If anti-vaxers want to die,and/or kill their kids, let them. It's called natural selection. Judging by the size of MAGA, I'd say we're overdue a round. Just don't prevent those smart enough to know better access to the vaccines.
The tariffs may be working as designed. They are taking in revenue from us that they are using for themselves. It will never be used to bring down the debt or to benefit citizens. (Trump doesn’t pay his debts.)
When Trump says “we”, he means himself. When Vance says “we” he means himself and insiders. MAGA thinks “we” includes them though not other Americans. It doesn’t.
Once authoritarianism has taken over, does public sentiment - in support or against - really still matter? Has fascism ever been voted out? This is "progressing" at warp speed, and the destruction is deep and broad.
Tariffs are my business. For the first few months of this madness, our practice worked with importers to wildly try and mitigate the impact of the tariffs -- reclassifying merchandise, restructuring transactions to get better dutiable values, taking advantage of free trade agreements and other benefits. These efforts are constantly upset when our temperamental President changes the rules on a whim. No one will invest a nickel in US facilities when trade policy is this unstable.
Mitigation strategies largely exhausted, companies are now working on when and how to pass in increased costs to retailers and other customers. The Producer Price Index increases have soared above those in the Consumer Price Index. Expect the latter to catch up quickly. It's about to get really bad, folks. When the US is acting like a blackmailer, and the rest of the world is honoring the WTO and the world-based trading system, expect foreign suppliers to disconnect from the US as quickly as possible. If China is allowed to join the Comprehensive Trans Pacific Partnership (CTTP), China will write the rules of world trade for the next century.
And it's not just world trade. Trump gave away the farm on pretty much everything America had going for it. Military alliances, future technology advances (defunding biological labs, discouraging budding scientists from coming to our universities,...), advocating policies that ultimately threaten the reliability of the US dollar's relative value and remain the world's favorite reserve currency - God, I guess you could write a book! And I'm certain some day many will be written.
On the issue of "wishful thinking". I would suggest doing the following on broadcast channels and social media:
1) Does MAGA know what the purpose of government is? Simply stated, creating and maintaining a level playing field so everyone can be the best they can be through their own efforts irregardless of race, color, gender or religion. Think about the Declaration of Independence.
2) Everyone use the "Dept of Defense" in referring to the military department until Congress officially changes it.
3) We are getting too used to Trump and his unconstitutional and dangerous policies. Let's start consistently calling him what he and his followers really are: "Domestic enemies of the Constitution". If enough people say it, perhaps a lower federal court will, given Trumps track record, declare him "A Domestic Enemy of the Constitution" and any constitutional officer who obeys him to also be an enemy of the Constitution. Key here is the oath being in the Constitution and many government employees (and military) take an oath to Defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Once he is an enemy then he can't issue a lawful order. And the MAGA sycophants will rally to him and also be out of office including the republican MAGA Congress members. Like lemmings they will follow.
Bessent is a fool. One has to believe he must be in on the scamming of the American people. He flat out lies, and when confronted he makes it sound like everyone else is lying except him.
Can somebody ask a follow-up question to Bessent's support of Trump's view on who pays our tariffs (the other country!!) with "How much are we paying to countries who put tariffs on us? As Treasury Secretary, he should know how much we pay China for their tariffs on us. If he says that we are still way ahead in collecting more from China than we pay, then it is logical to assume that anyone who imports from us more that we do from them would benefit with imposing high tariffs on the U.S. because we have deep pockets (does this explain why Trump needs to make money from bitcoin?). Let Bessent ponder that. Actually, I would like to hear DT answer the question.
On the topic of sanctions against Russia, I have read that the U.S. buys eggs from Russia, and that recently the sanctions were adjusted so that Russian diamonds can be bought. If this is true, it sounds to me that under Trump not only are more sanctions not forthcoming, but that they are going backwards so that American consumers of eggs and diamonds are contributing to the Russian economy which feeds the war-machine killing Ukrainian soldiers, civilians, and stealing Ukrainian children.
Bill, I was right there with you for most of your piece, I think right up to your conclusion, but I disagreed at one point and I want to drill down a bit. It's where you said "So this is no time for wishful thinking. And it’s no time to pull punches."
On the pulling punches, absolutely. But on the "wishful thinking," I was reminded of a favorite passage from JRR Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" essay. It's on my mind because I just reread it this weekend.
"Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter. Just so a Party-spokesman might have labelled departure from the misery of the Führer's or any other Reich and even criticism of it as treachery. In the same way these critics, to make confusion worse, and so to bring into contempt their opponents, stick their label of scorn not only on to Desertion, but on to real Escape, and what are often its companions, Disgust, Anger, Condemnation, and Revolt. Not only do they confound the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter; but they would seem to prefer the acquiescence of the “quisling” to the resistance of the patriot."
He's writing about the charge people make against fantasy, that it amounts to ignoring the real world and not facing our real problems. The way I read this, he's saying it's quite the opposite, it can be about focusing on how we want the world to be, about revisiting the Blessed Realm even if we can only do it in our mind. We're not so bad off as the prisoner, we still have a hope of fixing all this even if it can seem so far-off it's hard to take hope in it as a real possibility. I get that. And we definitely need to pair wishful thinking with definite action, clearly. But we also need to remember what we're fighting for, and not get so mired in how ugly and hopeless America seems these days.
Not to seize on a small phrase and criticize you for it unduly. I certainly don't want to police anyone's language, and your meaning was clear enough. But it's the small things that sometimes keep me going, so it seemed worth talking a little more about.
*******************
On another note- Andrew, my jaw dropped at Bessent's suggestion people would be lying about their company's situation in their earnings call. A smart man like him surely knows that's the one place you face real consequences for misrepresenting things. And I do mean that literally - surely he knows precisely that. What a sad thing, to watch him fall so low. (Enraging, too, but sad first.)
You just have to follow the history of Trump's foray into the NJ casino business. Everything was amazingly perfect until it suddenly was and Trump went belly up.
Trump's best skill is birthing black swans wherever he goes
It's not heroism, or resistance that is going to save our butts. There are few heroes, and resistance is disorganized, sporadic, and so far ineffectual except for court cases, which are at best partial or temporary wins.
No. What's going to save us is that Trump is a sick old man who will drop dead or be incapacitated, probably before the end of his term.
Mussolini, who Trump most resembles, was 40 when he came to power. Stalin was 46. Hitler 44. Mao was an older 56, a spring chicken compared to trump. Castro was 33, and outlived 10 US presidencies.
I'm not saying we should just relax and let nature take it's inevitable course. No. By all means we should fight, delay, ridicule, and try like hell to win back Congress in 26. I'm just saying that we probably aren't going to sink into the hellhole of totalitarianism because Trump won't live long enough, and he has no obvious successor.
But popularity to the more apathetic part of the MAGA voters does. If trump dies (absolutely don't expect this) and he hasn't by that point completely rigged or even outlawed elections (the constitution is meaningless to MAGAts), then MAGA congresspeople can't get as easily elected since they won't be riding trump's celebrity coattails in their home state elections.
We're so far beyond that, from my vantage point. The destruction and intimidation, the militarization and rigging are all in front of us. The system as it is -and as it was - cannot hold up.
I agree with you about the reactionary ideology and the praise for Putin and Orban as saviors of Western Christian culture. And I assume the Heritage Foundation deserves some credit for the promoting the notion of a Deep State. It's certainly not something that Trump ever thought about before he ran for president. Who would ever think that the ideology of QAnon would gain acceptance in Washington. The total paranoia about those in power was something Madison worried about in The Federalist. Unfortunately, even after Trump leaves the scene this paranoia about the Deep State will remain a strong current in American politics.
The Deep State concept developed from a longstanding popular suspicion of Big Government (connected with some reasonable debates about the proper size and scope of the federal government) combined with a conservative belief that the bureaucracy is packed with liberal activists who improperly undermine conservative policy.
It's been absolute gold for Trump, giving him a precooked argument that any impediment to his will is a corrupt assault on the Will of the American People, and a cadre of conservative "intellectuals" ready to argue that case on his behalf. But as Miles Taylor points out, what Trumpers call the Deep State was basically just people willing to say "That's illegal."
True, because P.T. Barnum was onto something. The Deep State will forever fuel the imaginations of P.T.'s kind of customer base. Many of whom are still miraculously living among us.
If anti-vaxers want to die,and/or kill their kids, let them. It's called natural selection. Judging by the size of MAGA, I'd say we're overdue a round. Just don't prevent those smart enough to know better access to the vaccines.
The tariffs may be working as designed. They are taking in revenue from us that they are using for themselves. It will never be used to bring down the debt or to benefit citizens. (Trump doesn’t pay his debts.)
When Trump says “we”, he means himself. When Vance says “we” he means himself and insiders. MAGA thinks “we” includes them though not other Americans. It doesn’t.
Once authoritarianism has taken over, does public sentiment - in support or against - really still matter? Has fascism ever been voted out? This is "progressing" at warp speed, and the destruction is deep and broad.
"If you didn’t watch Ravens/Bills, you really missed out."
That hurt, guys. I come here to be depressed about the state of America, not about the Ravens' chronic inability to defend fourh quarter leads. 😖
Tariffs are my business. For the first few months of this madness, our practice worked with importers to wildly try and mitigate the impact of the tariffs -- reclassifying merchandise, restructuring transactions to get better dutiable values, taking advantage of free trade agreements and other benefits. These efforts are constantly upset when our temperamental President changes the rules on a whim. No one will invest a nickel in US facilities when trade policy is this unstable.
Mitigation strategies largely exhausted, companies are now working on when and how to pass in increased costs to retailers and other customers. The Producer Price Index increases have soared above those in the Consumer Price Index. Expect the latter to catch up quickly. It's about to get really bad, folks. When the US is acting like a blackmailer, and the rest of the world is honoring the WTO and the world-based trading system, expect foreign suppliers to disconnect from the US as quickly as possible. If China is allowed to join the Comprehensive Trans Pacific Partnership (CTTP), China will write the rules of world trade for the next century.
And it's not just world trade. Trump gave away the farm on pretty much everything America had going for it. Military alliances, future technology advances (defunding biological labs, discouraging budding scientists from coming to our universities,...), advocating policies that ultimately threaten the reliability of the US dollar's relative value and remain the world's favorite reserve currency - God, I guess you could write a book! And I'm certain some day many will be written.
Scott Bessent looks like Cindy-Lou-who’s dad in the Grinch….. he is a Dweeb & not scary.
On the issue of "wishful thinking". I would suggest doing the following on broadcast channels and social media:
1) Does MAGA know what the purpose of government is? Simply stated, creating and maintaining a level playing field so everyone can be the best they can be through their own efforts irregardless of race, color, gender or religion. Think about the Declaration of Independence.
2) Everyone use the "Dept of Defense" in referring to the military department until Congress officially changes it.
3) We are getting too used to Trump and his unconstitutional and dangerous policies. Let's start consistently calling him what he and his followers really are: "Domestic enemies of the Constitution". If enough people say it, perhaps a lower federal court will, given Trumps track record, declare him "A Domestic Enemy of the Constitution" and any constitutional officer who obeys him to also be an enemy of the Constitution. Key here is the oath being in the Constitution and many government employees (and military) take an oath to Defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Once he is an enemy then he can't issue a lawful order. And the MAGA sycophants will rally to him and also be out of office including the republican MAGA Congress members. Like lemmings they will follow.
Bessent is a fool. One has to believe he must be in on the scamming of the American people. He flat out lies, and when confronted he makes it sound like everyone else is lying except him.
Can somebody ask a follow-up question to Bessent's support of Trump's view on who pays our tariffs (the other country!!) with "How much are we paying to countries who put tariffs on us? As Treasury Secretary, he should know how much we pay China for their tariffs on us. If he says that we are still way ahead in collecting more from China than we pay, then it is logical to assume that anyone who imports from us more that we do from them would benefit with imposing high tariffs on the U.S. because we have deep pockets (does this explain why Trump needs to make money from bitcoin?). Let Bessent ponder that. Actually, I would like to hear DT answer the question.
On the topic of sanctions against Russia, I have read that the U.S. buys eggs from Russia, and that recently the sanctions were adjusted so that Russian diamonds can be bought. If this is true, it sounds to me that under Trump not only are more sanctions not forthcoming, but that they are going backwards so that American consumers of eggs and diamonds are contributing to the Russian economy which feeds the war-machine killing Ukrainian soldiers, civilians, and stealing Ukrainian children.
Bill, I was right there with you for most of your piece, I think right up to your conclusion, but I disagreed at one point and I want to drill down a bit. It's where you said "So this is no time for wishful thinking. And it’s no time to pull punches."
On the pulling punches, absolutely. But on the "wishful thinking," I was reminded of a favorite passage from JRR Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" essay. It's on my mind because I just reread it this weekend.
"Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter. Just so a Party-spokesman might have labelled departure from the misery of the Führer's or any other Reich and even criticism of it as treachery. In the same way these critics, to make confusion worse, and so to bring into contempt their opponents, stick their label of scorn not only on to Desertion, but on to real Escape, and what are often its companions, Disgust, Anger, Condemnation, and Revolt. Not only do they confound the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter; but they would seem to prefer the acquiescence of the “quisling” to the resistance of the patriot."
He's writing about the charge people make against fantasy, that it amounts to ignoring the real world and not facing our real problems. The way I read this, he's saying it's quite the opposite, it can be about focusing on how we want the world to be, about revisiting the Blessed Realm even if we can only do it in our mind. We're not so bad off as the prisoner, we still have a hope of fixing all this even if it can seem so far-off it's hard to take hope in it as a real possibility. I get that. And we definitely need to pair wishful thinking with definite action, clearly. But we also need to remember what we're fighting for, and not get so mired in how ugly and hopeless America seems these days.
Not to seize on a small phrase and criticize you for it unduly. I certainly don't want to police anyone's language, and your meaning was clear enough. But it's the small things that sometimes keep me going, so it seemed worth talking a little more about.
*******************
On another note- Andrew, my jaw dropped at Bessent's suggestion people would be lying about their company's situation in their earnings call. A smart man like him surely knows that's the one place you face real consequences for misrepresenting things. And I do mean that literally - surely he knows precisely that. What a sad thing, to watch him fall so low. (Enraging, too, but sad first.)
You just have to follow the history of Trump's foray into the NJ casino business. Everything was amazingly perfect until it suddenly was and Trump went belly up.
Trump's best skill is birthing black swans wherever he goes
Is sorta fascist like being kinda pregnant?
It's not heroism, or resistance that is going to save our butts. There are few heroes, and resistance is disorganized, sporadic, and so far ineffectual except for court cases, which are at best partial or temporary wins.
No. What's going to save us is that Trump is a sick old man who will drop dead or be incapacitated, probably before the end of his term.
Mussolini, who Trump most resembles, was 40 when he came to power. Stalin was 46. Hitler 44. Mao was an older 56, a spring chicken compared to trump. Castro was 33, and outlived 10 US presidencies.
I'm not saying we should just relax and let nature take it's inevitable course. No. By all means we should fight, delay, ridicule, and try like hell to win back Congress in 26. I'm just saying that we probably aren't going to sink into the hellhole of totalitarianism because Trump won't live long enough, and he has no obvious successor.
J.D. Vance, waiting in the wings with his tech god backing, is 40. The fascism doesn't die with Trump.
But popularity to the more apathetic part of the MAGA voters does. If trump dies (absolutely don't expect this) and he hasn't by that point completely rigged or even outlawed elections (the constitution is meaningless to MAGAts), then MAGA congresspeople can't get as easily elected since they won't be riding trump's celebrity coattails in their home state elections.
We're so far beyond that, from my vantage point. The destruction and intimidation, the militarization and rigging are all in front of us. The system as it is -and as it was - cannot hold up.
I agree with you about the reactionary ideology and the praise for Putin and Orban as saviors of Western Christian culture. And I assume the Heritage Foundation deserves some credit for the promoting the notion of a Deep State. It's certainly not something that Trump ever thought about before he ran for president. Who would ever think that the ideology of QAnon would gain acceptance in Washington. The total paranoia about those in power was something Madison worried about in The Federalist. Unfortunately, even after Trump leaves the scene this paranoia about the Deep State will remain a strong current in American politics.
The Deep State concept developed from a longstanding popular suspicion of Big Government (connected with some reasonable debates about the proper size and scope of the federal government) combined with a conservative belief that the bureaucracy is packed with liberal activists who improperly undermine conservative policy.
It's been absolute gold for Trump, giving him a precooked argument that any impediment to his will is a corrupt assault on the Will of the American People, and a cadre of conservative "intellectuals" ready to argue that case on his behalf. But as Miles Taylor points out, what Trumpers call the Deep State was basically just people willing to say "That's illegal."
St. Ronnie said it best" the government isn't the solution- it's the problem." So began that thought tradition, still so alive today.
True, because P.T. Barnum was onto something. The Deep State will forever fuel the imaginations of P.T.'s kind of customer base. Many of whom are still miraculously living among us.
TARIFFS ARE TAXES On these AMERICAN Trucks. https://bsky.app/profile/opsan.com/post/3lvhhv2ycvs2v Wake up, MAGA!