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The tariffs are already showing dents in Trumps personality cult. More Republicans are standing up to him over this in the Senate, house will follow as it becom

by sidibe 2y ago

The tariffs are already showing dents in Trumps personality cult. More Republicans are standing up to him over this in the Senate, house will follow as it becomes harder to deny he's not a great businessman or negotiator. Retaliating is the correct move from other countries, groveling to this kind of leader will just lead to getting bullied more in the future. And unlike with Russia you can almost count on him losing power if you push back.

vdupras 2y ago
/5d chess mode on What if Trump wants and expect some kind of coup attempt ("losing power"), a kind of Reichstag fire, in order to consolidate it? Trump's action appear self-destructive when you consider them in the context of normalcy, but if you consider that he intends to catapult the US outside normalcy, these actions might make sense.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  "Losing power" in this context looks like Republicans in Congress not voting in lockstep to back Trump. It's hard to make a Reichstag fire out of that. (I mean, Trump could yell at his base that "They're not backing me 100%! That's treason!", but that boils down to "I am the state", and I suspect that at least some of his base won't buy it. I don't see, short of a real shooting civil war, how he can turn this into consolidating power.)
  - ytpete 2y ago
    I agree Congress reasserting power over tariffs (or budget) is not going to give Trump any leverage like that. But I do think he could, and would, try to make a "Reichstag fire" over any kind of mass protest moment. During the BLM protests, he wanted to send the military in to take over Democratic-led cities. He toyed with declaring martial law if protests related to the 2020 election became violent. Any whiff of clashes with counterprotestors, or with police, or even property vandalism... any of that would be just the excuse he's looking for. The question isn't whether he'd try to use the excuse to grab more power, it's whether the people around him would push back like last term, or cave in and let him do it this time.

by sidibe 2y ago

vdupras 2y ago

/5d chess mode on What if Trump wants and expect some kind of coup attempt ("losing power"), a kind of Reichstag fire, in order to consolidate it? Trump's action appear self-destructive when you consider them in the context of normalcy, but if you consider that he intends to catapult the US outside normalcy, these actions might make sense.

AnimalMuppet 2y ago
"Losing power" in this context looks like Republicans in Congress not voting in lockstep to back Trump. It's hard to make a Reichstag fire out of that. (I mean, Trump could yell at his base that "They're not backing me 100%! That's treason!", but that boils down to "I am the state", and I suspect that at least some of his base won't buy it. I don't see, short of a real shooting civil war, how he can turn this into consolidating power.)
- ytpete 2y ago
  I agree Congress reasserting power over tariffs (or budget) is not going to give Trump any leverage like that. But I do think he could, and would, try to make a "Reichstag fire" over any kind of mass protest moment. During the BLM protests, he wanted to send the military in to take over Democratic-led cities. He toyed with declaring martial law if protests related to the 2020 election became violent. Any whiff of clashes with counterprotestors, or with police, or even property vandalism... any of that would be just the excuse he's looking for. The question isn't whether he'd try to use the excuse to grab more power, it's whether the people around him would push back like last term, or cave in and let him do it this time.