What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[mongers]

Exec.sum of today's BS, so far?

[Savonarola]

"Tomorrow, tariffs — 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico," Trump said during a press conference at the White House. "And that'll start. ... What they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs."

Fortunately people tend not to over-build in Metro Detroit, since the nature of the automobile industry is cyclical and everyone has experienced tough times before.  (I assume the same is true for the automotive cities in southwestern Ontario, but I don't know that for sure.)  Still tough times are a-coming again.

Edit: Just to clarify a little for people outside of North America.  The US and Canadian automotive companies are located in close to the same geographic area (Detroit, Michigan and Windsor and some surrounding towns in Ontario) and post NAFTA, build parts at plants on either side of the border or use suppliers from either country.

[Zanza]

Slashing government expenditure, pass giant unfunded tax cuts, risk default by stupidity on social security obligations, raise tariffs on biggest trade partners...

Economic crisis speed run attempt apparently.

[Valmy]

Isn't it kind of weird that South Carolina is on fire but it is barely being talked about?

Is this the media apparatus covering this up for Trump? You would think this would be a major national story.

[Jacob]

South Carolina is on fire?

[Valmy]

South Carolina is on fire?

Yes. Huge wildfires are devastating the state.

Just a few months ago this would be a huge national story with conspiracy theorists suggesting Jewish space lasers.

But now that Trump is in office, this whole thing seems to be buried...outside of South Carolina anyway. It just feels like it is being kept underwraps so not to make Trump look bad.

[Jacob]

Has FEMA been deployed? Other federal aid?

SC is a red state, right?

[Valmy]

Has FEMA been deployed? Other federal aid?

SC is a red state, right?

FEMA? Pretty sure we got rid of that.

SC is a red state, yes.

[grumbler]

South Carolina is on fire?

Yes. Huge wildfires are devastating the state.

Just a few months ago this would be a huge national story with conspiracy theorists suggesting Jewish space lasers.

But now that Trump is in office, this whole thing seems to be buried...outside of South Carolina anyway. It just feels like it is being kept underwraps so not to make Trump look bad.

Huge wildfires?  Check your sources.

[crazy canuck]

There are some wildfires burning in the Carolinas, but it doesn't look particularly newsworthy, especially compared to the wildfires recently experienced in California and by BC standards it's pretty much nothing. According to the CBS site there are 17 active wildfires.

That's not really a lot.

[The Minsky Moment]

"Tomorrow, tariffs — 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico," Trump said during a press conference at the White House. "And that'll start. ... What they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs."

Canadians building car plants in the US would in inward investment to the US from Canada and thus increase the net investment outflow from Canada. That would have to be financed by increasing the merchandise trade surplus, which is exactly the thing that Trump wants to counteract with tariffs. In reality most likely none this would happen: there would be incremental deindustrialization on both sides of the border; levels of trade would go down, but the US would still be in a relative deficit position on trade because Canada would still be a net exporter of capital. 

[Syt]

In 6 weeks or so, Trump has:
- taken the sledgehammer to various US agencies (USAID etc.)
- given a billionaire techbro with business interests in the US government, China and Russia access to government data
- got rid of a bunch of military commanders/JAG/prosecutors
- entered a blatantly obvious quid pro quo deal with the mayor of NYC
- put 25% tarrifs on its closest trading partners
- switching sides in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- threatened to annex Canada, Panama, Greenland
- put highly unqualified people in positions of power ripe for abuse (Patel, Bondi, Gabbard, Hegseth ...)
- posted "deportation ASMR"
- and tons more I don't recall off the top of my head

EDIT:
- pardoned Mr Silk Road
- pardoned 1500 violent insurrectionists
- welcomed the Tate brothers

[Tamas]

I am still stuck trying to figure out which of two possible explanations I'd prefer: either Trump is under Russian orders to wreck the USA ASAP, or, more likely, he is just a demented, resentful, stupid old git who is supported by a court of moral-less nobodies for whom this is the only way to power, and the dumb and indifferent, nihilistic half of the US population.

In either case, I guess, we must brace for a global recession at the very least, nothing can be done by non-Americans to prevent that. What Europe needs to do is to avoid this causing the collapse of Ukraine and Russian domination of the continent.

[Syt]

From pre-election:

[Sophie Scholl]

One interesting thing I hadn't thought of till just a short time ago: Unlike his first term, his family is nowhere to be seen. There are no random positions for Ivanka and Jerod or Eric and Don, Jr. I feel like at his current age, Barron would even have a posting if he were running things like Term 1. They are all conspicuous by their absence. That kind of leads me to believe that Trump has very little control of things and is more being directed by others in his dementia haze.