This is going badly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Cambodia bent the knee. This was all worth it 💀

But the penguins are holding out! And Chagos Island, where the only residents are US Navy personnel? They are Team Penguin!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

and you believe this domestic manufacturing boom will manifest itself within what time frame?

It could take years. It’ll be painful but it will make us stronger. Our kids will thank us.
We have been through recessions before and came out stronger. Why are people so scared?

NP. You don't understand that manufacturing ended up in SE Asia because it was cheaper. This was beneficial for the US consumer. "Bringing manufacturing back" will mean that products will cost 5-10x to produce.

It will cost 5-10x more but will be better quality and last longer.
The American dream wasn’t about cheap Chinese products.
Americans will pay more for good quality US made products.

My family buys American-made goods whenever we can because we are a union family. For example, we only buy American cars. In that respect, we are more patriotic than most MAGA who purport to be more patriotic than anyone else. But the vast majority of Americans are so used to all the cheap crap they buy at Target, Amazon, Walmart, and the like that your "dream" will never be a reality. Our whole economy is BASED ON consumer consumption of lots of cheap crap. What do you think is going to replace that? You can't put the genie back in the bottle and start asking people to buy things that will cost "5-10x more" as you blithely suggest.

Of course the goal isn’t to replace the cheap crap. The new economy will be based on consumer consumption of few good quality stuffs. Yes, you can ask people to buy things that will cost more. They have no other choices because the cheap crap will be gone. Older generations did it and life was good in America.

As a minimalist this is the only upside I see. I absolutely hate cheap plastic crap in goodie bags, fast fashion, the dollar section at Target, any sort of “shopping spree,” etc.

But I grew up in a red state and know many Trumpers who are all about new new new tchotchkes. Must have Home Goods holiday decor, Hobby Lobby signs, Target and Starbies runs, etc.

My life will plug along just fine without all this crap. I already have nice hand me downs for my kids (I live in a $$$ zip code where people give away quality kids clothes), I buy natural fiber eco-friendly clothes (I prefer fewer nicer items), and I don’t do cheap plastic junk. But boy are these moms who love to share their “hauls” and presents piled under the Christmas tree on social media going to have an identity crisis lol.

Seriously, Walmart is based in a red state. Middle America loves Walmart and cheap stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

No one in my family who voted for Trump owns any stocks

For all the rich Democrats panicking today- you now know how it must have felt

When Jimmy Carter destroyed 400,000 trucking jobs

When Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, shipping jobs to Mexico and Canada, causing industry to board up in the middle of the country, left to rot

When he deregulated the finance industry and lead us to the 2008 housing crisis

And

When Obama told us: “sorry, some jobs just aren’t coming back”

If you see this post, I hope you look in the mirror at some point today and recognize the destruction your own party has played in the lives of working class Americans

This is what liberation day is all about

No one is going to weep for your stock portfolio

Where were you when we lost our American dream?

I grew up blue collar broke in rural nowhere. Reagan was the OG deregulator. And Reagan fired 11,000 striking federal employees - and then banned them for life from ever working for the federal government again. Unions are the lifeline of blue collar workers.

And speaking of unions and labor, workers have a right to organize, but Co-Presidents Trump and Musk did a podcast together before the election where they laughed about (illegally) busting unions. Tell me again about helping workers?

My blue collar family has always been and still is filled with democrats because they know republicans cut taxes for the wealthiest in this country. And while they’re at it, they take away protections from workers. I have lost count of how often I’ve heard Mitch McConnell mutter the phrase “job-killing regulations”. You know what those regulations do? The give you a lunch break. They give you a hard hat if needed. They make the coal mines get inspected to be sure the silica dust is kept to a minimum so you can breathe. Or they used to, because doge is coming for that too, or haven’t you heard?

And while we’re at it, re: 2008 collapse, remind me who was in office Jan 2001-Jan 2009?

+1 Reagan started the precursor of NAFTA with the maquiladora

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement

The impetus for a North American free trade zone began with U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who made the idea part of his 1980 presidential campaign. After the signing of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988, the administrations of U.S. president George H. W. Bush, Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney agreed to negotiate what became NAFTA. Each submitted the agreement for ratification in their respective capitals in December 1992, but NAFTA faced significant opposition in both the United States and Canada. All three countries ratified NAFTA in 1993 after the addition of two side agreements, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).

My dad's factory closed during the 80s and went to MX. Unions protested it, but Reagan's admin said it would be good for the US, just like Trump is saying tariffs will be good for the US.

[Anonymous]

correction: financial common sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

No one in my family who voted for Trump owns any stocks

For all the rich Democrats panicking today- you now know how it must have felt

When Jimmy Carter destroyed 400,000 trucking jobs

When Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, shipping jobs to Mexico and Canada, causing industry to board up in the middle of the country, left to rot

When he deregulated the finance industry and lead us to the 2008 housing crisis

And

When Obama told us: “sorry, some jobs just aren’t coming back”

If you see this post, I hope you look in the mirror at some point today and recognize the destruction your own party has played in the lives of working class Americans

This is what liberation day is all about

No one is going to weep for your stock portfolio

Where were you when we lost our American dream?

"When he deregulated the finance industry and lead us to the 2008 housing crisis "

YUP.

Guess who that was? Bill Clinton's Secretary of HUD, Andrew Cuomo (D-Idiot).

And guess which party held the Presidency from 2001-2008 (the Republicans, who have proven to be idiots over and over and over...)

BTW, I'm guessing you're for THIS regulation but against all other regulations, right?

I'm against extending mortgages to people who cannot afford them and don't have common financial sense. You do not have a "right" to a house.

President Bush publicly called for GSE reform 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted. Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President's repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.

https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080919-15.html

It sounds like you're pro-regulation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’m genuinely curious. When he said this was what he would do, did you not believe him?

OP here. Sort of. A lot of this is stuff that I knew he'd find appealing, but the guy says a lot of stuff that isn't true-- mexico paying for it and all that. Plus, for all his faults, I did think that he was sort of correct in his complaint that he was constantly stymied in his first term by entrenched power structures that hated him and thought he was a joke. Tbh, I still think that. The fact that a huge share of the country called themselves the Resistance-- as though they were standing up to tanks in the streets of 1968 Prague-- was sort of absurd, and I thought it was revealing that so many members of our social elite were like "yeah, that's a reasonable thing to do."

This time though it seems different. It seems like he's able to do a lot more of the stuff he said he'd do. But he's also not doing some of the better stuff he said he would. So from my vantage point, a big vibe I got from his campaign was that he would be pragmatic and approach even some Dems to high-level positions (which he did, I guess) and avoid weapon using the justice system. The hardcore small-government shtick and the EOs though all seem like he's just out for blood.

Perhaps you would like to consider that all of those people simply saw the writing on the wall and you did not.

From your posts, you seem to think you are a reasonable and intelligent person. Are you also capable of self-reflection?

OP here. I guess I think I'm reasonable and maybe intelligent, but that wasn't the thrust of the post. As for your question though, even with the benefit of hindsight, the resistance thing still strikes me (and I think many people) as ridiculous. Whatever his personal wishes, trump simply does not have enough control over any institution that counts to be anything even remotely approaching a dictator. I get that he may well like the aesthetics, and he's definitely way too close to a wannabe authoritarian for my comfort, but it always struck me (and still does strike me) as insensitive to pretend like it's the same experience to be a Democrat under Trump as it is to be a dissident under Ceausescu or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

and you believe this domestic manufacturing boom will manifest itself within what time frame?

It could take years. It’ll be painful but it will make us stronger. Our kids will thank us.
We have been through recessions before and came out stronger. Why are people so scared?

NP. You don't understand that manufacturing ended up in SE Asia because it was cheaper. This was beneficial for the US consumer. "Bringing manufacturing back" will mean that products will cost 5-10x to produce.

It will cost 5-10x more but will be better quality and last longer.
The American dream wasn’t about cheap Chinese products.
Americans will pay more for good quality US made products.

Please, the American Dream is more crap, not better quality. Why do you think the dollar store and Walmart do well with middle America?

Well, middle America had been sold a fake American Dream by you Democrats.
MAGA is promising us a better American Dream without the cheap craps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

and you believe this domestic manufacturing boom will manifest itself within what time frame?

It could take years. It’ll be painful but it will make us stronger. Our kids will thank us.
We have been through recessions before and came out stronger. Why are people so scared?

NP. You don't understand that manufacturing ended up in SE Asia because it was cheaper. This was beneficial for the US consumer. "Bringing manufacturing back" will mean that products will cost 5-10x to produce.

It will cost 5-10x more but will be better quality and last longer.
The American dream wasn’t about cheap Chinese products.
Americans will pay more for good quality US made products.

Please, the American Dream is more crap, not better quality. Why do you think the dollar store and Walmart do well with middle America?

Well, middle America had been sold a fake American Dream by you Democrats.
MAGA is promising us a better American Dream without the cheap craps.

Sounds legit. Thanks for the deep thoughts...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’m genuinely curious. When he said this was what he would do, did you not believe him?

OP here. Sort of. A lot of this is stuff that I knew he'd find appealing, but the guy says a lot of stuff that isn't true-- mexico paying for it and all that. Plus, for all his faults, I did think that he was sort of correct in his complaint that he was constantly stymied in his first term by entrenched power structures that hated him and thought he was a joke. Tbh, I still think that. The fact that a huge share of the country called themselves the Resistance-- as though they were standing up to tanks in the streets of 1968 Prague-- was sort of absurd, and I thought it was revealing that so many members of our social elite were like "yeah, that's a reasonable thing to do."

This time though it seems different. It seems like he's able to do a lot more of the stuff he said he'd do. But he's also not doing some of the better stuff he said he would. So from my vantage point, a big vibe I got from his campaign was that he would be pragmatic and approach even some Dems to high-level positions (which he did, I guess) and avoid weapon using the justice system. The hardcore small-government shtick and the EOs though all seem like he's just out for blood.

Interesting thought exercise: would we all have been better off if everyone had just let Trump be Trump in the first term without all the bumpers and guardrails?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

Manufacturing jobs were coming back under Biden - a quarter of a million of them - without trashing the world economy and pissing off all of our allies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’m genuinely curious. When he said this was what he would do, did you not believe him?

OP here. Sort of. A lot of this is stuff that I knew he'd find appealing, but the guy says a lot of stuff that isn't true-- mexico paying for it and all that. Plus, for all his faults, I did think that he was sort of correct in his complaint that he was constantly stymied in his first term by entrenched power structures that hated him and thought he was a joke. Tbh, I still think that. The fact that a huge share of the country called themselves the Resistance-- as though they were standing up to tanks in the streets of 1968 Prague-- was sort of absurd, and I thought it was revealing that so many members of our social elite were like "yeah, that's a reasonable thing to do."

This time though it seems different. It seems like he's able to do a lot more of the stuff he said he'd do. But he's also not doing some of the better stuff he said he would. So from my vantage point, a big vibe I got from his campaign was that he would be pragmatic and approach even some Dems to high-level positions (which he did, I guess) and avoid weapon using the justice system. The hardcore small-government shtick and the EOs though all seem like he's just out for blood.

Interesting thought exercise: would we all have been better off if everyone had just let Trump be Trump in the first term without all the bumpers and guardrails?

Exactly! Don’t you get it? That Resistance was trying to stop what is happening now. Part of the problem is that people were too good at reining him in so the republicans actually thought he did a good job, rather than understand that the “adults in the room” were preventing him from doing…well…(*gestures helplessly at the whole world*).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’m genuinely curious. When he said this was what he would do, did you not believe him?

OP here. Sort of. A lot of this is stuff that I knew he'd find appealing, but the guy says a lot of stuff that isn't true-- mexico paying for it and all that. Plus, for all his faults, I did think that he was sort of correct in his complaint that he was constantly stymied in his first term by entrenched power structures that hated him and thought he was a joke. Tbh, I still think that. The fact that a huge share of the country called themselves the Resistance-- as though they were standing up to tanks in the streets of 1968 Prague-- was sort of absurd, and I thought it was revealing that so many members of our social elite were like "yeah, that's a reasonable thing to do."

This time though it seems different. It seems like he's able to do a lot more of the stuff he said he'd do. But he's also not doing some of the better stuff he said he would. So from my vantage point, a big vibe I got from his campaign was that he would be pragmatic and approach even some Dems to high-level positions (which he did, I guess) and avoid weapon using the justice system. The hardcore small-government shtick and the EOs though all seem like he's just out for blood.

Perhaps you would like to consider that all of those people simply saw the writing on the wall and you did not.

From your posts, you seem to think you are a reasonable and intelligent person. Are you also capable of self-reflection?

OP here. I guess I think I'm reasonable and maybe intelligent, but that wasn't the thrust of the post. As for your question though, even with the benefit of hindsight, the resistance thing still strikes me (and I think many people) as ridiculous. Whatever his personal wishes, trump simply does not have enough control over any institution that counts to be anything even remotely approaching a dictator. I get that he may well like the aesthetics, and he's definitely way too close to a wannabe authoritarian for my comfort, but it always struck me (and still does strike me) as insensitive to pretend like it's the same experience to be a Democrat under Trump as it is to be a dissident under Ceausescu or something.

It’s precisely because of the resistance from both Republicans and Democrats during the first term that he didn’t wreck this country.

Don’t you see what is happening now when there is less resistance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

and you believe this domestic manufacturing boom will manifest itself within what time frame?

It could take years. It’ll be painful but it will make us stronger. Our kids will thank us.
We have been through recessions before and came out stronger. Why are people so scared?

NP. You don't understand that manufacturing ended up in SE Asia because it was cheaper. This was beneficial for the US consumer. "Bringing manufacturing back" will mean that products will cost 5-10x to produce.

It will cost 5-10x more but will be better quality and last longer.
The American dream wasn’t about cheap Chinese products.
Americans will pay more for good quality US made products.

This is crazy. You all just spent four straight years b**ching and moaning about high prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s going great, sorry you can’t comprehend the big picture.

It’s way too early to claim anything is going great. One fact is in his first term he could brag about the stock market and people’s 401k accounts doing well. This second term he refuses to admit the stock market drastic dive is a problem. He likes to ignore it.

And as maga has been trained to do, they still believe what comes out of his mouth. Trump tells them, “the big picture” is waiting for trillions of dollars coming in to the country from charging struggling African and South East Asian countries massive tariffs. We’re gonna be rich!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Trump, but I also very much dislike the Democrats. It'd be too strong to say I was rooting for Trump or that I thought he'd to a good job, but I thought there was a *chance* he'd do a good job, and, for the sake of the country, I was really hoping he would. I didn't vote for him, but I also never seriously considered voting for Harris or Biden. I thought Trump's first term was at moments scary but overall pretty good.

With the wind-up, let me say: geez Louise this is going shittily.

You are missing the big picture. It’s bad for Wall Street. But this is going great if you are from Main Street.
No pain, no gain. Finally a president who is fighting for main street.
Manufacturing jobs will have to come back to the US. If these corporations don’t do it, they will keep watching their stock prices sinking.

and you believe this domestic manufacturing boom will manifest itself within what time frame?

It could take years. It’ll be painful but it will make us stronger. Our kids will thank us.
We have been through recessions before and came out stronger. Why are people so scared?

NP. You don't understand that manufacturing ended up in SE Asia because it was cheaper. This was beneficial for the US consumer. "Bringing manufacturing back" will mean that products will cost 5-10x to produce.

It will cost 5-10x more but will be better quality and last longer.
The American dream wasn’t about cheap Chinese products.
Americans will pay more for good quality US made products.

Please, the American Dream is more crap, not better quality. Why do you think the dollar store and Walmart do well with middle America?

Well, middle America had been sold a fake American Dream by you Democrats.
MAGA is promising us a better American Dream without the cheap craps.

Have you travelled outside the country? Every country has stores filled with cheap crap. It’s a global economy. Plus Trump’s tariffs are not about American made stuff or improving American lives—it’s about power and control for him.