4 ms·

What's in there for Trump and his friends? There is no way they actually care about bringing back all sorts of sweatshops in the US, and that can't just be blin

by simgt 2y ago

What's in there for Trump and his friends? There is no way they actually care about bringing back all sorts of sweatshops in the US, and that can't just be blind nationalism. How do they personally benefit from that situation?

sinuhe69 2y ago
Loyalty and obedience is one possibility. Because if you lobby, your business can be exempted from the tariffs.
petesergeant 2y ago
For Trump this is a quasi-religious quest, that he’s been obsessed with since forever. For everyone else, there’s one or two nutty finance guys who believe in this shit and then exclusively yes men.
jmward01 2y ago
Trump has two basic strategies: 1) Double down because the one with the most money/power will eventually win with that strategy. 2) Bully everyone he thinks has less money/power than him so he can use strategy #1. The thing about the bully strategy number two though is that you have to keep using your power and keep it on display for it to work. That means he has to keep doing bully like things, over and over, no matter how dumb they are. The thing about strategy 1 is that you can never admit you were wrong/back down because then you loose all the doubling you have put in. We are seeing the result of these two simplistic strategies at play. He will only stop because it has all come crashing down and even then he will not back down. He has never had to use a different strategy because he has been rich his whole life. He has never once been 'smart', just rich and we are all paying the price of that as everyone else has his entire life.
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  In game theory, he’s grim trigger and it shows in multiple ways. I suppose we’ve never seen him forced to play a game in which he’s not allowed to change the rules.
  - ModernMech 2y ago
    That’s when war breaks out. If you can’t change the rules, just start lobbing bombs. People quickly forget about whatever it was that they were worried about before.
evrimoztamur 2y ago
I cannot (totally can) imagine the scale of the insider trading going on. There's many plays you can do before and after the policy shocks. Before, you can stock up on puts across various major equities. After, you can buy up cheap stocks and consolidate more capital in the hands of private equity. Trump seems to have been pro tariffs (for good reasons) since around forty years ago, so I think his misunderstood (no longer for good reasons, as globalism has since then established itself as the infrastructure) focus on tariffs is genuine. His friends, however, probably understood the situation better and capitalised immensely on his newfound power and intent. The rich is going to continue getting richer by playing the game at tables you're not allowed to. The true scale of the corruption and insider trading will become apparent soon enough, but we may have to wait until the next president comes along for investigations to pick up pace.
j4coh 2y ago
They can move the market with an announcement. If you have that power it’s quite easy to make money.
KennyBlanken 2y ago
While the market was burning to the ground on Friday he headed off to play golf and then attend multiple campaign fundraisers where it's estimated he brings in $20M per night. That doesn't count all the money he's raking in by forcing the republican party to host events at his properties, where he effectively launders campaign donation to the party into his coffers. Between that and the crypto scams, likely insider trading going on we don't know about because nobody's home at the SEC or FBI - I would guess that his plan is simply to accumulate oligarch-level wealth so he's well positioned for the coming oligarchy. He's also extorted his way into hundreds of millions of dollars in legal representation. I imagine that is case people in his administration find themselves facing criminal charges...or to disrupt/challenge as many elections as he can through endless legal challenges.
Auracle 2y ago
He has literally been taking about this since the 80’s. Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible that he’s doing things because he thinks they’re good for the country and its people. Hell, considering he’s not a career politician it’s probably generally more likely he’s doing it for those reasons than most in his position.
- grayhatter 2y ago
  I'm not sure I can believe narcissists do things for the good of others. They lack for the capacity to even consider others, let alone make plans and decisions, putting the interests of others above their own. > Hell, considering he’s not a career politician it’s probably generally more likely he’s doing it for those reasons than most in his position. that's some prescription strength copium you're passing around there... where'd you get it?
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    At that age, it could also be about legacy. A narcissist reason, but not directly personal wealth. Instead to be seen as great stateman that fixed the country. Made it great again. Now the approach is probably incorrect, but it is not that weird goal considering whole world history.

by simgt 2y ago

sinuhe69 2y ago

Loyalty and obedience is one possibility. Because if you lobby, your business can be exempted from the tariffs.

petesergeant 2y ago

For Trump this is a quasi-religious quest, that he’s been obsessed with since forever. For everyone else, there’s one or two nutty finance guys who believe in this shit and then exclusively yes men.

jmward01 2y ago

Trump has two basic strategies: 1) Double down because the one with the most money/power will eventually win with that strategy. 2) Bully everyone he thinks has less money/power than him so he can use strategy #1. The thing about the bully strategy number two though is that you have to keep using your power and keep it on display for it to work. That means he has to keep doing bully like things, over and over, no matter how dumb they are. The thing about strategy 1 is that you can never admit you were wrong/back down because then you loose all the doubling you have put in. We are seeing the result of these two simplistic strategies at play. He will only stop because it has all come crashing down and even then he will not back down. He has never had to use a different strategy because he has been rich his whole life. He has never once been 'smart', just rich and we are all paying the price of that as everyone else has his entire life.

ttyprintk 2y ago
In game theory, he’s grim trigger and it shows in multiple ways. I suppose we’ve never seen him forced to play a game in which he’s not allowed to change the rules.
- ModernMech 2y ago
  That’s when war breaks out. If you can’t change the rules, just start lobbing bombs. People quickly forget about whatever it was that they were worried about before.

evrimoztamur 2y ago

I cannot (totally can) imagine the scale of the insider trading going on. There's many plays you can do before and after the policy shocks. Before, you can stock up on puts across various major equities. After, you can buy up cheap stocks and consolidate more capital in the hands of private equity. Trump seems to have been pro tariffs (for good reasons) since around forty years ago, so I think his misunderstood (no longer for good reasons, as globalism has since then established itself as the infrastructure) focus on tariffs is genuine. His friends, however, probably understood the situation better and capitalised immensely on his newfound power and intent. The rich is going to continue getting richer by playing the game at tables you're not allowed to. The true scale of the corruption and insider trading will become apparent soon enough, but we may have to wait until the next president comes along for investigations to pick up pace.

j4coh 2y ago

They can move the market with an announcement. If you have that power it’s quite easy to make money.

KennyBlanken 2y ago

While the market was burning to the ground on Friday he headed off to play golf and then attend multiple campaign fundraisers where it's estimated he brings in $20M per night. That doesn't count all the money he's raking in by forcing the republican party to host events at his properties, where he effectively launders campaign donation to the party into his coffers. Between that and the crypto scams, likely insider trading going on we don't know about because nobody's home at the SEC or FBI - I would guess that his plan is simply to accumulate oligarch-level wealth so he's well positioned for the coming oligarchy. He's also extorted his way into hundreds of millions of dollars in legal representation. I imagine that is case people in his administration find themselves facing criminal charges...or to disrupt/challenge as many elections as he can through endless legal challenges.

Auracle 2y ago

He has literally been taking about this since the 80’s. Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible that he’s doing things because he thinks they’re good for the country and its people. Hell, considering he’s not a career politician it’s probably generally more likely he’s doing it for those reasons than most in his position.

grayhatter 2y ago
I'm not sure I can believe narcissists do things for the good of others. They lack for the capacity to even consider others, let alone make plans and decisions, putting the interests of others above their own. > Hell, considering he’s not a career politician it’s probably generally more likely he’s doing it for those reasons than most in his position. that's some prescription strength copium you're passing around there... where'd you get it?
- Ekaros 2y ago
  At that age, it could also be about legacy. A narcissist reason, but not directly personal wealth. Instead to be seen as great stateman that fixed the country. Made it great again. Now the approach is probably incorrect, but it is not that weird goal considering whole world history.