Join institutional investors, analysts and strategists from the world's largest banks: Subscribe today
Already have an account? log in
Sunset
It'll be slim pickings for macro data aficionados in the days ahead.
For US traders, it's a holiday
When I saw the title of this essay, I thought of Benjamin Franklin’s comments about the rising sun on the president’s chair as he presided over the constitutional convention.
It’s not hard to guess what the founding fathers (flawed as they may have been) would think of an illiterate populist king like Trump.
I’m also seeing news that Sam Altman will be briefing the government on potential PhD super agents in the near future. Knowing who will be in charge while potential world-altering advancements could start happening at an exponential rate is what terrifies me the most. Climate change will still be mostly local disasters for at least a few decades (hopefully), but we don’t know how quickly AI might advance. Trump is the last person on the planet I’d want to make decisions about the future of technology and humanity.
Exit polls suggested that DJT owed his win to swing voters suffering from inflation and hatred of immigrants among his base. Tariffs were not a major issue, even among the minority who could define what they are.
He has already walked away from his priomises oto bring food prices down. So that leaves mass deportations as the only thing he can deliver. Can and MUST deliver.
(The firestorm of anger in the base against H-1b visas should put paid to the notion that voters were only concerned about illegal immigration. )
When I first saw the early plans for the coming week all I could think of were the 1938 mass raids carried out by the SS on Jewish shopkeepers and citizens on what came to be call Kristallnacht. Hundreds were murdered. Millions in property was destroyed or confiscated. This was the signal of what was to come. Remember, the polls no longer matter to Trump. He’s got what he wanted. This will be the four year hate-filled revenge trip the Maga core of the GOP has wanted for decades. Johnson has threatened CA with withholding aid to the fire ravaged. Trump has said he will deport citizens if he feels like it. Kennedy has openly threatened our health. That can’t be good.
Lack of character, lack of competence across many new govt positions, including POTUS, amplified by false machismo. Great Weekly. “Risk” as a game or in any other form has no meaning in Trump world. Delusion is rampant. Too bad the games that are about to begin are real.
Starting tomorrow, the long-anticipated series, “Tyrannosaurus skating on ice!” What could go wrong?? Stay tuned to find out!!!
New House Rules for Trump Voters, From Your Local Bartender
Would love to hear your thoughts on $Trump.
Nothing Trump has talked about will go according to plan. The ship of state is impossible to steer anywhere close to a desired destination even if you have “the best” people managing all stations. Imagine putting an incompetent real estate don in charge of GM along with his pals Bonzo and Frank the Crank. Cars are never going to cost half as much and go twice as far on a battery or tank of gas. I feel about Trump’s second term like I did the first. The starting conditions politically and economically are set so he could be successful, except he can’t move beyond who he really is, a dimwitted fraud driven by greed and revenge. We are passengers on the biggest and most powerful ship ever built and we’ve chosen Rowdy Noody to be captain. Better not get caught too far away from your lifeboat.
Givers and takers, Trump appeals to takers of all status. They zealously perceive he can give them what they want, whether it’s more stuff from Walmart or public land for profiteering. They are in control for now.
I am hopeful, yet realistic to know the last guardrails of the American experiment are collapsing. It was a great time running with a republic. I wonder what system will replace it. I think King Donnie will only last a short time. Mass deportations will lead to inflation for services like we have never seen before. (Using a phrase popularized by the King)
I think shifting of tax burden further to the backs of the poor is going to create instability, again like we have never seen before.
Despots around the globe will be toasting in an hour or so. Their favorite enemy, USA, has been cut down to size by an internal cult.