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‘An Artificial And Unnecessary Crisis’
Donald Trump on Tuesday said he's never been inclined to fire Jerome Powell. It was a comically braz
Wish your writing reached a broader audience.
You keep saying Turkey,like it’s a bad thing. Jk. I look forward to Jared as the next head of the treasury.
Annnnnd Trump caves again, saying he never intended to fire Powell; more leverage to Powell, not that he needed it. Bessent trotted out to acknowledge current US/China tariffs are untenable and promise a negotiated “re-coupling” of trade; more leverage to China, not that they needed it. Any more brilliant 3D chess moves I’ve missed in the past day?
I added a bunch to this article after Trump’s remarks on Tuesday. Read it again. He saw that market reaction on Monday and tried to act, on Tuesday, like he didn’t just call the guy a “major loser” and threaten to “terminate” him. Like we all didn’t see him say those things. And like those social media messages aren’t still there, on TruthSocial.
I am sure there are many.
Next brilliant 3D chess move from Deal Artist – partly rolling back tariffs on China as peace offering to beg Xi to talk?
The begging and projection really has been funny to watch. First there was “All China has to do is pick up the phone.” When they didn’t, he just started declaring, “Everyone wants to make a deal! Even China!” Like I don’t imagine Xi Jinping is the sort of person who laughs all that often, but I guarantee at some point, an aide has walked into his office, said, “You are not going to believe what Trump just posted,” and then actual belly laughs have ensued.
I think while Trump nominally prefers “winning” as it is conventionally defined and expected, the fact is he’s focused on his personal money and power via grievance regardless. If he can pull off winning in the process, then great, but winning’s hard and it feels almost as good for a sociopath like him to just be able to see how much he can lazily fuck things up as consolation. “I could’ve driven the stock market right into the ground, and I didn’t. Some said I should have. But all the fools were lining up to kiss MY ass. Please sir. Make a deal. Think about that. I could have ended groceries. Such a nice word. I didn’t want to do it.”
The cynic in me thinks two things. First, Trump dug around in what’s left of his Mar-A-Lardo files and found nothing to suggest Powell ever committed mortgage fraud or visited Epstein Island, so has had to resort to jawboning and un-Constitutional backroom fuckery in the meantime. And second, I’d love to see Powell trot out a surprise 25 bp hike in a couple weeks, not so much in order “not to be late” on incipient reinflation, but as a declaration of independence that only a bully might understand.
In the trumpworld, this ” well, the boss didn’t really mean it, so let’s move on …..” is fine and happens every day (minute). But out in the world, businessmen don’t get away with this. New CEOs come in all the time, when this kind of crap goes on.
Right now, no one can trust anything the president says, no one. Not us, not other countries, and not even the echoing sycophants surrounding him.