> We can argue about the merits of his plan, but dismissing him and his advisors as stupid or insane is underestimating them.
Pretending the man didn't repeatedly bankrupt his own companies and stiff his vendors is underestimating him. We've decades worth of knowledge about how "his plan" goes.
Exactly. He has run a lot of businesses in the past, with consistent results. When running the US, he'll apply similar strategies, and we'll have a similar result.
It is absolutely not textbook. It is massively self-destructive. In no universe is this a win.
This is a retreat by Trump. It's him losing. It makes him look like a joke. Or, more correctly, more like a joke.
Trump desperately wants tariffs. He thinks they're free money. He has been saying this for years and still people desperately try to sane wash it into some masterful 4D chess. The only reason this laughable 90-day pause happened is because the US house of cards is on the precipice of absolute collapse, so Trump had to bow into Bessent's attempts to turn this into some sort of China containment.
So are all those factories coming back...or aren't they? Are tariffs going to replace income tax, or aren't they? Something something war with China. Just absolute insanity by a group of charlatans, self dealers and clowns who have no idea what they're doing.
On the contrary, I think he got everyone's attention and they're coming to the bargaining table willing to make a good deal for the US. It's exactly the tactics espoused in Art of the Deal.
I think there are two things at play here.
1) Narrow the gap between the wealthy and the rest: attempt to reduce the US public sector, backtrack on globalization, and enact policies to benefit the median American, not the mean American [1].
2) Prepare the US for possible conflict with China (maybe over Taiwan) and avoid supply chain disruption that would make Covid look mild.
I think both of these things are sensible positions to take.
When you look at it through this lens, it starts to have some logic to it. Again we can debate the merits and drawbacks of this strategy, but I think it's what is behind everything. Things like his stance on Panama start to fit into the picture when you look at it this way.
It is not the actions of someone stupid or insane.
Eliminating entitlements and deregulating (particularly consumer protection) is not a great way to narrow the wealth gap. Nor is semi-firing the federal workforce and advocating for onshoring of unskilled jobs. Nor is demanding interest rate cuts. Nor is treating the stock market like a yo-yo. Nor is ignoring people without medical insurance. Nor is attempting to eliminate social security.
This could absolutely be all about asserting dominance over China. It could be a great way to deter or blunt the threat of war. It might backfire horribly. We shall see.
He is stupid. You just have to listen to him speak to understand that. But he doesn't invent policy, he has people for that.
Absolutely nothing was accomplished but the undermining of the US as a stable partner. US treasuries and the US dollar both have taken a colossal hit that is going to reverberate into much greater consequences. It is the hit on TBills that forced Trump's retreat, which his weird cult now need to spin into some 4D chess.
Like, listen to what Trump himself says to justify the pause-
He's not unstable, just very aggressive. He did have a plan.
We can argue about the merits of his plan, but dismissing him and his advisors as stupid or insane is underestimating them.