The Frankish Reich

tl;dr: The Fed will be forced to print more money to finance the debt, and the ensuing inflation will drive up nominal stock prices. I think they call that Bidenomics.

Not bad. Do I detect just a tiny bit of Trump pessimism creeping into the Trumposphere? Makes business sense. Get all that user preference data and cherry-pick the best stuff for your own retail business.

Trump: hey, let's import our own voters! And these ones will have the ID to prove it! I want nothing more than to have a parade of Russian oligarchs an PRC supporters to decide our next election.

Like the USA - the land of the dairy farm subsidy - has any moral standing to whine.

So inefficient. We could have just had a Photoshop guy create a mock-up like Trump did.

And there you have it in one tweet: the difference between a true anti-communist (Reagan) and a fake one (Trump). Reagan viewed the USSR and the PRC as oppressive societies stifling human freedom. Our goal was to eliminate those systems - through economic force, a strong defense presence, and the power of our democratic-capitalist system. It was to free China and the USSR by winning the battle of ideologies because, after all, he believed our system was the best the world ever created. Trump? He thinks to beat China we need to become China. Because, after all, our system is not the best; China's is.

Yeah! Let's be more like the PRC!! That's the America I always dreamed of.

Like I said: if you'd told me 10 years ago that in my lifetime the President would be making personnel decisions based on the advice of a "9/11 was an inside job" and "school shooting were staged" blogger, I would have thought you were crazy.

Sorry, I'm like Jeffrey Goldberg here when he was added to the Signal group. 1. Someone is pranking me. 2. I mean, this isn't real, right? [checks Twitter posters from Yemen] 3. Ho Lee Fuk

Carrying on another conversation with yourself?

Which is exactly what they're saying - "trust Trump." Just trust his "instincts." That's what makes it a cult rather than a political movement. The only good thing is it dies with his presidency, which is why he's trying to hang on for an unconstitutional third term. And that's why it's unfair to Milei and Argentina to compare their bad hair guy to our's. Milei has a coherent economic philosophy to go with his more authoritarian impulses to enact that philosophy by any means necessary. He's always hated tariffs, as they are anathema to freedom. https://www.cato.org/blog/milei-free-trade

Remember this guy, the one who scolded his left-behind community for wallowing in self-pity and looking for someone to blame for their poor life decisions?

Pretty good! You've redeemed yourself on the sense of humor spectrum. At least until the next Babylon Bee groaner.

Is this for real? I've seen it mentioned elsewhere. I'd assume fake except everything is so crazy with this group that you just can't assume anymore.

Paul Krugman: Trump 2.0 is now run by the Dunning-Kruger Kids. And the latest is, of course, total moron horror show Laura Loomer dictating national security personnel decisions.

Rick Santelli/CNBC is no liberal. He's actually the guy who coined the term "tea party" in response to Obama's bailouts during the Great Recession. (Unfortunately that term was quickly co-opted by people who are the opposite of libertarian.) He put it simply yesterday. Globalism in trade has greatly reduced prices. There is no argument here. So let's not overthink it. The end of globalism/freer world trade will raise prices. So it is inflationary. Period. It is also anti-growth. It makes corporations and entrepreneurs less likely to invest and to grow the economy. So it is inflationary and tends to cause stagnation. We call that stagflation.

I agree. How a libertarian could become a Trumpie is beyond me. I assume it is all a strategic ploy. Peter Thiel and his protege JD Vance needed someone intellectually weak (Trump) in power, someone they could dazzle and control to ultimately get to their Benevolent King model of governance and a libertarian paradise. Elon hopped on right away. You know they hate tariffs privately but probably believe this is all working to destroy the current world order, leaving it open for their Benevolent Fascist to ascend. I'm not making this up. It is Curtis Yarvin and his ilk, who have become weirdly close to this whole set. They're running Trump, and he's too dumb and narcissistic to realize it. Or he doesn't care since all he's ever wanted are the trappings of power. Yep. Republicans are the new socialists.

Ahh, nothing like the Parade of Hits the Trumpies will inundate us with to try to distract from the Most Incompetent Presidency in Modern History. Expect lots of photos of trans people. Maybe AOC looking like she's yelling. Biden stumbling at a cemetery. Nancy Pelosi. Hell, even Paul Pelosi. And nothing about this current American Carnage.

It isn't elitism. It is common sense mixed with a bit of tough love. If your economic future depends on the return of a factory employing generally unskilled labor to your town, well, then you probably need to find a new town or develop a skill. Hmm, sounds a little like Republican philosophy?

Preposterous that they're now talking about anti-tariff people as "libs." Yes, we are classical liberals, today's libertarians. Tariffs are, at their core, an affront to freedom. Anti-tariff = pro-freedom. Period.

@Joe Ferguson forever Just wondering what your take would be on The Pitt. I've heard that many ER docs say it is the most realistic of all medical shows. Incredibly fast-paced. Of course, not "realistic" I imagine since they cram every single outrageous thing that may have happened to their ER doc consultants in a career into 15 one-hour episodes. I find it pretty absorbing as a window into a world I know little about.

Isn't there something about freedom? The freedom to buy whatever the hell you want from whoever the hell wants to sell it to you? In other words, in my classical liberal (read: Locke, not Pelosi) philosophy there has to be a truly compelling basis for stopping that free exchange. And that's why it requires a true "national emergency," not some concocted foolish long-term drive to autarky.

Hey, guess what, I agree with you. The semaglutide era ahead of us is not all wonderful. What will happen to a society/public health when maybe 40% of the population is dependent on these drugs?

Bill Maher has, unfortunately, been right about some things. Woke identity politics is killing the Democratic brand? Check. Trump will not accept defeat? Check. Trump has a history of always doing some woman on the side, who's the leading candidate now? Hmm.

Thanks to our light sleeper in NC for that wake-up call.