I posted this shortly after the election. Think about this theory and compare it to other theories of Trump's tariff "strategy." Take any other theory you want. Which has had better explanatory power for the results we're seeing? - ThreadSky

mtsw.bsky.social • 23 days ago

I posted this shortly after the election. Think about this theory and compare it to other theories of Trump's tariff "strategy." Take any other theory you want. Which has had better explanatory power for the results we're seeing?

Reposted from mtsw

once again urging everyone to test "donald trump is senile and easily manipulated by whoever is in the room with him" as an explanation for whatever is happening and see if it works better and simpler

Comments

zferrell.bsky.social•23 days ago

Never underestimate Trump's pathological black hole insatiable need to always be the center of attention.

yalensky.bsky.social•23 days ago

Building epicycles upon epicycles when you can just say “eppur si muove”.

tri-stan.bsky.social•23 days ago

Explain how Bill Maher didn't manipulate him, then... Bill got manipulated by the senile old man.

cluftnyc.bsky.social•23 days ago

Because Bill went in as a supplicant. He wasn’t trying to affect policy, nor was he challenging Trump. Some people with dementia can mask very well in social situations, up to a point.

dillgarlicsalmon.bsky.social•22 days ago

He wanted to be manipulated is the obvious answer.

mtsw.bsky.social•23 days ago

When Peter Navarro is in the room, tariffs look like this. When Scott Bessent is in the room, tariffs look like that. Then Bessent leaves and Stephen Miller enters the room and tariffs look like something else. There's no plan, no strategy, just a confused old man and competing agendas around him

cogbarn.bsky.social•23 days ago

I hope Russell Vought doesn’t ever enter the room

formergregsamsa.bsky.social•23 days ago

It's great that our economic foreign policy is so amorphous, right? People like it when a thing looks like 12 different other things, surely, especially when money is involved.

mtsw.bsky.social•23 days ago

You can go a couple layers deep on this stuff. Navarro is himself a huge dipshit and confused old man. Elon Musk is on an insane cocktail of drugs warping his thinking. Then filter this through a senile 80 year old and hey here's the result.

Blind leading the blind.

mtsw.bsky.social•23 days ago

why-not-both-dot-gif https://bsky.app/profile/abigailesman.bsky.social/post/3lmsox7iy4c27

kelpkelpkelp.bsky.social•23 days ago

The "why not both?" girl is a demonic force that we have failed to fully understand until this moment. As we are increasingly faced with "evil or stupid?" questions, her true nature as a malevolent demigod is becoming apparent.

hoochiemamma.bsky.social•21 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/zenarchie.bsky.social/post/3lmw6lwhyjc2z

marvelle.bsky.social•23 days ago

Marco Rubio answering the question "but what if we introduce a younger, ostensibly smarter person into the mix?"

brockmeyer.bsky.social•23 days ago

"but make them an arrant coward with no shame"

capitolhunters.bsky.social•23 days ago

It's not JUST the blind leading the blind. There are people trying to pull their strings but it's hard to achieve a consistent result if you're operating at a distance working through very imperfect puppets who are susceptible to multiple puppeteers.

craigipedia.bsky.social•23 days ago

It even applies to his meeting with Bukele today

abigailesman.bsky.social•23 days ago

Is it senility? Or is it the narcissistic craving for the approval of the last person in the room?

distrollo.bsky.social•23 days ago

Delegation of even the most basic aspects of a decision has always been his way (going back to his business ventures), so I'm not sure senility has much to do with it. Regardless, the end result is the same. A man who, with only some glazing, will offer full-throated support for sycophants.

huge-jackedman.bsky.social•23 days ago

For tariffs I think he just legit loves them even though he doesn't really know how they work. Perhaps the one book he's ever read was about McKinley.

naveman.bsky.social•23 days ago

Chaos, corruption, cruelty, and incompetence

These are the four dimension of the 4D Chess he’s playing

ernekid.bsky.social•23 days ago

It’s why the whole ‘this is a secret master plan to do insider trading’ thing doesn’t really work.

direwombat.bsky.social•23 days ago

That doesn’t need a secret master plan tho. He could easily drop a casual comment or hint (more likely his cronies did), it’s done.

andyfromtucson.bsky.social•23 days ago

I think it’s senility plus a burning desire to be the center of attention

Trump knows that every time he makes some tariff announcement the TV talks about him a lot & people come to him asking for exemptions

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