I think Xi might have figured out Trump’s secret. He has no fucking clue what he’s doing. He scares people into reacting by being reckless, then claims a win for getting a reaction.
Ignoring trolls takes their power away.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
(“Quand l’ennemi fait un faux mouvement, il faut se garder de l’interrompre” --Napoleon)
They’re not really ignoring him though. They’ve discontinued exports of rare earth and are dumping debt. It’s a calculated strategic response to capitalise on an epic mistake.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-weak-strongman
Basically, this strategy Trump and Putin and their ilk do never works outside of their little bubble. Their whole game is to tear everyone else in their sphere of influence down to their level, so that they can compete effectively and dominate, but there are always significant threats outside of the sphere. Against which we are now more or less powerless.
This only works if you’re China. Most other countries would just be ignored
Not really, he backed down on tariffs last week thanks to Canada and Japan. The truth is, Trump has put the US into a very, very precarious position. They have a lot of debt to refinance soon, and if the rest of the world wanted to, they could dramatically increase the interest rates paid on that by coordinating a sell-off of US debt.
i would love to see that happen, but i don’t think they will
Putin has had trump’s number for years
China discovers the secret to life:
Don’t feed the trolls.
never interrupt your enemy while he is fumbling his shit. or something.
“secret”
I hope other leaders learn from this.
And now:
Trump clarifies some of the tariffs were actually 245% for some unknown reason
Nobody knows what’s going on.
Least of all Trump
Small brain think smart. Fat man think tough. Ignorance knows no bounds when others pay the price of bad decisions.
What a fucked up world where we are cheering on China. Fucking trump.
Predictable dictator is better than batshit crazy dictator.
Xi is more than happy to have a scapegoat for his economic troubles so the people and the powerful don’t hang him. Trump sometimes wants to speed run into the hanging and then realizes he really can’t piss off his own power base if he wants to keep his neck.
They both suck.
Red > orange
If they suck at each other, then that’s way less bad. Root for simultaneous knockout punches.
The workforce is unionizing even if their union is pretty terrible.
Definitely just a toss up of where this is going.
Which workforce? The Chinese? There’s only one union and it’s run by the government. Any non-government unions are illegal.
The US is gaining a new interest in unions, but we have our own anti-union laws to deal with. Not as bad China’s obviously.
such a socialist country where union protests lead you to being disappeared
Oh sorry, did I say socialist? China lines up better as a fascist economy.
Yeah in a global environment essentially China is the workforce/factory workers of the previous gilded age.
And it’s pretty much exactly my point that their union (the government) is finally pushing back against the management while being not exactly kind to their workers.
We are essentially reliving through a new worker rebellion but from the governments of the global south with their own layers of local nuance underneath that.
Weird times.A government is not a union.
The rebellion is mostly demographics. We are at a point, where globalization reached most countries. At the same time births are around 138million ± 5milliion since 40 years. China itself even has population decline.
Yeah in a global environment essentially China is the workforce/factory workers of the previous gilded age.
Maybe 15-20 years ago, but not so much anymore. Cost of labor has been rising in China dramatically to the point that a lot of manufacturing is leaving China.
Anti union in a socialist society…SMH sigh…
We need a vanguard party because the proles are too dumb to save themselves. We’ll prove it by banning unions that aren’t under our thumb.
Their wages are going up and young workers aren’t as interested in living the slave labor experience living in foxconn dorms working 100% of their time. It’s not a union but the overall effects are that policies are being forced to be more pro worker/ better salary and conditions just to meet staffing levels.
What moral high ground you think you had before?
And what, exactly, is wrong with cheering for China? They have never invaded a foreign sovereign nation in their entire 400 year history. They have been invaded by a lot of other countries, however.
Everyone is somehow missing China cutting off rare earth metals the US relies on for technology and defense
It wasn’t just stopping exports to the US, they’ve stopped exporting rare earth elements worldwide starting yesterday. Plus, they are starting to unload billion of debt we owe them. It’s almost as if Trump is intentionally trying to destroy our country in the morning, and then later in the day he wants to be the bully negotiator without understanding his precarious position.
You remember r/shitamericanssay? Last time he won, there were a lot of people talking about stuff Europe has but America doesn’t, and, if you browse the posts there, a lot of Americans responding how Europe is backwards, in the stone age, and what they do have is paid for by America, out of benevolence.
Well, those folks are in charge now.
Our EU ‘leaders’ are US bootlickers.
They’re a bit upset now that master is angry.The master isn’t angry, the master croaked, and his idiot son with anger issues is in charge now. The only question is if the EU will have the foresight to see the writing on the wall and bail before they’re caught in the undertow.
Like I said, our EU leaders are puppets, they don’t have our interests in mind.
They were perfectly fine with the slow death of seeing the economy and people suffer after the Nordstream US terrorist act.
Not a peep from them.
And even now they’re doing exactly what Trump wanted, spending more on useless killing toys.
And it’s a whole lot more.
Every country’s going to spend billions of money they don’t have and you know where they’re going to get it from.
The already unhappy lowest layer of the population.
Probably the last drop to push the extreme right in power. We’re almost in the 30’s again.“And even now they’re doing exactly what Trump wanted, spending more on useless killing toys.”
Useless? Russia invaded Ukraine. Putin won’t stop there.
To be honest, it doesn’t look like that one’s gonna be his decision to make.
That’s the spirit, of to the eastern front!
At least they seem to be buying domestic this time around. I mean, I fully expect them to Hillary it, despite everything, but it’s not impossible to pull out of the tailspin yet.
I LOLed at buying F-35’s but produced in Italy.
There wouldn’t be much point merely stopping export to the US because some other country could just on-sell to the US.
He really doesn’t understand his precarious position and the harm he has done and is doing.
That’s gonna tank the dollar hard
Yeah USD is down 3% for the week. 8 for the year
Sounds good to me
This is how the CoD storyline started.
I think the story here will go very differently now that the US army can’t ensure it’s exclusively pro-US.
I’m realizing the structure of our supply chains is not common knowledge at all. Basically everything has a part from China. That and plastic.
the whole world actually, thanks Trump!
Canada didn’t. It’d be a primary reason for the US to go stupid and try invading us, we’re a much closer source of rare earths.
Australia is the only other major exporter, apart from China, at 15% of global supply. I have never heard of Canada producing significant quantites?
Lot of discovery going on but not a lot of production yet but is estimated to be done of the largest reserves globally. The fact the minerals are here gives these idiots one more reason tokeep pushing this 51st rhetoric.
Oooo that’s good to know
That’s business school from a guy who ran casinos into the ground. Nice work America.
It’s true. “Casinos,” plural. CASINOS PLURAL, EVERYBODY.
y’all are spelling ‘russian money laundering operations’ wrong.
Even worse. How does one bankrupt a Russian money laundering operation? You’d think they would do their best to keep that shit running.
I think they intentionally go out of business before the Feds have a chance to investigate it.
They were actually fined for undeclared foreign transactions, but it was during their bankruptcy so it got mostly ignored by history
And you’d certainly want to keep your American fence on a tight leash for the foreseeable
What?
Absolutely not. Bankruptcy proceedings get your financial records gone over with a fine tooth comb. You need to keep your cover business healthy within reason to fly under the radar. You didn’t see the mob casinos going bankrupt.
Nah, nah, nah, see “Russian money laundering operations” is the synonym for the hotels and university.
I thought the consensus was that was money laundering?
I found this https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/politics/trump-taj-mahal/index.html
So it’s at least alleged and they paid to settle. But wouldn’t you want to keep your laundry working? Idk
They probably figured out better ways to do it through Trump org and not have to subject themselves to casino regulator investigations.
Do nothing, win!
As much as I don’t like the Chinese government for all the censorship and etc, they do really know what they’re doing in terms of managing the economy and the infrastructure it relies on, as far as I can tell. Including their education system, it’s fairly shocking how many of the top engineering and CS colleges are in China.
Censorship? Its rich talking censorship in China when America is one of the most propagandized nations in existence. If I was China I would also censor the fuck out of America.
Censorship and propaganda are different
What a weird comment to make
Both are tools to control the narrative.
But you can just talk about censorship in America
There different forms of censorship. Flooding the dominant platforms with the official message to obscure opposition opinions, shadowbanning posts, etc are softer forms of censorship but are still censorship. The rulership class is fine with people voicing their opinions if they feel it doesn’t threaten their power. They will crack down harder when that feeling changes.
America has both, so wtf you on about?
And so does China? Both are bad, it doesn’t have to be either or.
Exactly, so reply to the ones acting like America doesnt, not me
How does the US being full of propaganda change the fact that China has a lot of censorship?
Both can be true at the same time, you know…
Its almost like hegemonies and individual freedoms can be at odds with each other no matter what country it is.
How does the US having propaganda mean they dont have censorship? America literally has a fuckton of both.
Right and so does China, there’s nothing to defend here.
Yes, he is acting like America doesnt have censorship
I was gonna post that one but “What is this business strategy called” gets me every time
It’s called not being an utter moron.
It turns out that maximizing for shareholder profit isn’t a sustainable way to run a business, and it actually burns your company to the ground after a few short years.
Also, not being an insufferable douche-nozzle.
I love how everyone just sort of glazes over how astoundingly unpopular Steam was when it was first introduced.
I was one of them. They proved my fears unfounded (so far). They’ve also managed to convert me to a fanboy at some point. I realised I was playing a co-op game brought off steam, on my steam deck, via a steam link to the TV, and the wife using a steam controller.
I think steam is my favorite monopoly.
^Not saying it’s perfect. Just my favorite. I understand this might change at any time^
At least it’s only a monopoly because everyone else is apparently idiots when it comes to long term planning. I’m dreading the day when they turn to the dark side. Long away may it be.
Valve is Augustus Caesar: a benevolent dictator doing great things for their people. I’m afraid of what will happen when Gaben retires, how long will it take before we find gaming’s Nero?
All powered by a nuclear reactor that produces steam
It was unpopular cause it was kinda ass tbh.
I remember getting so frustrated when the downloads would just stop for no reason.
Art of the deal
Shart of the deal
Fart of the Seal.
You’re fucked when the other party has read it too.
I don’t think anyone needs to read his book up know he’s a fuck up. China doesn’t care how much we try and upset their apple cart, they aren’t going to play Trump’s game.
I was making a joke.
Yup. Donald Trump is a joke.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the fediverse that disagrees.
I found one hell bent on driving people to his side from the “no true Scotsman fallacy”.
china is well-versed in a different text, the art of war.
China hasn’t been involved in a war since its conflict with Vietnam in 1979, what are you talking about??
You say “too” here, but it’s doubtful that Trump has actually read his book.
He famously had it ghost written, but fucked up the deal hard enough that his ghost writer got full writing credit on the cover.
The Fart and The Squeal
Big flex from China. I’m waiting for a country to call trump’s bluff by putting an export tax on their own goods sent to the USA.
Canada should have done this on everything. If the Americans can afford the tariff then there is room for us to charge more. Not really but yeah should do it.
If only… America holds 20% of global purchasing power so an export tax like that would result in needing to lower local interest rates to boost domestic productivity, which would decrease foreign investment, eventually weakening the local currency.
It would be hilarious if a country that exports very little to nothing to the US did it to make a point though. Totally on board with that.
America
holdsheld 20% of global purchasing power…Truth be told, I think the only thing we really produced in the US was the US dollar. Sounds like it’s the number 1 export for the US, and trump just toppled demand for it.
Oh this makes so much sense, it really all boiled down to this.
China is already weakening their currency to keep their exports (worldwide) more attractive.
Or, they just pay the tariff themselves. Could you imagine China going, “Cool bro, we’ll just absorb the cost ourselves. Now what?”
I mean, that’s what trump said they would do. That would make him look like a genius.
a s̵͎̣̫̼͙̄͂̀̇̚ṱ̵̨͓̹̮̪̖͈̐̏̓̅̈́͗͂̓̕͘a̶̢͉̦͈̬͛̐̎̉b̶̭̝̈́͒̆̓̇̀͛͛͠͝͝l̶̬̥͙̗̪͈͖̜̗̮̆̀̅̓̍͑̍́̓̈e̶̡̛̦͓̰̭̘͆̏̊̉͘one
That wouldn’t really do much for China. The reason the tariffs hurt us is that we sent all our manufacturing to them (along with a few other countries). So the tariffs only make our stuff cost more. Footing the bill like that would just weaken China’s position.
What would happen is the US dollar would be weaker, profits selling to the US weakened. It would still harm us primarily.
His fanboys will praise his indecisiveness and claim it a victory regardless of the outcome
The Art of the Deal
Bankruptcy never tasted so good?
grift
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Trump never dropped tariffs on China, did he?
No they didn’t. This is in reference to the announced exceptions for electronics like phones, which is a pretty big category. That’s effectively dropping tariffs on a big chunk. That announcement was then unannounced by trump but who knows. The general perception is that trump wants tariffs but will fold when the economy catches fire and wants China to make a big deal with him so he can claim victory.
Depends on what you mean by drop. Is rolling back dropping? Is making exemptions dropping? Because both of those things have been done lol
I don’t think for China specifically, though?
The best next step:
China does nothing (keeps their tariffs)
That’s very possible. Trump gave them excuse to do this. They already set up a deal with Korea and Japan (and each two hate each other), and if they would set up a trade deal with EU then the US will be the only loser.
Trump really hurt US with the tariffs on everyone (except Russia, North Korea and Belarus)
best deal in the history of deals
Maybe ever…
I hope. I’ll miss my cheap goods but I have enough. I feel bad for young americans as cheap goods was one of the only perks left to living in this country.
Cheap gas I guess will be one of the last dominoes to fall. That, and the collapse of the petro-dollar system, will be the final nails in the coffin of our economy.
The shart of the deal.
The shart that is too real
Then everyone dumps on him, and he says the roll back was fake news and it’s still happening, but nobody even in the administration knows what’s going on.
but nobody even in the administration knows what’s going on.
“Least of all the horse.”
The horse… used the elevator? …I didn’t know he knew how to do that.
🤔 it’s almost like tarrifs were a bad idea.
