Tracking toy tariffs

[cmoney]

You're not. If you're listening to him at all and reacting to anything he says while fully realizing how often he bold-face lies then you've unknowingly slipped into masochism. I urge everyone to have more respect for your own intelligence and stop suffering that fool. I made that decision early in his 2015/2016 campaign and have been so much happier just assuming anything that comes out of his mouth is probably disinformation that's a waste of time to try interpreting.

I only listen to his actual words when he's done something that's grabbing credible headlines such as all of the tariff shenanigans. I still can't figure out where the flaw in his logic regarding tariffs lies, but I'm sure it'll get revealed eventually and I'll end up regretting trying to figure him out on those because the real reason is more likely to be something he hasn't said publicly yet.

I guess I meant it more in the "why does anyone expect that anyone else should" kinda way. Like, I know there are folks who hang on his every word, but I don't see how they can't see how ridiculous he looks to rest of us. I don't know where his authority with those people comes from.

 

[Ru1977]

I don't either. Just him talking where the subject matter is utterly benign drives me up the wall. He rambles like nobody's business. I don't know if I've ever witnessed him fully conclude a point. I can't fathom how anyone listens to him for any amount of time and thinks "this guy makes a lot of sense".

 

[AceofKnaves]

I don't know where his authority with those people comes from.

I know I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: it’s a cult.

If you are not on the “inside” of the indoctrination, it’s gonna look like . . . well, the way it looks to all of us who aren’t in the cult. But the flamboyant ridiculousness IS the point, both because that is part of the control mechanism for cultists, and also because folks who wind up leading cults are basically always theatrically over-the-top narcissists with a loud “performance” that bamboozles those inclined to follow while repelling those disinclined to such a “show”. And certainly many, even most of the cultists recognize on some level how pathetic and absurd he is, but buying into an “Emperor’s New Clothes” scenario is one of the “tests” of membership in the cult. Part of the point is seeing all the silly shit and still falling in line and saying that it is neither silly nor shit. The latest interview with Trump illustrates this: he becomes agitated when his childish fiction about the knuckle tattoos is not gone along with by the reporter, and he literally says “you should just say ‘yes’ and move on”. He’s so used to having everyone around him just yes-man him that he doesn’t even have the tools to deal with even minor pushback on his obvious mendacity and error.

 

[docsilence]

I lost the ability to listen to him speak about a month into his first term. His vocal inflection and tone of voice is nails on a chalkboard to me. I'll read statements as needed to keep track of everything, but if he's speaking on video I mute it. I just find the sound repulsive. Even in some alternate reality where I agree with him I'd still look forward to the day we never need to hear his voice again.

The cult aspect really is what scares me, because we keep thinking maybe the tariffs will finally get to people, maybe the tariffs costing people their jobs or to run out of toilet paper or something will be the breaking point, but there is no line.

 

[AceofKnaves]

There’s never a line with this kind of thing.

We have a lot of popular fiction where the Bad Guy is a Trump-like figure, and at some point he hits The Line and then like his brutal-but-noble second-in-command turns on him. Return of the frigging Jedi is literally that trope. But that trope is part of the fiction: just like we wish Superman or Batman (or the Punisher . . .) were “real”, we also wish that “the line” was real. We write it into our fiction because it doesn’t play out in real life, and just like an immaculately-moral hero from the stars won’t save us in real life, likewise there will be no “too much” for the MAGA cult. Sure, some or even many will fall off as things get more extreme, but the “true believers” will double-down (or feel forced to double-down). This vile gangster literally said he could shoot someone in public without consequences, BEFORE he was ever voted in. This is the game that we are stuck in.

This only ends when he is *gone*.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

I lost the ability to listen to him speak about a month into his first term. His vocal inflection and tone of voice is nails on a chalkboard to me. I'll read statements as needed to keep track of everything, but if he's speaking on video I mute it. I just find the sound repulsive. Even in some alternate reality where I agree with him I'd still look forward to the day we never need to hear his voice again.

The cult aspect really is what scares me, because we keep thinking maybe the tariffs will finally get to people, maybe the tariffs costing people their jobs or to run out of toilet paper or something will be the breaking point, but there is no line.

Sometimes I allow myself to imagine what it would've been like had Harris won six months ago. Only for a minute. The utter bliss of never having to think about Donald Trump again. I doubt even heroin feels that good. The comedown is just as hard, though.

I'm surprised no one posted this yesterday. It's basically a subtweet about all of us.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com%2Fpost%2F3lo2dloetgk2l

 

[docsilence]

Sometimes I allow myself to imagine what it would've been like had Harris won six months ago. Only for a minute. The utter bliss of never having to think about Donald Trump again. I doubt even heroin feels that good. The comedown is just as hard, though.

I'm surprised no one posted this yesterday. It's basically a subtweet about all of us.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com%2Fpost%2F3lo2dloetgk2l

BUT I WANT 30 DOLLS DAMMIT

It really is wild that "maybe your kids can have fewer toys" is just acceptable to people. It's like we let the Grinch get elected.

And yeah, I might not imagine that alternate reality the same way but I know my first reaction last year was "I can't listen to him talk for another four years, it will drive me INSANE."

 

[TheSameIdiot]

BUT I WANT 30 DOLLS DAMMIT

It really is wild that "maybe your kids can have fewer toys" is just acceptable to people. It's like we let the Grinch get elected.

The way the right has moved the goalposts with Trump is crazy-making. They're gaslighting the entire nation.

Carter asked people to waste less electricity and it was a decades-long scandal about how out-of-touch Democrats were. The Trump campaign focused on inflation (to the degree that there was a focus). They literally had campaign signs.

Now we're supposed to act like cheap consumer goods aren't central to the American identity. Trump 2024: Buddhism for all.

 

[Ru1977]

I'm surprised no one posted this yesterday

I referenced it but didn't have a fancy link or some eye catching tweet! Heh

I was telling my son I firmly believe if Trump got up and said "I can fix everything, it's all gonna be better, I just need everyone to take some garden shears to their genitals," we would see a massive rise in castration home kits. What ever he says!

 

[Justice]

I referenced it but didn't have a fancy link or some eye catching tweet! Heh

I was telling my son I firmly believe if Trump got up and said "I can fix everything, it's all gonna be better, I just need everyone to take some garden shears to their genitals," we would see a massive rise in castration home kits. What ever he says!

Well that would be a start to fixing the problem we currently find ourselves in for sure.

 

[Ru1977]

That's a good point. Win win

 

[Chooch555]

I love The Onion

Trump Calmly Reminds Nation That Desire The Root Of All Suffering

WASHINGTON—Seeking to reassure the public after his latest tariffs sent both U.S. and international markets into free fall, President Donald Trump calmly reminded the nation Thursday that desire is the root of all suffering. “My fellow Americans, remember that attachment to worldly things stands...

theonion.com

 

[cmoney]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/01/hasbro-ceo-details-tariff-impact-were-making-rapid-changes.html

 

[Damien]

There’s never a line with this kind of thing.

We have a lot of popular fiction where the Bad Guy is a Trump-like figure, and at some point he hits The Line and then like his brutal-but-noble second-in-command turns on him. Return of the frigging Jedi is literally that trope. But that trope is part of the fiction: just like we wish Superman or Batman (or the Punisher . . .) were “real”, we also wish that “the line” was real. We write it into our fiction because it doesn’t play out in real life, and just like an immaculately-moral hero from the stars won’t save us in real life, likewise there will be no “too much” for the MAGA cult. Sure, some or even many will fall off as things get more extreme, but the “true believers” will double-down (or feel forced to double-down). This vile gangster literally said he could shoot someone in public without consequences, BEFORE he was ever voted in. This is the game that we are stuck in.

This only ends when he is *gone*.

Exactly this.



Also, speaking on tariffs; it's absolutely fucking hilarious to me that these stupid fucking right-wingers will never get it. Oh, gotta put those tariffs in because we need to make things in AMERICA. Oh wait... so instead of being made in China, these companies will just be making more product in Vietnam? And only for the low-low cost of disrupting the entire world economy, tanking the US economy, and destroying trade relationships across the planet. Wow. What a fuckin' bargain.
Goddamn idiots.

 

[cmoney]

The number of them who claim that the tariffs on China are great because they don't buy "cheap Chinese crap" anyways is also hilarious. Just totally unaware of the world. A lot of them seem to think you have to actively order something from China yourself to be affected by the tariffs.