123328959#Comment_123328959

Post numbers aren't shown on phone browsers so they mean nothing.

Click reply to the post if you wish to comment on it directly or if you can't for some reason, copy the text and paste it at the top of your message.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329256#Comment_123329256

If the conversations that happened after Article 50 was invoked had happened before the Brexit vote, It would have either A; not been voted for, or B; have had a Brexit that worked for the UK.

Given the 52 - 48 margin, I think it is extremely likely that the UK would still be in the EU at this point.

The supporters of US tariffs would say that it is now that negotiations should start, but how do you negotiate with someone as belligerent as Trump. He doesn't want you to see any outcome as positive, a big factor for him to feel as having succeeded is to have someone who feels that they have failed.

This mindset is a virus in international diplomacy.

yagan

How do you negotiate with a party that applies tariffs on penguins?

Trump has zero interest in negotiating anything. He'll give tariffs exemptions for products that affect his voter base like Canadian potash for his farming fanbase.

He could just as easily be declaring war on colouring crayons next week because diversity!

Irish Aris

Mod note.

Good afternoon everyone.

I deleted app. 10 posts from earlier today. 2-3 of them were just caught as replies to unacceptable posts, nothing really wrong with them, so my apologies that you got caught in the middle.

I will ask everyone to calm down and debate civilly, without taking digs at each other.

Thank you.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329239#Comment_123329239

The problem has become worse

That's often the case with dumb people who don't understand or even give a shite about the consequences of their actions.

However, you're trying to assign some sort of master plan here with regards to Trump, when there isn't one other than his own narcissistic want.

If you're looking for any actual plan, you'll have to look behind the scenes, because Trump is happy just to bask in adulation of his idiot army as he spouts more and more inanities and gibberish at them.

"Groceries is a beautiful term"

:/

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329119#Comment_123329119

So while occasionally you'll have exceptions, in the main the primary thing tariffs will do is increase the price on the end consumer.

This is exactly why the EU need to tread carefully with regards to Trump's ridiculous and arbitrary tariffs which appear to have no logic at all other than to cause chaos.

It might be better for the EU to sit tight for a while and do nothing.

Detritus70

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329239#Comment_123329239

Trumpers are trolls, cranks, loons, morons and traitors. And hateful arseholes.

Kissing their butt won't make anything better. It doesn't even matter if they win. You gotta call a heap of sh1te what it is, a heap of sh1te.

Sometimes people need to fly face first into the mud to learn their lesson.

sock.rocker*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329455#Comment_123329455

That's too simplistic for what's happening. What he's doing is misguided and stupid in the grander sense, but he isn't dumb. Saddam Hussein wasn't dumb. Kissinger wasn't dumb. Hitler wasn't dumb. These men are worse than dumb. They are intelligent and are capable of getting what they want. He won't suffer from these tariffs.

It might feel good to call people stupid but it misses what's really going on. You don't become Trump as president while being classically dumb. He doesn't have some subpar IQ and is somehow just winging it into the presidency. A vindictive cúnt with some dumbass ideas about returning the US to the grandeur of post-WW2 America is more what's happening.

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329479#Comment_123329479

Exactly. Any trumper relation I have has become an outright moron who doesn't even believe in government.

Trump is a grenade that his voters slow rolled into Washington believing that blowing the whole thing up can only be good in the long run.

Middle US society was kept mollified by the FIRE economy but since that imploded in 08 they've watched corporation wealth leave household way behind and they're angry.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329484#Comment_123329484

It's his supporters that are dumb ones. But that doesn't mean he's some sort sort of intellectual giant just because he's managed to blow smoke up stupid people's arses and fill them full of the lies they wanted to hear despite all the evidence to the contrary.

I would have been more forgiving to those who voted for him in 2016 as he was an unknown quantity, but even at that the writing was on the wall. But in 2024, you either had to be a **** or really thick to put your x down for Donald Trump.

Either way they'll reap what sow.

Unfortunately so will a lot other people who warned everybody what voting for Trump would mean.

sock.rocker*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329516#Comment_123329516

His first presidency didn't actually generate much negative consequences if you think about it. For all the headlines, not much happened at all apart from Covid, and that was everywhere anyways. I really don't think his first presidency was much of a thing.

This time, he is actually following through with massive things and most people, even his supporters, have been caught off guard because it is a total change from international norms.

amandstu

@sock.rocker*

"Can you imagine individual tariffs on Ireland based on their math if we weren't in the EU… 72bn exported to the US vs. 22bn imported. So 35%."

Not 330% ?