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It's not even a week since Secretary of Commerce Lutnick was explaining how he wants to bring back millions of jobs 'screwing the little screws in iPhones' to A

It's not even a week since Secretary of Commerce Lutnick was explaining how he wants to bring back millions of jobs 'screwing the little screws in iPhones' to Amercia ? There is really a good chance that we will develop a deep understanding of how the French Revolution happened and why they went straight to guillotines.

kristopolous 2y ago
They gave every strong indication of their incompetence possible - over years. A bunch of people said "yay for incompetence" and here we are. These are the people who score in the bottom 20% and make up conspiracy theories on how they were right and it's the establishment who's wrong. Any random person waiting at a bus stop would likely have managed things better.
- TheAlchemist 2y ago
  It's not that they are managing it badly that I'm talking about. It's that they manage it in a way to maximize their personal profits, with an absolute disregard of the ordinary folks. Tariffs are one example - none of it makes sense, but companies still pay millions for a 'dinner at Mar-a-Lago' to get a favorable treatment. What's hapening with law firms is even more disgusting. I get the feeling that a lot of Democrats and 'real' Republicans thinks that he will get what he wants and then they just wait out 4 years. It's an almost 80 years narcissist, who doesn't care about people nor law, and who dreams about becoming a King. It only gets worse from here, not better.
  - kristopolous 2y ago
    If that was the case there'd be more coherency. There's these days where multiple people are asked a question, each answer is a shocking departure from policy and they all contradict and then an administrator comes out and is like "you're going to bring mining the global supply for rare earth minerals to Ohio?! Geology does not support you my good man". So not even cynicism is supported by the evidence. I mean they're also pillaging of course. Incompetent And malice. Both are possible
lo_zamoyski 2y ago
The idea that you could "bring industry back" into the US with blanket tariffs is delusional and demonstrates a complete ignorance of the complexity of economic ecosystems and industrial culture. It takes a long time for sustained expertise and the needed supply chains to grow and form and mature in an economy. You could argue that perhaps a selective application of tariffs might help the formation of such domestic industry, but tariffs are not something to wield lightly.
belter 2y ago
“I don’t know how you can be that stupid. How do you get to be president and then you’re stupid?” - Donald Trump (actual quote)
stevenwoo 2y ago
They just spouted two different justifications, jobs will come back to America, and robots will do the jobs. I guess the most generous explanation is jobs for people making robots in America by combining the two separate statements, but that's not even close to what they said.
- shoo 2y ago
  they're manoeuvring to win the vote of American manufacturing robots for 2028. suffrage for manufacturing robots is something the far left & far right could both support, although there may be some disagreement over if the robots themselves or their owners should be allocated the votes.
9283409232 2y ago
Nothing about the tariffs make any sense. The want to use the tariffs to negotiate with countries but also say they want to use tariffs to bring back manufacturing. If you are using tariffs to negotiate then once the country gives you what you want, you have to lift the tariff thus the free market keeping manufacturing overseas. If you want to bring back manufacturing then you can't use the tariff to negotiate. I am genuinely at a loss at how his supporters don't understand this.
- stevage 2y ago
  Not to mention no one is investing in manufacturing if the economic conditions to support it get changed every day or two.
  - Animats 2y ago
    Which is the biggest flaw in all this. If the goal was to bring consumer electronics manufacturing back to the US, adding a tariff that goes up every quarter would make sense. People could make plans and build factories. YC might even fund something. Trump doesn't have the authority to set permanent tariffs. All this is being done as a temporary measure under the Emergency Economic Powers Act, which is for wars. These backdoor tariffs are being challenged in court, and there's a good chance of the plaintiffs winning.[1] For tariffs to stick, Congress has to do it. The Constitution gives Congress sole power over tariffs. There's a long-term track on this, going through the US Trade Representative's office, with Federal Register notices and public comments. Last week Greer was up on Capitol Hill testifying before a congressional committee. That's the normal path by which tariff changes are made. Greer is so out of the loop that he hadn't been told about the big tariff on China. That change came out while he was in front of the committee. He was publicly humiliated. Which means he can't do his job of negotiating with other countries on behalf of the US. Greer may quit. When you dig into this, you don't find "4D chess". [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/04/10/can-trumps-tariffs-be-undone-in-court-why-even-some-conservatives-argue-he-exceeded-authority/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/04/10/can-tru...
- latexr 2y ago
  > I am genuinely at a loss at how his supporters don't understand this. His supporters value blind loyalty and obedience, not logic. They don’t stand for themselves, they stand against others. They’ll gladly suffer if they think the other side is getting it worse. They’re the perfect target to be exploited.
dyauspitr 2y ago
It’s the looting of America while they use the same old racial ideologies so their supporters don’t break rank even under abuse.
- atomicnumber3 2y ago
  Racism is a tool wielded by the owner class to divide workers as they wage class warfare against them. The grassroots development of class consciousness and a united working class is our only way out of this.
  - ysofunny 2y ago
    if you were in Russia in the late XIX century then yes but history learns (this is also why we cannot ever have another revolutionary hero, nor another french revolution) so no. class consciousness and a united "working class" will not help us anymore. a lot has changed since those ideas made sense
    - atomicnumber3 2y ago
      Like what?
senderista 2y ago
The French Revolution didn’t go “straight to guillotines”, not even close.
- benoau 2y ago
  Had to lynch a lot of people first! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_la_lanterne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_la_lanterne
- karaterobot 2y ago
  I cannot tell what point you're making here. Why is this important to say?
  - benoau 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact-checking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact-checking
  - henryway 2y ago
    I cannot tell either. It seems to be a potentially well-intended remark about correcting an inaccurate historical analogy to the current U.S. national leadership. It may be important to remark upon potentially inaccurate information, even if in the comments section of an Internet forum, because otherwise more people will have a wrong impression of the French Revolution and the role of guillotines. When they go to watch Les Miserables they will also be surprised. This last remark was unimportant and for that, I deeply apologize.
  - SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
    The original comment was based on a popular but wildly inaccurate summary of the French Revolution, where the average Joes got increasingly fed up with their rich oppressors and eventually decided to execute them. The revolutionaries never adopted a general policy that rich oppressors should face death, and most people who got guillotined were average Joes who ended up on the wrong side of some political dispute or another.
  - senderista 2y ago
refurb 2y ago
The French Revolution was against the establishment. I wouldn’t argue Trump represents the establishment.

kristopolous 2y ago

They gave every strong indication of their incompetence possible - over years. A bunch of people said "yay for incompetence" and here we are. These are the people who score in the bottom 20% and make up conspiracy theories on how they were right and it's the establishment who's wrong. Any random person waiting at a bus stop would likely have managed things better.

TheAlchemist 2y ago
It's not that they are managing it badly that I'm talking about. It's that they manage it in a way to maximize their personal profits, with an absolute disregard of the ordinary folks. Tariffs are one example - none of it makes sense, but companies still pay millions for a 'dinner at Mar-a-Lago' to get a favorable treatment. What's hapening with law firms is even more disgusting. I get the feeling that a lot of Democrats and 'real' Republicans thinks that he will get what he wants and then they just wait out 4 years. It's an almost 80 years narcissist, who doesn't care about people nor law, and who dreams about becoming a King. It only gets worse from here, not better.
- kristopolous 2y ago
  If that was the case there'd be more coherency. There's these days where multiple people are asked a question, each answer is a shocking departure from policy and they all contradict and then an administrator comes out and is like "you're going to bring mining the global supply for rare earth minerals to Ohio?! Geology does not support you my good man". So not even cynicism is supported by the evidence. I mean they're also pillaging of course. Incompetent And malice. Both are possible

lo_zamoyski 2y ago

The idea that you could "bring industry back" into the US with blanket tariffs is delusional and demonstrates a complete ignorance of the complexity of economic ecosystems and industrial culture. It takes a long time for sustained expertise and the needed supply chains to grow and form and mature in an economy. You could argue that perhaps a selective application of tariffs might help the formation of such domestic industry, but tariffs are not something to wield lightly.

belter 2y ago

“I don’t know how you can be that stupid. How do you get to be president and then you’re stupid?” - Donald Trump (actual quote)

stevenwoo 2y ago

They just spouted two different justifications, jobs will come back to America, and robots will do the jobs. I guess the most generous explanation is jobs for people making robots in America by combining the two separate statements, but that's not even close to what they said.

shoo 2y ago
they're manoeuvring to win the vote of American manufacturing robots for 2028. suffrage for manufacturing robots is something the far left & far right could both support, although there may be some disagreement over if the robots themselves or their owners should be allocated the votes.

9283409232 2y ago

Nothing about the tariffs make any sense. The want to use the tariffs to negotiate with countries but also say they want to use tariffs to bring back manufacturing. If you are using tariffs to negotiate then once the country gives you what you want, you have to lift the tariff thus the free market keeping manufacturing overseas. If you want to bring back manufacturing then you can't use the tariff to negotiate. I am genuinely at a loss at how his supporters don't understand this.

stevage 2y ago
Not to mention no one is investing in manufacturing if the economic conditions to support it get changed every day or two.
- Animats 2y ago
  Which is the biggest flaw in all this. If the goal was to bring consumer electronics manufacturing back to the US, adding a tariff that goes up every quarter would make sense. People could make plans and build factories. YC might even fund something. Trump doesn't have the authority to set permanent tariffs. All this is being done as a temporary measure under the Emergency Economic Powers Act, which is for wars. These backdoor tariffs are being challenged in court, and there's a good chance of the plaintiffs winning.[1] For tariffs to stick, Congress has to do it. The Constitution gives Congress sole power over tariffs. There's a long-term track on this, going through the US Trade Representative's office, with Federal Register notices and public comments. Last week Greer was up on Capitol Hill testifying before a congressional committee. That's the normal path by which tariff changes are made. Greer is so out of the loop that he hadn't been told about the big tariff on China. That change came out while he was in front of the committee. He was publicly humiliated. Which means he can't do his job of negotiating with other countries on behalf of the US. Greer may quit. When you dig into this, you don't find "4D chess". [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/04/10/can-trumps-tariffs-be-undone-in-court-why-even-some-conservatives-argue-he-exceeded-authority/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/04/10/can-tru...
latexr 2y ago
> I am genuinely at a loss at how his supporters don't understand this. His supporters value blind loyalty and obedience, not logic. They don’t stand for themselves, they stand against others. They’ll gladly suffer if they think the other side is getting it worse. They’re the perfect target to be exploited.

dyauspitr 2y ago

It’s the looting of America while they use the same old racial ideologies so their supporters don’t break rank even under abuse.

atomicnumber3 2y ago
Racism is a tool wielded by the owner class to divide workers as they wage class warfare against them. The grassroots development of class consciousness and a united working class is our only way out of this.
- ysofunny 2y ago
  if you were in Russia in the late XIX century then yes but history learns (this is also why we cannot ever have another revolutionary hero, nor another french revolution) so no. class consciousness and a united "working class" will not help us anymore. a lot has changed since those ideas made sense
  - atomicnumber3 2y ago
    Like what?

senderista 2y ago

The French Revolution didn’t go “straight to guillotines”, not even close.

benoau 2y ago
Had to lynch a lot of people first! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_la_lanterne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_la_lanterne
karaterobot 2y ago
I cannot tell what point you're making here. Why is this important to say?
- benoau 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact-checking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact-checking
- henryway 2y ago
  I cannot tell either. It seems to be a potentially well-intended remark about correcting an inaccurate historical analogy to the current U.S. national leadership. It may be important to remark upon potentially inaccurate information, even if in the comments section of an Internet forum, because otherwise more people will have a wrong impression of the French Revolution and the role of guillotines. When they go to watch Les Miserables they will also be surprised. This last remark was unimportant and for that, I deeply apologize.
- SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
  The original comment was based on a popular but wildly inaccurate summary of the French Revolution, where the average Joes got increasingly fed up with their rich oppressors and eventually decided to execute them. The revolutionaries never adopted a general policy that rich oppressors should face death, and most people who got guillotined were average Joes who ended up on the wrong side of some political dispute or another.
- senderista 2y ago

refurb 2y ago

The French Revolution was against the establishment. I wouldn’t argue Trump represents the establishment.