2d ago

The art of the deal

103 comments

Funny story.
When Trump 'wrote' his book "The Art Of The Deal" he gave his ghost writer full cover credit and half the profits. The writer has never stopped talking about how stupid Trump is.

Trump's so stupid that it has alleviated any sense of imposter syndrome for me, and it should for you if you have it too.
- I'm not successful enough to have imposter syndrome
  
  not yet...
- I think he's smart enough, but intelligence is not the only determinant of success.
  
  is he smart though? staring into the sun, Tim Apple, hamberder guy?
  
  Malice is a good metric
  
  One can be both smart and stupid at the same time.
  
  That largely depends on the position imo, and this is not one of the positions where being smart enough is enough…if youre trying to do a job that helps the most people possible.
  I think he is smart enough to know that causing chaos will help only those that he favors tho.

My question: was the whole Canada / Mexico thing just a smoke screen for the newly increased China tariffs?
- At 10%? I don't think so.
- Meh. He'll use it as another distraction every month or whatever frequency he wants. Just like the Republicans would only approve stopgap budgets, so they can turn up the drama and claim some negotiating victories every time to just keep the lights on. It's all theater.

Wait, did he drop the tarifs?
- Temporarily for a month for Canada and Mexico. China has new tariffs

Real question here… I keep seeing people say this, but what are the concessions that Canada and Mexico “gave” that they were already doing? I couldn’t find anyone mention it in the post.
- Basically appointing an investigator for fentanyl smuggling for Canada and sending troops to the northern border for Mexico.
  
  We already have a cZaR in the ministry. The whole thing is laughable if not terrifying.

I had to do a double-take on the fact that Trump's approval rating has been steadily improving since the beginning of January. Jesus fuck people are ignorant. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with the wealth inequality, the media consolidation, the education standards the way they are...
- You have to stop and think, where are they getting the data? I'm not even sure if you call it confirmation bias, or journalists with guns to their heads.
- Whenever I think "man, the people around me can't be that stupid right?" Then I get in my car and drive around for about 15 minutes and realize that yes in fact they are that stupid.
- I think that's all about who's doing the polling and how they are doing it: https://abcnews.go.com/538/trump-approval-polling-average-works/story?id=117999010
- Thats what happens when the average joe gets his news from Xitter or Fox News. They get rid of all critical thinking skills for the sake of owning the libs and freeze peach.
  Trump could literally burn down their studio and Fox news would still spin it like “The democrats would have done even worse”
  
  I had a conservative admit they receive the the bulk of their news from Twitter, and Tim Pool. But simultaneously exclaims without evidence that AP/Reuters are not to be trusted. JFC.
- Trump said he was going to raise the price of Canadian and Mexican things by 25%, then he didn't do that.
  Wouldn't that improve your opinion of him?
  
  No, it would make me pissed off that he’s instigating shit with our neighbours.
- The fact that his approval rating still exists after that first term shows that he can do whatever he wants and his followers will still support him. It's a cult, nothing will change that.
  
  The best ratings you can buy!
- Approval ratings tend to go up as people fear to speak against their oppressor.

Trudeau folded, this is cope
- How do you figure?
  
  You're Canadian, so I'd like your perspective on this.
  Less than 1% of fentanyl that enters America actually crosses the US-Canadian border. Canada has basically been strong-armed into prioritizing US border security concerns for a non-existent threat.
  Trudeau knows the effect of a trade war on Canadian industries (about 75 of Canadian exports are to the US). He is also aware that tariffs on America will do little to shift Trump's position, so he opted for damage control as the significant hit towards the Canadian economy would not bode well for his party (which is already likely to lose to the conservatives) in the upcoming election.
  This is further evidenced by Canada's efforts to reduce dependence on US markets. Trudeau had no leverage in this trade war.
  Now obviously i don't support Trump's tariffs one bit, but i think saying things like "Trump actually caved to us because we offered the deal we already planned to offer" is cope and misses the bigger picture of how if Trump hadn't enforced these tariffs, Trudeau wouldn't be wasting tax money and troops to fend a non-existent border threat. It's a sad thing really.

I also believe this is all just peacocking and him and all his billionaire buddies and the ultra rich corporations all got to use the VERY predictable stock market changes to get even richer. Of course he doesn't care if the tariffs hurt anyone. He is busy making the 1% money so they don't starve or go without healthcare or education. Didn't you hear? Republican is the new working class party. Just ask all the government employees that Muskrat just fired ....

As an onlooker from Europe eagerly awaiting the fall of the US, this is disappointing. :( But congrats to the people of these three countries I guess.
At least US is still shooting itself in the foot with the China tariffs.
- I mean, he still manage to bring the very divided Canada together. Most people around me cancelled every US based subscription services they had, and people will pay attention not to buy americans products. The world needs to come together to bring this undereductaed and dangerous country down.
  
  As an American living in America. Trumps actions make me not want to buy anything American either.
  
  As a (current) American citizen, I agree, bring it down.
  
  Hopefully our collective memories hold and not dofo things
- Once the US falls, most if not all of Europe will follow, I'm afraid. The world is a very entangled thing nowadays.
- It's more of a low hanging fruit thing right now. The tarrifs will happen. There was pushback so they backed down while they continue to field dress the United States government. They will circle back around.
- Idk, I kind of love the China tariffs.
  Oh wait, you meant the tariffs we're putting on China, not the China tariffs they're putting on US oil and coal.
  But really I'm happy with any taxes on oil and coal.
  
  But really I’m happy with any taxes on oil and coal.
  I'm sure this will lead to a massive investment in renewable and clean energy sources.
  Aaaaannnny day now.

Yeah but he still frames it as a win. That's the problem. Loose goals so he can frame anything as a win and his supporters don't think twice (or once for that matter)

Trump is such a coward. He can't commit to anything he says. I thought actually implementing the tariffs was the goal? What about that whole schtick on eliminating income taxes with tariff revenue? Do people just dream big on Trump's pie-in-the-sky fantasies, get on board, and then get brought back down to reality and conveniently forget all that big talk only to still have the audacity to call it a fucking W? The threat of the tariffs accomplished nothing. Trump is incompetent beyond belief.
- They have replaced their god with trump. Trump did it therefore it was good. Trump criticised it therefore it was bad. You're asking them to retain information and think logically and critically about it instead of cheering on their lying and very false god. All the statistics say that support for right wingers drops off heavily the more education you have. His supporters aren't the smart cookies. They like what he says and they like how he says it and he never tells them they're stupid. They're not fact checking him, that's what libs do. They're not libs, they're red blooded Americans. Trump can absolutely do no wrong in their eyes.
  
  This is the real TDS.
- Trump has loudly announced his presence on the world stage and made sure nobody can ignore him. Starting with high or ridiculous demands is his way of getting concessions.
  We don’t know what negotiations are taking place behind closed doors.
  
  Trump has loudly announced his presence on the world stage and made sure nobody can ignore him.
  Sure they can. China already is. The last time Trump tried to hit China with tariffs, they retaliated and then the Trump administration bailed out the farmers by giving $60 billion in welfare to red states to offset the cost of his failed trade war. Why would they do anything different this time?
  Starting with high or ridiculous demands is his way of getting concessions.
  What concessions?
  No, seriously, answer the question.
  The "concession" that he got from Trudeau was already an agreement that Canada had made under the Biden administration.
  The "concession" that he got from Sheinbaum for sending 10k troops to the southern border was something that Mexico regularly agrees to do - it happened during Biden's term and also during Trump's first term. Evidently, all you have to do is ask politely.
  So far, neither country has conceded anything that they haven't already previously agreed to or have historically been willing to do without threats of economic sanctions or tariffs.
  We don’t know what negotiations are taking place behind closed doors.
  Then if we don't know what he actually negotiated for, how can he or anyone else for that matter claim it was effective? We have no evidence that he's getting anything more than what was already promised to him for backing down.
  You can stop simping for Trump now, he's not going to call you back.
- Trump has loudly announced his presence on the world stage and made sure nobody can ignore him. Starting with high or ridiculous demands is his way of getting concessions.
  We don’t know what negotiations are taking place behind closed doors.

Good work trump. The world respects America again. /s

Unfortunately to his fans it looks like he won! Which probably means more tariffs going forward.
- I do not think so. Even Fox news was calling him out for raising prices on ... checks notes ... almost everything. He didn't win on this, even to them.
  At best he broke even. And there are other bribery / corruption cards for him to play using tariffs.
  
  I dunno, I've read a lot of comments and poked my head into a certain sub reddit and folks are celebrating as if these are the deals of the century. They've got him held high as some no bs deal maker. Makes you gag a bit reading through them.
- Yah, I think we'll start making progress again in this country when we all realize that most people don't care about facts, they just want stories.
  Donald Trump's power has nothing to do with anything other than his flagrant disregard for reality and his chronic disorder that makes him just launch into stories about anything and everything. And not just stories, they're always ridiculous stories like you would tell children. This works because most people are again, children who want stories.
  While Trump and his ilk have woven these epic stories of good versus evil and how rotten the enemies are and how great the good guys are, the left and the dems have been trying to quadruple down on being "civil" and producing charts and graphs and data to back their arguments. I get it, I used to think reality mattered to other people, but now I get it, that for the vast majority of humans, nobody really thinks.
  I don't mean that as an "I'm smarter than everyone" statement, but a discovery about a fundamental quality of the human experience, which is people only think they think. What actually goes on for all of us, all day long, is we feel a thing, experience a sensation or emotion, and our brain writes a story to explain it. You believe this story because you tend to never doubt what you come up with in your head, but your brain doesn't naturally default to facts and logic, just ways to connect feelings and experiences. This is intrinsic to how our minds work and it's what let us survive ice ages and predators and apocalypses of ancient times. But in a modern, complex world with language and politics and technology, it just makes us more confused and wrong, which is why people tend to cling to people who can successfully create a narrative that weaves everything together in some sensible way. Not actually sensible, it just has to "feel" right and the brain will accept it even if you don't agree with the person telling the story. This is why there are so many people and institutions that suddenly feel like they've turned "pro trump" it's because we're monkeys and we follow our leader, especially when they can make enough of us follow a storyline.
  
  This is a great explanation. Thanks!

Ignorant perspective. They basically pumped and dumped, but in reverse, and everyone thinks they're the stupid ones.
This is exactly how we got here. Please stop.
- Dumped and pumped?
  
  Stocks. They are manipulating the media so they can sell high and buy low. Rinse and repeat.
- If I could only remember which cunt used to do the same schemes, without suffering any consequences... Nah, can't remember.

Huh.. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/03/world/sheinbaum-trump-tariffs-paused/index.html
- Yes, Mexico moves 10k reserves to the border.. to twiddle their thumbs there. And Canada agreed to invest 1.5 billion in the border they already agreed to with Biden. Epic win!
  
  México is having a huge problem with the narcos and keeps getting worse, if only we had elements to spare to combat this problem... But hey, sending them to the border to harrass migrants and then give them to the same narcos is an epic win, right?

The EU will most likely stave off tariffs by buying much more US gas.

As a Mexican, I find this image very offensive. Trudeau knows his sweetheart hates Sheinbaum and would never betray him like that.

So, the $1.3 bn border plan that was already agreed last year on December 17?
Not quite.
Apart from several additions, the fold from Canada comes from moving their hazy plan phases from planning to implementing. That's where the W is for Trump.
It's a subtle difference. But with the addition of a temporary delay on the tariffs, Trudeau will actually be pressured into having to implement this thing. It's been a month and half since the plan was announced, and any Canadian that dislikes Trudeau knows he's not famous for actually doing something about issues that their own citizens ask for, even less other countries, so this would seem as necessary
Beyond that, 77% of Canada exports are to the US. That 77% makes up about 12% of the US total imports. I don't know what the endgame is but propping up Canada for a trade war they can't win is not the way.
Same as with Mexico. They are very conscious that many South American countries would like to step in their place should they fail to provide USA amicable trade relationship.
Up to you to make your own conjecture.
- Do you know what the difference between planning and implementing is? Nothing.
  Planning my novel: scribble notes all over the place, think through plots, come up with character names, etc.
  Implementing my novel: open a word processor doc, type "My Novel" at the top, then go back to scribbling notes all over the place, thinking through plots, etc.
  Unless there's a date when the full thing needs to go into effect, the "implementation" phase can drag on forever.
  As for the tariffs, yes, they would definitely hurt the Canadian economy. But, since they're blanket tariffs on everything, there are no specific pain points. Canada's counter-tariffs were designed to be very specific, targeting companies and states that are most critical to Trump and the GOP. And, the key difference is that Canada was being attacked economically, so it would have been easy to rally Canadians around shared hardship imposed by a crazy dictator. Meanwhile, the US would suffer under a stupid trade war that nobody wanted, and that Trump said wasn't going to hurt Americans at all.
  Despite this supposed "pause" in tariffs, American businesses are already going to start hurting. Plenty of Canadians are already swearing off buying American products because they're so outraged by this bullshit. Even if the tariffs never get implemented, there's going to be a voluntary boycott of American things just out of anger and disgust.
  As you said, the US economy is huge compared to Canada. Maybe these voluntary boycotts aren't going to be too painful for US businesses. But, Canada is still the size of California. That's enough that it's going to be noticeable.
  So, did Trudeau fold? Did Trump fold? Who cares, but this economic attack on Canada definitely isn't going to help America in any way.
- You're giving fuckface credit for time moving forward
  
  Y'all really don't like facts you don't agree with, do you?

Lol, no. Trump cancelled the tariffs after both said they'd retaliate, not because they both agreed drugs and cartels are bad.
- How is this a "lol no"?
  "Take this same deal or we retaliate". Is that not what the meme says. Did he not get the same deal in the end? Was retaliation not always implied? Does this meme imply they agreed cartels are not bad?
  
  The meme makes it seem like Trump backed down because Canada and Mexico tricked Trump into thinking he got something when he really didn't. He backed down because of the retaliation, not because he was tricked.
- I'm still salty neither Mexico or Canada stood up and said the trade deal trump won't stop complaining about, is what he took credit for in 2018.
  
  “That’s not how I remember it!”
  Bam. His base: aroused by another W

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