Tuesday Open Thread

19 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. Well, we are exporting something to Mexico without tariffs. Unfortunately, it's measles.

   https://www.wired.com/story/as-measles-cases-surge-mexico-issues-a-us-travel-alert/

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   1. It is a tariff-free two-way trade, apparently.  3 of 5 cases in Colorado emerged after visits to Mexico.

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   2. As I said during COVID, viruses don't care about human-made borders.  

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2. "Pathetic." Paul Krugman.

   Will Trump manage to make any trade deals? I guess it’s possible that Trump will announce trade deals with a few countries here and there. But his ability to get even fake deals is rapidly dwindling, for two reasons.

   First, he’s plunging in the polls. True, he’s insisting that the polls are wrong and that pollsters should be investigated for election fraud. And the MAGA base may believe him. But this denial just makes him look even more pathetic to foreign governments, and they won’t be inclined to throw a drowning Trump a lifeline.

   Second, Trump’s trade war is about to have a disastrous effect on the U.S. economy — more disastrous than even pessimistic economists, myself included, expected. Tariffs always raise prices. But the sheer size and suddenness of Trump’s tariffs, combined with the paralyzing effect of uncertainty about what comes next, are about to deliver a Covid-type supply shock to an economy already sliding into recession. This looming disaster, which will further weaken Trump, makes it even less likely that our main trading partners will help him pretend that he’s achieving anything.

   Oh, and Amazon is planning to show the effects of tariffs on its prices — and the White House has gone berserk.

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   1. Didn't he already claim to have made more trade deals than there are countries?

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   2. Bezos has already backed down on the transparency in pricing that Amazon was planning to do.

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3. I would like to see increased media attention and pressure from Dems on the most malign force in Trumpworld….Stephen Miller.

   I recall clearly the first words I heard him speak, just after the first election.

   He was being interviewed on a Sunday morning talk show, when the interviewer asked him about some inconsistency in his comments. He coldly snapped…" We will not be questioned".

   Fascist, for sure.

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   1. I'd like to see them flood the media with everything. Give each Congressperson a different topic and have each do their best to get interviews, write guest opinion columns, post to TikTok, Twitter, etc. Every bloody day.

      I think the top Dems worry too much about getting on the same page and controlling the message of the day. Fuck that. Let a thousand flowers bloom. Have the gigantic mass of issues overpower Trump.

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      1. Heather Cox Richardson seems to agree with you, and points to a clear example of the ramped up opposition:

         Letters from an American April 28, 2025

         There has been a change afoot in the Democratic Party for a while now as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against MAGAs and articulating their own vision for the United States.

         That shift burst dramatically into the open last night when Democratic Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker gave a barn-burning speech to Democrats in New Hampshire. After walking out to the American Authors song “Go Big or Go Home,” Pritzker urged Democrats to stop listening to “do-nothing political types” who are calling for caution at a time when Americans are demanding urgent action, and to “fight—EVERYWHERE AND ALL AT ONCE.”

         A slightly different take from Jen Rubin at The Contrarian: 

         Trump is worse off than he was 100 days ago

         • Despite a slow start, Democratic congressional leaders are getting their act together, and a cadre of stars (e.g., New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries) have actively stepped up.

         I'm not yet convinced that Democrats in Congress have converged on a strategy that will show a unified opposition to even the worst moves of the Trump Mad!-ministration. Until they do, we'll need to continue to hope their various messages of protest, the legal arguments, and the flurry of politics to highlight the ties between Trump and the Republicans in Congress will be enough.

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         1. Democratic congressional leaders are getting their act together, and a cadre of stars

            Doing some of that is fine. But have every Congressperson speak to what they are most charged up about, with their own arguments, via the media channels they can best use.

            I think it dilutes things to spend time trying to find issues and positions they all agree on. Screw that. Hit Trump with every counter argument on every issue. Bannon says flood the media with shit. I say we should flood the media with ideas and proposals and visions of a better tomorrow.

            Then once we win, argue among ourselves which of all those ideas we'll move forward on.

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            1. To add a point. The Dems in Congress are unlikely to win on anything at present. Go ahead and try where we can but the job right now is not to propose legislation. It's not to say elect Dems and we'll accomplish these three things. The sole job right now is to point out all the horrible things Trump is doing.

               The 2026 election should be on the issue of Trump vs. thoughtful experienced leadership. The 2028 election should be about more Trump disasters vs. recovering from the Trump disaster.

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            2. The Democratic party can't really do that without irritating their own cadre of billionaire donors (often the same billionaires the Republicans are serving). So any argument has to be carefuly crafted not to imply that wealth inequality is driving these issues.

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4. "Inflation Bites" Me.

   Food inflation is not my problem. I don't really care if an egg cost 50cents instead of 30cents. Shopping the produce aisle is pretty cheap; I avoid the processed conveneince foods in the middle shelves at the store.

   Buying a new camera is discretionary; I'll just keep my really good present camera rather than pay huge tariff increase .

   HOWEVER…

   • My home escrow costs have gone up $200/month over the past two years.
   • My car insurance also went up $200/month over two years. (I confess it is easy to get caught for speeding if you have an electric car.)
   • My term life insurance also went up $100/month.

   That's a $500 monthly hit. Insurance companies are clearly anticipating an inflationary spike in their costs and profits, which is actually causing an immediate inflationary spike for me.

   I'm aware that the definition of inflation is a wage-price spiral. But my Social Security has been going up only $100/month each year.

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   1. I saw a twitter exchange (should have saved it) that went something like:

      Why do my Temu purchases have this added Import charges?

      Update: Anyone who blames Trump in their answer will be blocked!

      Everyone sees the problem. Most see who to blame. And the Trump dead enders… even they will start to understand as it continues.

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      1. So much for Elon Musk as the “free speech absolutionist”.

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5. Can the Spain/Portugal Blackout Happen Here?

   Yes. But it's less likely (today) and should be more limited

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6. Mother Theresa was no saint. 

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7. "Trump has already Lost." Headline at Talking Point Memo.

   That isn't to say that things won't get worse. But Trump is like Wiley Coyote who has just run off the cliff with the anvil heading dow, but doesn't know it yet.

   Specifically, Trump has lost the popular opinion war, and the US consumers haven't yet felt the brunt of the tariffs and trade war with our allies. Container ship traffic from China is collapsing, which will start showing up in May.

   Trucking companies are SOL; sorry to our Trucking Trumpy-Only-Fans.

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8. Perhaps the Canadians will be kind enough to send us election monitors for the 2026 midterms.

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