Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

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% ?

aloyisious

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

It's probably the TV medium he's been using for years now to "amuse" a lot of TV watchers in the U.S. They've gotten used to his image and swallowing what he says, thinking his TV shows were reality and not just gameshows, letting him perfect his con skills on a pliable audience already minded to believe what he says.

sock.rocker*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329610#Comment_123329610

(72-22)/72 * 0.5 is what I garnered from a quick Google.

yagan

The basic 10% tariff on all countries will be a disaster for a lot of US exporters who rely on imported components to begin with. I can imagine some US companies actually moving production out of the US just to protect their existing customers unaffected outside the US.

After the hostile immigration atmosphere that's alienating talent there's even more incentive now to move r&d out of the US to avoid trade frictions.

For many Us companies the home market will become a secondary market to their global operations.

sock.rocker*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329677#Comment_123329677

US companies are relying on hard skills taught in other education systems. Asians are good at maths is a thing. Asians staying in Asia will be another thing going forward as the likes of China get richer. Tariffs can't stop that growth. Like 2% of China's economy is based on exporting to the US.

Kermit.de.frog

What the EU should do is say to the Americans they are ready to negotiate and to request, whatever about the base rate 10%, to hold off the reciprocal 20% rate (which is due to come in on Wednesday) pending the outcome of those negotiations.

This would buy time for us and give a face saving excuse for the Trump administration. We'd still have the 10% but at least it's the base and not 20%.

That may be what happens, hopefully. Makes sense for both sides.

aloyisious

I'm not sure of the reality behind a line mentioned on a Euronews channel show: that Trump may have forced the EU to become more unified on the political, business and military defence fronts with both his "I want to provide less US dollar support, you're not spending enough yourselves" to Europe's defence and his attacks on the EU's business interests. If that has some truth, both Putin and Orban wont be happy with it.

Germany seems to have had to change it's laws on state financial spending on its military, increasing it's limits. The last thing Putin would have wanted is an independent Europe more ready to stand on its own feet with weapons ready for use without the need of trans-Atlantic re-supply from NATO's US partner. Putin's already forced a change of opinion and position of defence pacts in several European countries close to Russia's borders. All those EU countries and other countries are going to have to put re-armament on the front burner costing them much needed finance.

Certainly, despite two assertions by Trump's Sec State Marco Rubio that the U.S wants Europe's NATO pact members to have faith in NATO, Trump has been busy spinning a radically different line to Europe and has now gone one better with his tariffs. Macron's response to Trump seems as radical as Trump's tariffs: basically a boycott of French investments which helps the US.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329575#Comment_123329575

Do you have any thoughts on whether he has punctured his own popularity balloon or "trust in me" fanbase?

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329668#Comment_123329668

Yes that sounds more accurate. (we know it makes sense ;-)

PropJoe10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329575#Comment_123329575

Yeah, that's because the MAGA muppets never expected him to win in 2016. Therefore, there was a lot of traditional Republicans in his administration that curtailed him over the 4 years. Now, they're fully prepared (see Project 2025). All the people in senior positions in his administration are purely there to indulge his worst beliefs and instincts. Hence the horrendous start to his second term.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123329694#Comment_123329694

Personally it wouldn't be the Trump administration I'd be offering a face-saving chance to, more the U.S itself. It's clearly an advantage to him to link the future of Trump with that of the U.S. and not to the advantage of the U.S. The only thing I'd give the Trump admin members is the demand that they gag him and lock him up as a sign of good faith before opening discussions with those we might consider as worth trusting.

Trump would take a mention of negotiation and a request as a supplication to him as another sign of weakness and idiocy. It's gone past the time of kissing his ring: more the time of lopping Putin's hand off at the wrist there.

zell12

NI should thank Trump, embrace this opportunity and become a mini Hong Kong https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8x8ql5lgj7o

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123330039#Comment_123330039

He's a bit like a King Kong. I wonder will he ever climb up the Empire State building being chased by the population he has upset?

Timberrrrrrrr

"I won't have time to play golf if I'm elected president. I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf."

• Donald J. Trump, 2016

Today the Whitehouse issued this statement

“The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow.”

Please explain to me why Americans aren't rioting on the streets right now.