Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: The Chinese Leaders Are Laughing *At* You, Donald

Open Thread: The Chinese Leaders Are Laughing *At* You, Donald

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Yesterday:


 
Today…



More context:

… In the absence of a joint statement or joint news conference after their meeting, each side has been putting its own spin on the Buenos Aires summit and its outcome.

Trump portrayed the agreement as a second chance for President Xi Jinping, saying he would give the Chinese leader 90 days to deal with the structural issues in the trading relationship — such as forced technology transfers and industrial espionage. If no deal is reached in that time frame, the American president said, he would go ahead with his previous plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products from 10 percent to 25 percent, which had been due to kick in Jan. 1…

But there was no mention of any of this here Monday.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, ran a photo at the top of Monday’s front page of Trump and Xi shaking hands and smiling. But the story, while stressing agreement and cooperation, said nothing about buying “very substantial” amounts of U.S. agricultural, industrial and energy products, as the White House said, and nothing about the 90-day deadline. Nor was there anything about tariffs on car imports into China…

Neither was there any sign of the White House contention that Xi had promised to reconsider Qualcomm’s bid to buy NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch rival. The $44 billion deal collapsed after Qualcomm, the U.S. smartphone-chip maker, failed to get Chinese regulatory approval.

What Chinese state media outlets did say, however, was that the two sides would work to “gradually” decrease the trade imbalance — a statement that appears to be at odds with the rapid progress that Trump wants.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang did little to clear up the discrepancies Monday, saying that the two sides’ readouts from the meetings spoke for themselves…

The Trump Doctrine: Shout loudly, and waggle your tiny [mushroom].

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    Half the reason I’m on Twitter is for the wit, snark, shade, what have you. Another quarter is Twitter Dick Nixon (which is also wit, snark, shade, what have you). The last quarter is boring stuff like news and work-related things.

    “I’m…GOTCHA MAN!”

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    On a more serious note: China and its leaders are indeed laughing at DJT but more importantly, they’re still moving full steam ahead on all fronts while we try to get our Klown Kar rolling here at Circus Trumpus. Between Trumpov being elected in the first place and then this country wasting – actually, worse than wasting – two full years being undermined from within, it really is more than the Chinese could have ever hoped for at this point in time. They are asserting themselves in almost all industries and R&D, they’re active in all areas of the globe, and on the move militarily as well. Meanwhile, we are being rage-tweeted at multiple times a day by our own “leader”, giving yet more tax cuts to our wealthiest folks and large corporations, and clinging HARD to fossil fuels. Sad!

  3. 3.

    Jerzy Russian

    “Tariff Man”? Jesus, Mary, & Joseph. I don’t know where to begin with that tweet, so I won’t bother.

  5. 5.

    Another Scott

    Joshua Green’s take is too weak.

    Trump lies about [klaxxon]everything[/klaxxon]. Of course he’s lying about what Xi said.

    Duh.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:
    This really isn’t rocket science is it?
    He lies in english or metric, he lies in bright sunlight, he lies in the dark of night, he lies standing up, he lies sitting on the crapper.
    In the dictionary under, “If his lips are moving, he’s lying!” Is his ugly mug. Also under, “If his lips aren’t moving, he’s lying.”
    OK I’ll stop now.

  9. 9.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Ruckus:
    The media is still having a hard time calling him a liar because they don’t want the word “lie” to lose its power or something. It’s maddening.

  12. 12.

    FlipYrWhig

    He genuinely doesn’t know what a tariff is. He thinks it’s like a toll. No one has explained this to him because they think he must know and he’s just doing an act. It’s not an act. He’s fucking stupid.

  14. 14.

    Mandalay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The media is still having a hard time calling him a liar because they don’t want the word “lie” to lose its power or something. It’s maddening.

    It is. A pundit the other day on MSNBC was talking about Trump’s tweeting, and she started to say “…making fals…“, but then corrected herself to say “…making factually inaccurate statements“.

    Apparently even using the word “false” was unacceptable. It’s pathetic.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    @FlipYrWhig:

    He genuinely doesn’t know what a tariff is. He thinks it’s like a toll. No one has explained this to him because they think he must know and he’s just doing an act. It’s not an act. He’s fucking stupid.

    “I’m going to cost you and everyone you know more money to buy things *and* I’m going to kill our export markets.”
    Farmer in Iowa: “Golly. I sometimes think I need to just trust Trump a little more on this.”

  21. 21.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Another Scott:

    Of course he’s lying about what Xi said.

    I suspect it’s very hard for Wall Street to wrap their heads around this. Republicans lie to the hick rubes in the countryside, not the smart people who are rich because they’re so smart and earned it with their superior smartness. Republicans are their friends!

    It’s similar to the news’s problem. The idea that the Republican Party is a party of racism, lies, and stupidity is unbearable. They have to find some other explanation, and it’s getting really difficult.

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    “Alright, give me Ham on five and hold the Mayo.”
    God damn that movie is not so subtle genius.

  23. 23.

    AThornton

    China is building a $2.1 billion AI research and development park for the companies they plan to fund to the tune of $300 to $500 billion. The US will invest a whacking $178 million on AI research over the next year.

    I wonder who is going to own the next generation technology?

  28. 28.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @FlyingToaster:
    @Mandalay:
    It can’t be left unsaid though that J Schools teach the “View from Nowhere” and bothersiderism. They really do believe in that shit. Very few journalists do real investigative work anymore.

  30. 30.

    FlipYrWhig

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Corner Stone: He clearly thinks that “an extra tax on Chinese goods” means “China” — another thing he doesn’t understand: whether that means the government of China or a company in China or people in China — is paying a tax. Remember in one of those recent interviews he was calling it an “interest rate.” He’s just a dumb motherfucker. A dumb motherfucker who thinks he’s a genius.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They have to find some other explanation, and it’s getting really difficult.

    The difficulty is in saying the bullshit with a straight face. Of course by now they have all had more than enough practice. The secondary difficulty is that their bosses boss wants them to say things a certain way and not ever make the republican party look bad, stupid, dumb, moronic, or drumpf. So of course they lie, which strangely enough makes them look, bad, stupid, dumb, moronic and drumpf.
    drumpf is my new word for corrupt, moronic politicians. You earn that moniker you have just hit Marianas Trench depth.
    Mitch McConnell is drumpf.
    Dense Pense is drumpf.
    The list is long but not endless.
    drumpf is master drumpf.

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    Fortunately that’s not actually true.
    The earth may always have some coal, we won’t.

    Of course you were being ironic. I knew that.

  35. 35.

    Hitlesswonder

    @Corner Stone: I’m a bit nonplussed as to why Trump’s incorrect assertion that China is paying tariffs isn’t a news story. Tariffs are are his trade policy…essentially his economic policy and he is either lying about them or doesn’t understand them. Either way, I think most of the public probably thinks China is paying tariffs. Some freaking media outlet needs to run a page one story explaining that Ford is losing a billion dollars because they are paying the stupid tariffs.

  36. 36.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    As soon as I heard that Trump said “big leap forward”, I cringed. But the though the Chinese probably used that phrase with him to see if he was dumb enough to repeat it. And of course he was. Seems like I’m not the only one that occurred to.

    I honestly think that this time under the Cheeto Bandito has allowed iChina to move forward on so many areas that we will never be able to catch up again. This is the beginning of the long, sad to decline of the United States of America. That may not be such a bad thing in the grand scheme of things. But it does kind of suck to live through it and have a third of the nation completely blind to it.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    @FlipYrWhig:

    We have tale after tale that while people try to explain things to him, it’s no use,

    Taking the Oil is probably the best example.

    The most anybody’s managed to get him to retain, briefly, is what he shouldn’t say, but it only sticks for a moment.

    He still doesn’t know why he shouldn’t say something, even though they have tried multiple ways to explain it, all he knows is saying it will make one of the key members of his “team” mad.

    He really is a toddler.

  43. 43.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Yarrow: finally! Dumping syndrome (which isn’t as gross as it sounds) and damaged Vargas nerve. Issue now is finding treatment that helps.

  44. 44.

    Jay

    @Hitlesswonder:

    Economists write about tariffs. 99% are as dumb as the witless wonder and just sell economic propaganda for the 1%.

    If you google it, you will find hundreds of MSM articles on how the US is paying Dolt 45’s tariffs.

    The deplorables and gullibillies, don’t care.

  46. 46.

    Yarrow

    @Steve in the ATL: Oh, wow. That’s one I haven’t heard of. I do know that gargling can help stimulate the vagus nerve. Has to be kind of aggressive gargling–like to the point where your eyes tear up. It can help people with digestion issues because the vagus nerve goes all the way down the body and involves the intestines.

    I don’t know if that might help in your wife’s case. I have a video of a doctor talking about it somewhere. I could look it up if you want but I’d guess you can also find info via google.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:
    Did you just call the republican party the dumb motherfuckers of America?
    Bravo!, Bravo I say…..
    The truth always gets a bravo.
    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:
    We could have eased our way into being a member of the countries of the world, instead of trying to be the Prime Directive of the world. But no, we had to watch the stupid motherfuckers of America vote for the stupidest old fart alive, and live through his further and rapid decline into narcissistic never never land.

  49. 49.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Donald is too motherfucking stupid to know he’s being trolled.

    Goes for his drooling cultists, too. They’re not smart enough to realize that they’re being laughed at by the rest of the world, too.

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    Actually the joke was spot on.
    For exactly the reason you made it. We have to rethink all of our ways of doing things.

  52. 52.

    Mandalay

    @AThornton:

    The US will invest a whacking $178 million on AI research over the next year.

    I have no idea where you plucked that number from, but didn’t it occur to you that it was absurdly low?…

    MIT is investing $1 billion in an AI college

    The Pentagon on Friday announced it would spend more than $2 billion over the next five years to advance the foundations of artificial intelligence technology

    Intel’s venture capital arm has invested more than $1 billion in recent years in startups working on artificial intelligence

    the FY 2019 budget will provide $811 million to the Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program.

    It’s fine to argue that investing more heavily in AI research and AI applications would be money well spent, but to claim that the the US is only spending $178 million on AI research in the next year is laughable. Google alone would be paying more than that just in salaries for its AI researchers.

  53. 53.

    GxB

    Am I the only one that hears a sludgy guitar bend prior to reading the “I am Tariff Man” tweet?

    When peo-ple or count-ries come
    in to raid the great wealth of our Na-tion,
    I — want — them to pay
    for the priv-il-ege of doing so.

    [Hint for those finding this too obscure: think Black Sabbath people, it’s even got Ozzy’s uhm, tortured cadence and non-rhyme thing going on.]

  57. 57.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Market drops 800 points on tariff comments.

    I’m sure glad there’s no moron running for the Democratic nomination who believes in tariffs. Oh wait….

  58. 58.

    VOR

    @Jay: back during the campaign he kept saying how easy it would be to pay off the National Debt. I was puzzled at this until I realized he was confusing the trade deficit with the budget deficit. I wonder if he still thinks his tariffs will close the budget gap. Which of course has grown under the Trump Mal-administration.

  59. 59.

    Chris Johnson

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Jesus Christ, give it a rest. Nobody cares about Bernie Sanders anymore.

    The way you carry on it’s like you’re punching a time clock in Siberia, come to yammer about a nearly dead politician on Balloon Juice just to make sure liberal voices never stop conflating last season’s Socialist with white supremacists and Republican economics.

    Weirdly, Trump being into tariffs is far from right-wing orthodoxy: I think that’s actually being fed to him by Russians, just to fuck with everybody. On the one hand, get Trump fired up about anti-free-market policy to wreck the US economy, and on the other, send ‘David Suspiciously Obsessed With Last Election’s Double Loser Koch’ to make liberals say even crazier things in front of a fed-up audience of newly empowered millennial voters.

    Give it a REST. Nobody over 70 years old should be running this country. For that matter, markets should not be running this country, and your hyping of the reaction of the market is helping Trump wreck it, because markets are retarded stupid panicky things with no right to take on the importance they’re given.

  60. 60.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Chris Johnson: В Сибири удивительно тепло. Плюс женщины здесь, с их евро-азиатскими чертами, невероятно великолепны.

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