Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I don't know why Trump seems to think tariffs are good threats.  I can't tell if he doesn't know what a tariff is or he's just trying to trick Americans.

Yes

[Valmy]

I don't know why Trump seems to think tariffs are good threats.  I can't tell if he doesn't know what a tariff is or he's just trying to trick Americans.

Tariffs = lots of jobs. Or at least that is the translation of what Americans hear when he says it I think.

[crazy canuck]

I don't know why Trump seems to think tariffs are good threats.  I can't tell if he doesn't know what a tariff is or he's just trying to trick Americans.

Tariffs = lots of jobs. Or at least that is the translation of what Americans hear when he says it I think.

There was at time, not long ago, when Adam Smith was held up by the right as a great thinker. Those of us who actually read Adam Smith had to explain to our right wing friends that they might be missing the nuances.  But all could agree on the principle that protectionism isn't great.

I wonder how Adam Smith will be taught in the schools of the USA now, if at all.

[Barrister]

Yeah, just the regular global commodities. What is interesting is that this is a threatening message, delivered in a language the russki understands very well. Putin will be expected to kiss the ring as befits his station.

It's a language the Russki understands as weakness because the threats are empty and because the absence of any threat to upgrade assistance to Ukraine is so obvious and glaring that the absence is the message.

I dunno - not like the Russians don't like to make empty threats.

And they did seemed pissed at Trump yesterday.

But like I said - I just don't know.

[The Minsky Moment]

I know that:
(1) a threat to impose sanctions where sanctions are already in place will not impress
(2) no threat without meaningful impact on the military balance will move the needle.

Of course they are expressing public annoyance at the insult, but the reality is that the "threat" was worse than useless because it implies that boosting aid to Ukraine is completely off the table.

[Caliga]

I don't know why Trump seems to think tariffs are good threats.  I can't tell if he doesn't know what a tariff is or he's just trying to trick Americans.

When Trump learns about something, he tends to get fixated on it for a while and endlessly repeat it.  Like during his first campaign I remember Hillary fainted or something and Trump started chanting over and over she doesn't have the "stamina" to be President.  But the first time I heard him say it he pronounced it so weird, like "stah-MEE-na", which lead me to conclude someone had literally just taught him the word, and he liked it and I guess it got a nice reaction from his slobbering idiot fans, so, well, he kept endlessly harping on it.

I know he's known the word 'tariff' for a while, but people really seem to like it when he says it so he just keeps repeating it over and over.  'They tell me' tariffs are a beautiful thing!