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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 manufactur

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.
- msm_ 2y ago
  Do you have a source for that? I hear that sentiment expressed often by Americans I meet here, but I never saw anyone explicitly saying "yes, I/we value blind loyalty". Is blind loyalty something Trump followers officially identify with?
  - Larrikin 2y ago
    Can you provide any source in history where someone said they identified with being a blind follower?
  - Braxton1980 2y ago
    The evidence comes in the form of continued support after each incident of hypocrisy, lying, etc Why would someone say they blindly follow someone when that's bad?
  - latexr 2y ago
    > I hear that sentiment expressed often by Americans I meet here I am not American. > but I never saw anyone explicitly saying "yes, I/we value blind loyalty". Not only do they show it through actions, they talk about it constantly. All you need are the keywords “Trump loyalty” and you get more examples than you know what to do with. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-trump-loyalty-staff-217227 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-tr... > “I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive and more than energy,” Trump once said. […] > According to people who know him well, Trump’s definition of loyalty is blunt. “Support Donald Trump in anything he says and does,” […] “No matter what,” […] “Or else,” […] “I think he defines it as allegiance,” […] “And it’s not allegiance to the flag or allegiance to the country—it’s allegiance to Trump.”
sorcerer-mar 2y ago
Typical cult leader stuff: say and do increasingly indefensible and nonsensical stuff to isolate your true believers even more.
rchaud 2y ago
The finer points don't matter. If it did, they'd be wondering why the nation is not awash in coal jobs and why Obamacare wasn't repealed. Both of those were supposed to have happened by 2020. Tariffs are sold to them as "hitting back" against countries "exploiting America". They don't know what they are or how they work, and they definitely do not think of it as a tax, which is the definition you'd see in any AP Macroeconomics textbook. All that matters is maintaining the illusion that "he's fighting for people like me".
- raducu 2y ago
  > maintaining the illusion that "he's fighting for people like me" There is no illusion - if Trump was a profesional working in any trade, the plebs wouldn't hire him, yet they elected him president. It's just that the plebs think Trumps is the aristocrat most like them, and by electing him they somehow screw the arisrocrats over.
wisty 2y ago
Maybe Trump genuienly wants to disrupt neoliberalism? Now, a lot of people on the left use "neoliberalism" in the same way people on the right use "woke", or (Eu) football fans use the word "offside" i.e. it means "it's anything the other side do that I don't like". But neoliberalism actually has a definition used by more serious people - generally free trade and the reduction of government interference. Maybe Trump doesn't want globalisation, maybe Trump wants stuff to be made in the USA. Maybe he wants to roll trade back to before 1968, the Hakone Maru, and the TEU container, to when he was in his 20s (a lot of people think that their formative years were the best, since that's when they were made, and I doubt Trump is an exception). I'm not saying Trump isn't a hypocrite, but is it slightly possible that some of what he says is actually what he intends to do, e.g. "making America great again" meaning in part a disruption to the globalised world order that the online left always seems to think is evil?
- 9283409232 2y ago
  > Maybe Trump doesn't want globalisation, maybe Trump wants stuff to be made in the USA. As I said, what he is doing is not going to get stuff made in the US. Even if we had all of the raw materials needed (we don't), the US doesn't have the talent to spin up a manufacturing hub. That is the missing piece to all of these conversations. So we don't have the materials, we don't have the skills, and we seem to be attacking education so it doesn't look training people to do these things is in the cards? How is this plan meant to work? The only lifeline I can throw your comment is that he wants to invade Canada and Greenland to steal their raw materials which at least lines up with the idea of getting raw materials to build up manufacturing.
  - timschmidt 2y ago
    > Even if we had all of the raw materials needed (we don't), What is this brand of defeatist bullpucky? There is no raw material which is not contained within the borders of the US. Only some which are less expensive to extract elsewhere. > the US doesn't have the talent to spin up a manufacturing hub. I humbly invite you to visit https://www.imts.com/ https://www.imts.com/ this year in Chicago. If, after that, you believe that there's something that can't be manufactured in the US, I'll eat my hat.
ineedaj0b 2y ago
economics is a lot of made up theory and not hard science. you won't get any of his smarter supporters replying because even if they did you're showing an inability to model best-case. i mean you're personally at a loss? if you took the average supporter of both sides neither seem smart. the clips they have of both sides is shameful. but those aren't the people implementing the policy, but they both support their tribes. if you really are interested in understanding how they think you couldn't do worse than this: https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/rese...
raducu 2y ago
That's what you get for electing a president with the intelectual and emotional maturity of a 5 year old. Oh, oh, also, electing a felon, you get a lot of grifring, including, but not limited to the trump crypto scam, the insider trading Trump boasted about on video (about his friends making billions in the stock market). This guy is not playing 5d chess guys, he's just a clown surrounded by yes men.

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.

msm_ 2y ago
Do you have a source for that? I hear that sentiment expressed often by Americans I meet here, but I never saw anyone explicitly saying "yes, I/we value blind loyalty". Is blind loyalty something Trump followers officially identify with?
- Larrikin 2y ago
  Can you provide any source in history where someone said they identified with being a blind follower?
- Braxton1980 2y ago
  The evidence comes in the form of continued support after each incident of hypocrisy, lying, etc Why would someone say they blindly follow someone when that's bad?
- latexr 2y ago
  > I hear that sentiment expressed often by Americans I meet here I am not American. > but I never saw anyone explicitly saying "yes, I/we value blind loyalty". Not only do they show it through actions, they talk about it constantly. All you need are the keywords “Trump loyalty” and you get more examples than you know what to do with. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-trump-loyalty-staff-217227 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-tr... > “I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive and more than energy,” Trump once said. […] > According to people who know him well, Trump’s definition of loyalty is blunt. “Support Donald Trump in anything he says and does,” […] “No matter what,” […] “Or else,” […] “I think he defines it as allegiance,” […] “And it’s not allegiance to the flag or allegiance to the country—it’s allegiance to Trump.”

sorcerer-mar 2y ago

Typical cult leader stuff: say and do increasingly indefensible and nonsensical stuff to isolate your true believers even more.

rchaud 2y ago

The finer points don't matter. If it did, they'd be wondering why the nation is not awash in coal jobs and why Obamacare wasn't repealed. Both of those were supposed to have happened by 2020. Tariffs are sold to them as "hitting back" against countries "exploiting America". They don't know what they are or how they work, and they definitely do not think of it as a tax, which is the definition you'd see in any AP Macroeconomics textbook. All that matters is maintaining the illusion that "he's fighting for people like me".

raducu 2y ago
> maintaining the illusion that "he's fighting for people like me" There is no illusion - if Trump was a profesional working in any trade, the plebs wouldn't hire him, yet they elected him president. It's just that the plebs think Trumps is the aristocrat most like them, and by electing him they somehow screw the arisrocrats over.

wisty 2y ago

Maybe Trump genuienly wants to disrupt neoliberalism? Now, a lot of people on the left use "neoliberalism" in the same way people on the right use "woke", or (Eu) football fans use the word "offside" i.e. it means "it's anything the other side do that I don't like". But neoliberalism actually has a definition used by more serious people - generally free trade and the reduction of government interference. Maybe Trump doesn't want globalisation, maybe Trump wants stuff to be made in the USA. Maybe he wants to roll trade back to before 1968, the Hakone Maru, and the TEU container, to when he was in his 20s (a lot of people think that their formative years were the best, since that's when they were made, and I doubt Trump is an exception). I'm not saying Trump isn't a hypocrite, but is it slightly possible that some of what he says is actually what he intends to do, e.g. "making America great again" meaning in part a disruption to the globalised world order that the online left always seems to think is evil?

9283409232 2y ago
> Maybe Trump doesn't want globalisation, maybe Trump wants stuff to be made in the USA. As I said, what he is doing is not going to get stuff made in the US. Even if we had all of the raw materials needed (we don't), the US doesn't have the talent to spin up a manufacturing hub. That is the missing piece to all of these conversations. So we don't have the materials, we don't have the skills, and we seem to be attacking education so it doesn't look training people to do these things is in the cards? How is this plan meant to work? The only lifeline I can throw your comment is that he wants to invade Canada and Greenland to steal their raw materials which at least lines up with the idea of getting raw materials to build up manufacturing.
- timschmidt 2y ago
  > Even if we had all of the raw materials needed (we don't), What is this brand of defeatist bullpucky? There is no raw material which is not contained within the borders of the US. Only some which are less expensive to extract elsewhere. > the US doesn't have the talent to spin up a manufacturing hub. I humbly invite you to visit https://www.imts.com/ https://www.imts.com/ this year in Chicago. If, after that, you believe that there's something that can't be manufactured in the US, I'll eat my hat.

ineedaj0b 2y ago

economics is a lot of made up theory and not hard science. you won't get any of his smarter supporters replying because even if they did you're showing an inability to model best-case. i mean you're personally at a loss? if you took the average supporter of both sides neither seem smart. the clips they have of both sides is shameful. but those aren't the people implementing the policy, but they both support their tribes. if you really are interested in understanding how they think you couldn't do worse than this: https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/rese...

raducu 2y ago

That's what you get for electing a president with the intelectual and emotional maturity of a 5 year old. Oh, oh, also, electing a felon, you get a lot of grifring, including, but not limited to the trump crypto scam, the insider trading Trump boasted about on video (about his friends making billions in the stock market). This guy is not playing 5d chess guys, he's just a clown surrounded by yes men.