It's hard to post about anything today but the idiotic financial bloodbath Trump is imposing on us all.
As Senator Chris Murphy explained in a thread on BlueSky, the tariffs are not economics but a political tool made to "compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief," similar to the ways that kings in the past used taxes and other means to punish and reward detractors and supporters. Murphy isn't the only one to say this, but his thread is a nice summary of it.
Everything below the line is from the attributed account, and is shown in chronological order starting yesterday — late Wednesday morning the day the tariffs were announced.
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People will say this is the result of a presidential election, and that’s partly true. But the Constitution does not delegate tariff power to the president, and he is only able to impose these ruinous, peace-destroying taxes because Congress has let him do so. Congress can end this at any time.
Robinson Meyer
there is a greater than zero possibility that the market tanks so badly tomorrow morning that Trump walks this whole thing back, which would be the funniest outcome, in a very dark and still-damaging way.
Tom Tomorrow
Life comes at you ... at exactly the rate it promised to come at you during its 4-year re-election campaign where it told you exactly what it planned to do literally thousands of times.
Craig Harrington @craigipedia.bsky.social
I tried to simplify it to my kid like this: you buy something at the store for $50. Then Trump says that store stole $50 from you so he's going to tax the store $25. Store now charges $75.
Mike Masnick
You can totally see how this mf bankrupted a casino.
Jason Coupet @professajay.bsky.social
thank you donald trump for your diligent work as you make the US a stagnant, backwater pariah state and playground for sociopathic tech oligarchs
jamelle @jamellebouie.net
i miss discourse that didn’t involve the collapse of the government
Marisa Kabas
We all know what's going on here, right? Tariffs not as economic policy, but purely to consolidate political power. From here on out, every day for Trump will be one of CEOs, presidents, prime ministers showing up to grovel, kiss the ring, ask for special favors. That's a gravy train of corruption if there ever was one. And now that everything is artificially, deliberately depressed, all he needs to do is lift some of these tariffs in "surprise" moves, say, 6 weeks before the next election, and stock markets jump.
Gernot Wagner
The absolute callousness of announcing a 44% trade tariff against Myanmar this week, of all weeks.
Dara O Briain
Of all people, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board took off the gloves, put on brass knuckles, and with relish waded into the Trump Tariff brawl. "Liberation Day is Buy Another Yacht Day for the swamp."
Professor Furious
March saw the third-highest number of layoffs in U.S. history, and 80% of them were caused by DOGE. This was before the tariffs. It's just...unbelievable
Will Bunch
As has been stated quite a few times, Republicans could shut this down at any time if they wanted to.
Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social
Liberation Wednesday followed by Tanking Thursday
Jen Mercieca
The thing is Hoover had a strong humanitarian record before blowing it all up
Adam Miller @ajm6792.bsky.social
I’m not an economist but it would seem that, at a certain threshold, there may be diminishing returns to how much market bounce-back occurs as actors begin to fully price in chaos. You don’t have to touch the stove for long to get a pretty bad burn
Sean Sellers @sellazz.bsky.social
People don't miss manufacturing jobs. They miss the effects of having 30+ percent union density. And we can build worker power again, with good policies, for the jobs most working class people actually have today rather than hoping mumbo jumbo will make it 1955 again.
Osita Nwanevu
I really wish I could directly post gifs here that I have saved because I have a gif of a kid setting his own crotch on fire for no obvious reason and then having the fire stamped out by his friends and there's no better metaphor for what's happening in the US right now
Dr. SkySkull
is this what they meant when they said daddy's home and he's going to punish us
Tom Tomorrow
Republicans went nuts and accused Biden of tyranny when he tried to cancel student debt. Right now, their guy just imposed the biggest tax rise on Americans in modern history by fiat, unilaterally, with no congressional or judicial approval.
Mehdi Hasan
Everyone wants there to be a grand scheme behind all of this but the terrible truth is that extremely stupid people are in charge and they have a fanatical devotion to wrong, childlike concepts of society and economics cooked up by right wing radio hosts in order to sell tainted dietary supplements
Ian Boudreau
As far as I can determine, Trump's supposed legal authority to impose these incredibly sweeping and destructive tariffs rest largely on the idea that trade deficits constitute a national emergency. How on earth is this remotely legitimate?
Greg Sargent
People who told everyone that masking was the worst possible thing to be asked to do are now telling USians to "sacrifice" and it's so ridiculous.
Prisonculture
fun fact about President Businessman: he didn't just bankrupt *a* casino. He bankrupted *multiple* casinos.
Tom Tomorrow
Ok I'm just going to say it: I don't even think President Sanders would be this bad for the economy.
The Alternate Historian
The American public:
Rich Cassara @rjcassara.bsky.social
Ohh "America First" was a hit list
I am no longer kidding @internethippo.bsky.social
Companies are not going to invest more in American manufacturing under an administration that contradicts itself/changes its mind every 5 minutes.
Elizabeth Kolbert
Make America Great Depression Again
A.J. Bauer
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