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

Do you think they're worried yet?

Stop dealing with China or we'll raise tariffs again.

I've seen theories going around that this was all a big scheme to refinance the US dept after the dollar loses it's value. With the usual Trump clown show thrown in.

Also China is effectively backing down after saying Tarrifs won't go any higher. If Tarrifs ultimately get reduced on the USA and China to an equal level it'll be a victory for the USA.

These guys are acting like they're the Mafia or something.

However, the rest of the world

Like everything else, the Trump cabinet meeting was full of bullshit lies and exaggeration -

• His election win being the biggest of all time,
• the inflated number of miles about how much border wall was built in his first term,
• the EU being formed to rip off the US
• The amount being taken in thru tariffs has suddenly jumped to over $3 billion per day when the $2 billion per day wasn't even true - it is apparently averaging around $200 million per day
• The simplistic summary of how corporations were allowed to leave the US over the last decades with no acknowledgement of the downside of them being forced to stay

And the one that annoys me the most - the notion constantly put forward by RFK Jnr that autism has risen from 1 in 10,000 children to about 1 in 31 over recent decades - Not it hasn't. It's just that more are now detected due to broader diagnostics, better screening and data improvements. I for one can recall a few people I was in school with who were thought of as just thickos, looking back at them now, they were probably autistic. But everybody thought a diagnosis like that could only ever apply to visibly obvious cases.

Destroyed 401ks, devalued dollar and global trust in them destroyed is a pretty awful result for them.

Theories spread by people desperately trying to find a way to make Trump's policy look like anything other than a complete failure.

Backing down would be dropping tariffs by the way.

'Trump is going to bring manufacturing back to America…'

Meanwhile small businesses are unable to recieve goods ordered before the tarrifs because they can't afford the huge charges, will he care that he will end up putting more people out of business than businesses brought back?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/09/trump-tariffs-port-pileup-coming-as-cash-short-ceos-reject-orders.html

Muskat said he won’t reject the containers at the port which would force the supplier to take the freight back, but he has told one factory to pause shipping for a week or two, to see how things unfold. Conversations with retailers are ongoing.

Other U.S. importers are expected to abandon goods at ports, which can then either go back to the manufacturer or it can be auctioned or destroyed in the U.S.

Larger businesses can possibly absorb the cost of abandoning or returning goods - of course that will affect production as well as actual costs - but smaller enterprises could easily be put out of business.

Some of these countries , and the EU as a bloc is bordering on being in this bracket too are pathetic in their softly softly approach to trump and wanting to negotiate. That's playing into his hands.

The Chinese have it sussed, keep letting Trump up the stakes and tariffs and as he does this he's just burying himself and Americas economy with their stupidity. Stop letting him think he can bully countries to the table and let him keep making mistakes that harm him.

Ironically he doesn't have the cards

Yep. Thanks for you and the other replies. Was just bouncing that theory here to see the rebuttals which I accept. Crazy the world we're living in. Great recession, followed by Brexit, then COVID, then Ukraine war and now trump 2.0! We can't catch a break!

Tariffs are like immigration?

WTF are you trying to talk about?

🙄

As far as Trump's tariff debacle is concerned, there is a galaxy of difference in placing a tariff on a certain product (usually a product that's produced domestically) and placing a tariff on nearly every country on the planet (regardless of the actual product that's being imported) just because you're playing silly buggers like a dumb ass.

The problem with Trump worshippers is that they haven't the cop on enough to understand that just because Nancy Pelosi or Bernie Sanders may have mentioned tariffs 20 something years ago, that it is absolutely NOT the same thing as the utter nonsense that Trump has engaged in over the last few months.

A tariff can be used, and has been used in the past, to offset the price difference between a locally produced item and a cheaper imported item in order to try and protect a local economy. The price at the til of the cheaper imported product is raised in the hope that the consumer then opts for the product that's made at home.

Trump's attitude toward them is like a stone he's using to chuck at somebody in the manner of a tantrum throwing 5 year old.

It is NOT the same thing and there is nothing to agree or disagree here, because there is nothing logical happening to agree with. It's a complete shambles without any merit at all.

Ya you love "bumping" theories with a certain angle to them.

simplifying here.

Why do striking workers hold companies by the balls when they go on an all out strike?

US outsourced its cheap labour to China, and overnight (now) it decides it does not want it's workforce anymore.

China knows US is reliant on its produce, and that China is not as reliant on US's products in the same way.

It takes time to move these reliance's, not something that can be done overnight, or very quickly.

It's on YouTube in 7 parts

#UNFIT - The psychology of Donald Trump part 1/7

Yeah I get you. It'd make you wonder why the US made itself so reliant on a cold war adversary in the first place.

Would it not have been better to have more of that cheap labour in places like south east Asia (excluding china), India especially and maybe even Africa?

Do you lads reckon the dollar will drop further? It suits me for some purchases I make the weaker it gets Vs the Euro. Bought $100 of credit today as the rate is good. Should I hold off a few weeks before buying more?

But even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.

That right there is the American dream right there for a lot of uber capitalist people. Gaming the system to maximise your gains and shifting cost on to others. A lot of Trump fans would genuinely read that and applaud.

I lived in the US during Covid and a guy I knew there was working in a company that had to make cost cuts when the pandemic hit. They had two options, a 10% pay cut or a 10% headcount cut. They put it to an employee vote and the employees voted overwhelmingly for the headcount cut. I asked him to explain and he said that most people felt they wouldn't be in the 10% so why should they lose money to save them. Trump fans, like the ones posting videos saying they voted for him but regret it because they lost their job or whatever, would still look at him and think they wouldn't be the ones left holding the can for his bad decisions and would back him. Look at his meme coins and how that has been manipulated.