Trump is dead serious about the tariffs. He’s been dead serious about tariffs for pretty much his entire adult life. This obsession goes back decades. Yes, people are opportunisticly using the chaos to profit, but the chaos is not the plan, just a side effect of Trump’s total inability to plan.
He’s using tariffs as a sword to show off his power.
Tariffs is pretty much the most dangerous non-military weapon that the President can use without any legislative action. You are correct that his goal isn’t chaos itself, but we would be remiss if we don’t understand why Trump is using them.
Trump not only wants to look powerful, he wants to feel powerful. He is like a kid who knocks someone else’s blocks down so that people can see he’s in charge. Through his eyes, he sees someone else’s suffering from his actions and then he can see the pain of those people as they look at him in disbelief. Trump is using tariffs as a stick to cause panic in those countries so that he can see them grovel at his feet.
That’s why he doesn’t care that it hurts his supporters. I would go so far as to say he wants his supporters to be hurt so that they can know that he’s in charge.
This is authoritarianism. This is about him. Even if whatever trade deals come out of these tariffs are worse than they were before him, he claims victory because he forced the other side to the table.
But has he even forced anyone to the table recently? Last time Europe said counter tariffs, then China flatout said no, and now Europe is flatout saying no as well. Trump is practically a crazy man yelling at people across the street at this point.
Mexico and Canada famously came back to the table only for Trump to renegotiate a deal that they both were already going to do.
I honestly haven’t kept track but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the smaller countries that are dependent on US sales have renegotiated their deals.
Spot on. I’ll add that Trump not only wants to see other countries panic and grovel, he wants U.S. CEOs to panic and grovel at his feet. Hence his feud with Tim Apple and threats to ramp up tariffs solely on i-phones.
Trump is dead serious about the tariffs. He’s been dead serious about tariffs for pretty much his entire adult life. This obsession goes back decades. Yes, people are opportunisticly using the chaos to profit, but the chaos is not the plan, just a side effect of Trump’s total inability to plan.
He’s using tariffs as a sword to show off his power.
Tariffs is pretty much the most dangerous non-military weapon that the President can use without any legislative action. You are correct that his goal isn’t chaos itself, but we would be remiss if we don’t understand why Trump is using them.
Trump not only wants to look powerful, he wants to feel powerful. He is like a kid who knocks someone else’s blocks down so that people can see he’s in charge. Through his eyes, he sees someone else’s suffering from his actions and then he can see the pain of those people as they look at him in disbelief. Trump is using tariffs as a stick to cause panic in those countries so that he can see them grovel at his feet.
That’s why he doesn’t care that it hurts his supporters. I would go so far as to say he wants his supporters to be hurt so that they can know that he’s in charge.
This is authoritarianism. This is about him. Even if whatever trade deals come out of these tariffs are worse than they were before him, he claims victory because he forced the other side to the table.
But has he even forced anyone to the table recently? Last time Europe said counter tariffs, then China flatout said no, and now Europe is flatout saying no as well. Trump is practically a crazy man yelling at people across the street at this point.
Mexico and Canada famously came back to the table only for Trump to renegotiate a deal that they both were already going to do.
I honestly haven’t kept track but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the smaller countries that are dependent on US sales have renegotiated their deals.
Spot on. I’ll add that Trump not only wants to see other countries panic and grovel, he wants U.S. CEOs to panic and grovel at his feet. Hence his feud with Tim Apple and threats to ramp up tariffs solely on i-phones.