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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: And If I Were A Foot Taller, My BMI Would Be Admirable!

Open Thread: And If I Were A Foot Taller, My BMI Would Be Admirable!

by Anne Laurie|  August 18, 20194:24 pm| 99 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, All Too Normal

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Would the United States benefit from, say, adding Canada to the country? Sure!

Will it happen? No!

Would the @dcexaminer give Trump credit for thinking it would be neat to acquire Canada? Apparently, depressingly, yes.

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 18, 2019

We’re doomed. Financially as well, because the Repubs don’t want a President, they want a god-emperor. And the top applicant for that position turned out to be — surprise! — insane. Per the Washington Post:

… Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and White House trade director Peter Navarro between them appeared on all five Sunday morning shows to defend the president’s economic record and argue that his trade offensive against China isn’t harming American producers or consumers.

Their push came days after bond market investors sent a powerful signal that they see a potential downturn looming, and economists from Wall Street and beyond further whittled growth forecasts for a record-length economic expansion that appears to be slowing.

“I don’t see a recession at all,” Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he urged Americans, “Let’s not be afraid of optimism.”

“Consumers are working at higher wages,” Kudlow said. “They are spending at a rapid pace. They’re actually saving also while they’re spending. That’s an ideal situation. So I think actually the second half, the economy’s going to be very good in 2019.”

On ABC News’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Navarro maintained that a recession could be staved off if the Federal Reserve stops raising interest rates and banks in Europe and in China make similar moves…

Actual economists insist that neither of these mooks are capable of predicting a bathroom run after an all-night boozer, but the important part of their job is telling the Oval Office Occupant that his every passing delusional outburst is a work of unparalleled brilliance.

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Reader Interactions

99Comments

  1. 1.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 18, 2019 at 4:27 pm

    they want a god-emperor.

    They want an asshole. Saying stupid shit is part of the job qualification.

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 18, 2019 at 4:27 pm

    Kudlow was drunk during his Meet the Press appearance.

    WATCH: Larry Kudlow talks to Chuck Todd about fears over weakness in the economy. #MTP #IfItsSunday

    Kudlow: "I sure don't see a recession" pic.twitter.com/MgJdKMdXmS

    — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 18, 2019

  3. 3.

    Baud

    August 18, 2019 at 4:29 pm

    Did they ever say why Trump wanted Greenland? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the official line.

  4. 4.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 18, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I think that’s been suggested of some of his earlier appearances.

  5. 5.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 18, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Ya! Quite the Twitter chatter about that appearance.
    Dear. Lord.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 4:35 pm

    It’s taken Trump three years to find economists who will agree with his beliefs. And it’s worth noting that you could replace the word ‘economists’ with ‘lawyers’ or ‘generals’ or ‘foreign policy experts’— the crucial requirement is ‘agree with his beliefs’ and the crucial quality is a lack of character.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 18, 2019 at 4:35 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: @MagdaInBlack: Yes and yes. It isn’t surprising to me that he would have fallen off the wagon. Especially given the high stress levels he’s subjecting himself to by taking the job he’s currently in compared to just being a talking head on CNBC. There is a difference between not having any education and/or training and/or credentials in economics and playing one on cable news and not having any education and/or training and/or credentials in economics and being the President’s senior economics advisor. Especially given that this President actually knows less about economics than Kudlow does.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    August 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

    Kudlow is always wrong about everything, so we’re definitely going to have a recession.

  9. 9.

    Wag

    August 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

    @Baud:

    Did they ever say why Trump wanted Greenland? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the official line.

    Because its there.

    It is a nice distraction from anything and everything else.

  10. 10.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    There’s going to be a really bad recession, isn’t there.

    Seeing Kudlow deny it, now I’m certain.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    @Baud: Because, because, because, because, because.

  12. 12.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    Look what the president is tweeting:

    pic.twitter.com/JDS4zVfyBe— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019

  13. 13.

    cmorenc

    August 18, 2019 at 4:43 pm

    One key difference between current Greenland-owner Denmark and back-then owners of the Louisiana Purchase territory (France) and Alaska (Russia) was that in the latter case, the original owning countries were in need of cash and quite willing to sell off territory which at the time, seemed to them only marginally more useful and secure to try to hold onto than a white Elephant. Also, even if Denmark was even a tiny bit tempted to consider selling Greenland (they aren’t), the Danes are smart enough to be too-wary of Trump’s actual record as a businessman and his persistent inclination to try to screw over everyone he does deals with, to ever be willing to enter any deal to sell Greenland to the US while Trump is President.

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    August 18, 2019 at 4:43 pm

    We’re doomed. Financially as well, because the Repubs don’t want a President, they want a god-emperor. And the top applicant for that position turned out to be — surprise! — insane.

    Haven’t all god-emperors through out time been insane?

  15. 15.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    @Mary G: Kudlow should be sitting on a barstool, beer-in-hand.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    August 18, 2019 at 4:47 pm

    @MattF:

    Because, because, because, because, because.

    Because of all the wonderful things he does?

  17. 17.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 4:47 pm

    Former powerful political pundit and author Mark Halperin has recently signed a deal to publish a book on Trump-era political strategy, his first major project since his career derailed in October 2017 amid multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and harassment.

    As first reported by Politico Playbook, the disgraced Game Change author inked a deal with Regan Arts to publish How to Beat Trump: America’s Top Political Strategists on What It Will Take. The book, which is scheduled to come out in November, will focus on interviews with dozens of Democratic political strategists, including Donna Brazile, James Carville, Jennifer Granholm, and Kathleen Sebelius.

    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/08/serial-sex-abuser-gets-contract-to-write-unreadable-book

  18. 18.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    @cmorenc: Trump has never understood the point of getting out of town when the con is over. Everyone knows him now, everyone knows his game.

  19. 19.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 18, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    Here’s a nice analysis of Trump and Greenland and why the Louisiana Purchase isn’t a model. Times change.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 4:52 pm

    @Baud: Flying monkeys, real soon now.

  21. 21.

    kindness

    August 18, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    The clip I saw this morning, Kudrow looked and sounded drunk. Not sure if it was Crooks & Liars or Raw Story. Probably RS. They go for the sensationalism.

  22. 22.

    Quinerly

    August 18, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I only heard it. Didn’t watch. Immediately said to Poco, “Kudlow’s drunk this morning.” Poco agreed. ?

  23. 23.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 18, 2019 at 4:58 pm

    @MattF:
    Pretty sure Kelly Ann qualifies.

  24. 24.

    cain

    August 18, 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Kudlow is only talking to one person not the rest of the country. That Chuck Todd just sits around doing nothing shows that his show is really about giving people a stage unless of course you are a Democrat then of course there is all kinds of pushy questions, he seems to find himself a journalist then but not for republicans who spew.

    I vaguely remember him doing a mea culpa about his coverage about 2016 and others and promised to do better. What an ass.

  25. 25.

    Bill Arnold

    August 18, 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Good to see. Includes some comments on Elizabeth Bruenig’s excellent 2019/08/14 piece.[0]
    Do Conservative Evangelicals Like Trump Not Despite But for His Hatefulness? (Ed Kilgore, 2019/08/18)

    Yes, this sort of relish in the discomfort of the targets of Trump’s frequent bouts of hate-rage is a bit out of line with the teachings of the Prince of Peace, but conservative Evangelicals have long been inclined to value Law over Gospel, and righteousness over love. When the Moral Majority turned, to their shock, into an embattled minority, the desire to supplant the sweet Jesus with his angry Old Testament Father became steadily more apparent. And now, for many of these folks, Trump is like the gentile Shabbas goy who serves Orthodox Jews by performing necessary tasks forbidden to them.

    I was looking a bit at evangelical support for D.J. Trump yesterday. Very interesting. I think the support is rather theologically fragile. Could wax ugly about Prosperity Gospel types (Radical Mammonites) like Paula White, and DJT’s abstracted attraction to them, but this is more positive:
    A sometimes rambling, sometimes quite sharp piece on Christianity and Trump, by a co-pastor of a progressive church in Ann Arbor.
    Preaching in the Age of Trump (Ken Wilson, Oct 16, 2018)

    Donald Trump and the cultural backlash he represents is not difficult to decode.
    The President of the United States trucks in racism, white supremacy, misogyny, trans-and-homophobia, and that form of idolatry called “nationalism” (distinct from love of one’s own nation.) He practices a brazen form of scapegoating — seeking to channel and project the anxieties of the many on the vulnerable few (the press, Muslims, immigrants, people of color, Native Americans, sexual minorities, and anyone who crosses him.)

    Medium: Solus Jesus – A Theology of Resistance
    Book: Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance (Emily Swan, Ken Wilson, 2018)
    I’ve some technical theological differences (details, not broad theme) with them so probably won’t read the book, but the medium pieces have some thoughtful elements.

    [0] In God’s country – Evangelicals view Trump as their protector. Will they stand by him in 2020? (Elizabeth Bruenig, August 14, 2019)

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    August 18, 2019 at 5:00 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He sounds like Jon Hamm’s imitation of drunk James Mason on Bill Hader’s Vincent Price Halloween Special.

  27. 27.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 5:00 pm

    Guys, if Larry Kudlow could handle a $100k per month cocaine habit in the 90s I think he can handle the US economy now.

    (Albeit under deficit-exploding tax cuts for the rich, & a tariff war he has to pretend he supports.)

    — John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 18, 2019

  28. 28.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 5:02 pm

    Is Dana making advances towards an obviously inebriated Kudlow?

    Dana asks Larry Kudlow about purchasing Greenland "The President knows a thing or two about buying real estate" #FNS pic.twitter.com/HeaxR49JuU— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) August 18, 2019

  29. 29.

    Bill Arnold

    August 18, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    @Baud:

    Did they ever say why Trump wanted Greenland? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the official line.

    I figured it was some sort of unholy combination like hearing/seeing news stories about the melting of the Greenland ice cap and thinking about green golf courses, perhaps an obtuse way of admitting that he’s wrong about global warming, and an homage to Lex Luthor asking for Australia in Superman II
    Does the WSJ have anything more boring?

  30. 30.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Also, Ben Howe’s book ‘The Immoral Majority’. Howe is a no-foolin’ Tea Partyer, but he’s done with Trump. It’s not an easy read because the point of view is so alien, but I think it’s worth the effort to try.

  31. 31.

    Dan B

    August 18, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    My concern about Drezner’s idea of Trump purchasing Canada is the response of the Canadiens. Quebec secession! Or T discovering America has to go bilingual.

  32. 32.

    hells littlest angel

    August 18, 2019 at 5:08 pm

    If you’ve been up all night snorting coke, having a few drinks in the morning is just good sense.

  33. 33.

    Butter Emails

    August 18, 2019 at 5:12 pm

    If the 56,000 Greenlanders are worth purchasing, why aren’t we accepting the 100s of thousands willing to travel thousands of miles just to join our national family as well as the millions already here?

  34. 34.

    James E Powell

    August 18, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    When I see headlines like the one on Kilgore’s article, I see a deliberate effort to protect the hateful bigots who call themselves Christians. One would have to be willfully obtuse not to know that right-wing Christians thrive on hatred and oppression of non-whites, the poor, and the powerless.

  35. 35.

    zhena gogolia

    August 18, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    I didn’t know about his cocaine addiction. Apparently it was Gen. Kelly who signed off on him. No biggie.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    August 18, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    and argue that his trade offensive against China isn’t harming American producers or consumers.

    Are you fucking kidding me? The farmers are getting bailouts they don’t really need? We are being led by idiots. Is this is the kind of acumen the Economics Departments of our universities are producing?

    The farmers will never get their markets back. Ever. This country is no longer a reliable partner. Why would another country trust the U.S. ever again?

    And where are the people of courage to stand up to these assholes and call them out every time they say stupid things like this?

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    August 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    @debbie:

    where are the people of courage to stand up to these assholes and call them out every time they say stupid things like this?

    They’re not Chuck Todd, that’s for damn sure.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    August 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    You realize of course those “blockbuster numbers” from last week were the tax-free sales going on everywhere? Gah, these idiots!

  39. 39.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    the Repubs don’t want a President, they want a god-emperor.

    Specifically, God-Emperor of Dung, fourth in the series (Dung, Dung Meshugah, Offspring of Dung) featuring the planet Aufrackus, aka Dung, covered to an average depth of 278 meters in dessicated bullshit, in which Cheeto Atrocities slithers his overweight carcass into a garment stitched together from the bodies of millions of intestinal parasites & declares his intention to rule for every election cycle he can get his short vulgar fingers around…

  40. 40.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    August 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    If Cocaine Larry Kudlow doesn’t see a recession, then we’re doomed.

    On Christmas 2007 he wrote, “we are about to enter the seventh consecutive year of the Bush boom.” Anyone who thinks otherwise, he added with flair, “are going to wind up with egg on their faces.”

    Three months later, his former employer Bear Stearns would be gone and 9 months later the economy would collapse.

  41. 41.

    Butter Emails

    August 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    @debbie:

    And where are the people of courage to stand up to these assholes and call them out every time they say stupid things like this?

    Those people are called Democrats and liberals. The press doesn’t bother having them on very often because being sane and right is so totally boring.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    August 18, 2019 at 5:20 pm

    @Baud:

    Ivanka thought it might be fun.

  43. 43.

    JDH

    August 18, 2019 at 5:20 pm

    Think of the possibilities if we could instead get Greenland to buy the US a president.

  44. 44.

    hells littlest angel

    August 18, 2019 at 5:20 pm

    @Butter Emails: Ever confident in his success, Trump has already had 56,000 eviction notices printed up.

  45. 45.

    Duane

    August 18, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    @germy: ” Go shopping!”

  46. 46.

    Duane

    August 18, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    @MagdaInBlack: Pretty sure Kellyanne gets a house dropped on her evil ass.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    August 18, 2019 at 5:25 pm

    @cain:

    I’d like to see whichever Democrat next appears on his show to ask Todd exactly that: “Why aren’t you treating me the way you treat your Republican guests?”

  48. 48.

    David Koch

    August 18, 2019 at 5:25 pm

    Portland Thorns issue No-Nazi/No-Fascist policy (photo) ⚽

  49. 49.

    Citizen Alan

    August 18, 2019 at 5:27 pm

    I’m sure the Puerto Ricans are thrilled at this point about the benefits of being in our national family.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    August 18, 2019 at 5:28 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Do you suppose there’s a full bar in the green rooms?? I bet there is, for people to fortify themselves before a nationwide broadcast potentially full of dangers.

  51. 51.

    PsiFighter37

    August 18, 2019 at 5:29 pm

    Kudlow is an idiot. I had to watch him every day for almost 10 years be wrong about everything on CNBC before Donnie decided that he would be the best choice to replace Gary Cohn. The man’s a tool and is a TV commentator passing for an actual economist. He knows less about economics than I do, and I haven’t taken an economics course in almost 15 years.

  52. 52.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 5:31 pm

    Chuck Todd reads Larry Kudlow his own quote from December 2007:

    "There's no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It's not going to happen. … The Bush boom is alive and well. It's finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come." pic.twitter.com/Q9Y3J0ebNz

    — Axios (@axios) August 18, 2019

  53. 53.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 5:31 pm

    On Charlottesville's anniversary, Unite the Right attendee + Florida Director of Latinos for Trump, Enrique Tarrio with Joe Biggs, led 300 #ProudBoys, white nationalists + III%ers into #Portland – who quickly showed them the door. Thread on what the media's already getting wrong. pic.twitter.com/pSDbZoQ16x— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) August 18, 2019

  54. 54.

    MattF

    August 18, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    @J R in WV: I’d bet there’s at least a bottle or two of the good stuff.

  55. 55.

    m.j.

    August 18, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    I don’t know why anyone wonders about the possibility of recession. The surest sign of impending recession is electing a Republican for POTUS.

  56. 56.

    namekarB

    August 18, 2019 at 5:35 pm

    Perhaps Trump could offer to trade, say, California in exchange for Greenland. I can only guess that 56,000 (residents of Greenland) would be against that trade. Not unrelated would be the desire of the 3 Pacific states to secede and join Canada.

  57. 57.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 18, 2019 at 5:35 pm

    @debbie:

    Is this is the kind of acumen the Economics Departments of our universities are producing?

    Kudlow doesn’t have a degree in Economics. His Bachelors is in History, and he never completed his Masters.

  58. 58.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 18, 2019 at 5:36 pm

    @Duane:
    Thats a beautiful image, thank you !

  59. 59.

    M. Bouffant

    August 18, 2019 at 5:38 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: That gave me a LOL, especially as I saw some chunks of the movie last wk. on the telly.

  60. 60.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    August 18, 2019 at 5:38 pm

    I’ve been now around long — you know, I think of myself as a young guy, but I’m not so young anymore. And I’ve been around for a long time. And it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.

    Now, it shouldn’t be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats.
    ***

    But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we’ve had some pretty bad disasters under the Republicans.

    Dump
    March 21, 2004

  61. 61.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    This is at least the THIRD arrest of this kind in the past 10 days. A white supremacist was arrested in Vegas for plotting to shoot up a synagogue & gay bar.Another white supremacist was arrested in FL for plotting to target a Walmart. https://t.co/lZwGWIivZh— Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) August 18, 2019

  62. 62.

    germy

    August 18, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    Pinned tweet from Kudlow:

    The Donald Trump presidency is the result of the Barack Obama presidency.— Larry Kudlower ?? (@kuddlow) July 1, 2018

  63. 63.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    Correction: at least the FOURTHhttps://t.co/k1LGjT6LEo— Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) August 18, 2019

  64. 64.

    chopper

    August 18, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    god, it’s almost word-for-word what kudlow said back in the end of 2007. ‘there’s no recession on the horizon, trust me, it’s just gonna get better”.

    WASF.

  65. 65.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 5:45 pm

    On the day the @nytimes officially launches it’s #1619Project reframing how we discuss the legacy of slavery they feature white supremacist Stephen Miller on THE FRONT PAGE (1619 under the fold) calling him a “firebrand” instead of what he is, a racist. @deanbaquet #SundayMorning pic.twitter.com/5Z76R5oJX0— Maya Contreras (@mayatcontreras) August 18, 2019

  66. 66.

    debbie

    August 18, 2019 at 5:47 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Wikipedia tells me Navarro got a PhD In Economics from Harvard. He’s even stupider.

  67. 67.

    M. Bouffant

    August 18, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    @namekarB: My hope: One nation, composed of British Columbia, Wash., Ore., Calif., Baja California & Baja California Sur. The Coast is the most!

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    August 18, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    And about 3 weeks before that Xmas, the recession was already obvious to this then small business owner and every other small business owner around me. And the signs were there if you had a clue and actually studied them before that. But Larry couldn’t find his ass with both hands or even either hand. It’s possible that one of those hands was busy at the time, laying out lines while the other was holding a glass of alcoholic beverage to wash it down with, but that’s just speculation. But because he can’t find his own ass (and he is all fucking ass – so it should be easy) Larry would never be able to find a clue and wouldn’t know what to do with it if he stumbled upon it. Because he wouldn’t recognize it as a clue.

  69. 69.

    Chris T.

    August 18, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: To be fair, he could be medically unfit, rather than drunk.

    But I believe “drunk”.

  70. 70.

    J R in WV

    August 18, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    We went to a community picnic at a lakeside summer camp nearby, at which we knew nearly everyone but a couple of friends of friends.

    One guy was wearing a Puerto Rico tee shirt, and has been hired to work on a FEMA contract to do management of recovery work in Puerto Rico. He’s been doing that for 18 years now, and is really excited.

    I hope the reality exceeds his expectations!

    This contract should take him to retirement, and it comes with a per diem and periodic visits home.

  71. 71.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 5:50 pm

    The Pentagon inspector general issued a report saying that the Islamic State is again growing in power. The report specifically said Trump's decision to rapidly draw down troops in Syria and pull diplomatic staff from Iraq allowed militants to regroup. https://t.co/CH82ug0fGD— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2019

  72. 72.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 18, 2019 at 5:51 pm

    @cain: Who was it that kissed their own asses about their 2016 coverage? Was it the FTFNYT? (Can’t remember – 30 years was long ago)

  73. 73.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 18, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    @Ruckus:
    Mr.Kudlow is being paid to ignore the clues, not find them.
    Maybe?
    Eta: not that he isnt an idiot. But, he’s just doing the job he’s paid to do.

  74. 74.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 18, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    @Duane: Two houses.

  75. 75.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    August 18, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    @debbie:

    The farmers will never get their markets back. Ever. This country is no longer a reliable partner. Why would another country trust the U.S. ever again?

    To any foreign country who thinks this way, I say this: this could very easily happen to you, too, especially in this age of disinformation campaigns via the internet

  76. 76.

    patrick II

    August 18, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    @Baud:
    Unofficial white House sources said it was because of the future availability of resources as Grieenland’s ice melts. ( because of climate change that isn’t happening).
    Also unofficial- it’s populated by white people.
    Grandiosity- it fits in with the wonderfulness of the Trump presidency as he imagines it, unfettered by the reality of it not being for sale.

  77. 77.

    namekarB

    August 18, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @M. Bouffant:

    One nation, composed of British Columbia, Wash., Ore., Calif., Baja California & Baja California Sur. The Coast is the most!

    Oooh, I see “Pacific States of America.” We could probably make room for Hawaii too

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    August 18, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @m.j.:
    Yep.
    It must be in the guarantee.
    Here it is:
    “No matter what else we do, and it will be bad for everyone except the rich, who will reward us well for making them filthier rich, we will cause a recession. Not to worry though, we will do a lot of other stupid and horrible stuff.”

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    August 18, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    @MagdaInBlack:
    Snort coke and drink like a fish? He seems to be good at those. Not so much at anything else.

    I understand that he couldn’t be paid to be a lush, not officially but he can’t even lie reasonably well. He’s useless other than as a bar stool weight.

  80. 80.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    August 18, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    @Jay:

    Those idiots are vowing to keep returning to Portland, Oregon until all Antifa disbands or some such bullshit. It’s some asinine tit-for-tat. Why even Portland in the first place? This reminds me of Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation by idiot Oafkeepers. Other right-wing militias showed up in neighboring towns and didn’t give one shit whether the locals wanted them there or not. I believe there’s stories or videos of RWNJ militia trying to intimidate local protesters. So much for being small government freedom lovers. Just thugs with guns. The same goes for the Proud Boys

  81. 81.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 18, 2019 at 6:40 pm

    @Ruckus:
    He was hired to assure us that the emperor is indeed, fully clothed and everything is just fine.
    Apparently that requires a good stiff drink or 10.

  82. 82.

    Mike in NC

    August 18, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    Fat Bastard wanted to buy Greenland to rebrand it as “Trumpland”, a potential utopia filled with snowy white, buxom hotties in need of groping. Plus a lot of real estate to sell to Russian oligarchs. At least that was what he took away from Watching FOX & Friends.

  83. 83.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 6:55 pm

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

    It’s called Supply Chains. It takes a long time to set up the Credit, Contracts, Inspections, Standards, Payments, Shipments.

    It’s not like going down to the WaWa and buying a sack of flour.

    In Tech, which moves very fast, a crash program takes 18 months to get a new chip on the board, and out to customers.

    And you still need that “stuff”.

    So, when Orangemandius blows up 40+ years of carefully constructed trade agreements and trade rules in a petulant fit,

    In the short term you counter tariff, or pay more, and start looking for new suppliers ASAP, many of whom will be happy to meet or exceed expectations. Low margin sectors of the economies can’t survive long with the costs of tariffs and sanctions.

    Companies that have migrated to new suppliers, have no need to ever “come back” to US Suppliers.

    For one, they have replaced them.

    For two, Orangemandius has proven that in the case of the US, Trade Treaties and Global Trade Rules, negotiated over decades, and modified over decades, ratified by Congress, are completely meaningless.

    The US Government, on trade, is seen as an “Institution” like a Bank. It’s supposed to follow and enforce the agreed rules.

    If a Bank cheats to steal your money, and deny you loans, are you going to ever go back to that Bank?

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    August 18, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    We may hit a recession, but the larger problem is that Trump is a bumbling amateur whose mismanagement of the economy hurts both business and consumers. His tax cuts were supposed to help businesses, but he is undermining them with his tariffs and misguided trade policies which end up increasing business costs. And no matter how he tries to spin it, his tariffs increase costs that consumers pay for goods, again eroding the benefit of the tax cuts for individuals. Even Trump realized how he had blundered, so he ended up delaying additional tariffs on China, otherwise all the Christmas season inventory would become more expensive.

    And yet, because he is fundamentally ignorant when it comes to economic policy, he keeps coming back to the same false solutions, tariffs and pointless belligerence aimed at both our allies and supposed opponents such as China. Early on China was puzzled by Trump’s rhetoric and honestly looked for room to compromise. And even if you accept that China is not a totally honest broker, it is foolish to entirely box them in and not allow for any tangible agreement. So finally China got fed up and started to fight back. Hard. And they have more options than Trump, and can even pressure North Korea to make Trump look like even more of an idiot. And even if China “loses” the trade war with the US, they will still have strong relationships with the EU, and with Africa and with other Asian markets.

    Meanwhile, Trump will keep fumbling, and blame the Fed for his own errors.

    And coming back to fears of a recession, an additional problem is that Trump will not have a clue how to deal with it should he be re-elected.

    All these problems are magnified by the stupid loyalty of Trump’s economic advisors, who blindly support Trump. They cannot even claim that they are supporting conservative values or free market principles. Trump is his making shit up and they grovel and kiss his ass. And there is no reason for any honest reporter to pretend that anything this administration says about the economy is worth documenting.

    And the problem for the Democrats in Congress is how to blunt the impact of Trump’s increasingly incompetent decisions.

  85. 85.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 7:02 pm

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

    Why Portland?

    It’s a liberal cosmopolitan city surrounded by buttfuck Oregon in a State that made it illegal for minorities to move there, at its founding.

    It’s a City who’s Police Force and Civic “Leaders” have welcomed and protected out of City/State Nazis for over 40 years and who’s communities have rallied to drive the Nazis out for over 40 years.

  86. 86.

    tybee

    August 18, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: i’ll raise you a house.

  87. 87.

    Keith P.

    August 18, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    Maybe Trump tries to take Greenland Crimea-style -> claim some crisis that necessitates sending a bunch of troops there and then spoofing a bunch of polls showing that Greenland citizens *want* to be US citizens.

  88. 88.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    August 18, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    @Jay:
    Thanks. I thought Portland and Oregon’s histories as Bigot Havens since their foundlings (at least until recently for Portland and to a lesser extent Oregon).

  89. 89.

    Jay

    August 18, 2019 at 7:16 pm

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

    There are very few Nazis in Portland. There’s not even a lot left in Oregon.

    They had to bring in Nazis from all across the US to get 300.

  90. 90.

    Amir Khalid

    August 18, 2019 at 7:27 pm

    Trump’s trade war vs. China may come to include such things as all manner of musical instruments and related gear. That’s a reminder of how comprehensive the list is, of things that China makes and Americans buy. I don’t there’s any category of manufactured prduct that isn’t going to be affected by these crazy tariffs

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 18, 2019 at 7:32 pm

    @tybee: Three houses dropped on Kellyanne Conjob? OK!

  92. 92.

    Sloane Ranger

    August 18, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    The whole idea of buying Greenland shows how out of touch Trump is to the modern world. Hell, it was an old fashioned idea in the 1940’s when the Truman administration were considering it.

    It’s one thing to buy land that’s unpopulated or settled by people whose opinions don’t have to be considered because you don’t think they have any rights, which is what happened with the Louisiana and Alaska purchases, it’s another thing to sell land from under people who are citizens with full political rights without their consent. Which is why no democracy would ever consider it.

    If Trump is/was seriously considering this, it confirms what we already know, he does not believe in or value democracy on any level

  93. 93.

    JDM

    August 18, 2019 at 8:41 pm

    Canadians have talked for decades about buying some Caribbean island as a winter getaway; it’s really just a joke now. Unfortunately, for anyone thinking “hey, we could sell them Florida”, even the hosers up there aren’t that dumb.

  94. 94.

    jonas

    August 18, 2019 at 10:00 pm

    If a Dem were in the WH and Kudlow were still on Fox or whatever and looking at these same stats, he’d be rending his clothes, and howling how we were *already* experiencing a Great Depression and that suicide or buying gold were the only options going forward. He’s a goddamn shill — he’ll talk up the agenda of whoever’s paying him. Navarro, on the other hand, is just plum crazy. He’ll be humping that China trade war chicken long after the earth has crashed into the sun (which will be China’s fault).

  95. 95.

    jonas

    August 18, 2019 at 10:13 pm

    @Brachiator: What you said. Which is why I’m coming around to think that Scaramucci is not entirely insane to claim that by spring of 2020, Trump might find himself in such a clusterfuck economically that he simply throws in the towel and walks away. His advisors are all hacks with no real expertise in trade, economics, or foreign policy (unless you call Bolton’s round-the-clock fapping to Dr. Strangelove “expertise”), so when the shit really hits the fan and it’s clear he really can’t handle it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just tells the country to go fuck itself and packs it in to go play golf. And let’s not even try to game out a doomsday scenario where Iran tries to close the Persian Gulf, or sends rockets into a Saudi oil field or something. Half the DOD is staffed by interim leaders.

  96. 96.

    jonas

    August 18, 2019 at 10:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid: China now produces such a high percentage of consumer goods that the US couldn’t even produce them if we wanted to. We simply no longer have the industrial capacity/technology/labor force to produce most electronic and consumer products for as cheaply, or as well, as China does. We can produce super high-tech stuff, or heavy machinery or whatever. John Deere tractors, yes. But rubber boots for my kids or those cheap headphones? Sorry, no. So China kind of has us over a barrel there. Companies can shift production to Vietnam or Bangladesh or something to avoid tariffs, but that will take time and $. There’s absolutely zero chance that Mattel or Hasbro, or whatever, is going to start making Barbies in the US again, or that Apple will start cranking out I-phones over here. That will never happen. Look at the Foxconn bullshit in Wisconsin.

  97. 97.

    Ruckus

    August 19, 2019 at 12:39 am

    @jonas:
    Probably a dead thread but here goes.
    I worked on Barbie doll molds when I was a young teen. Mattel was a good customer of ours then. But they got greedy and when Taiwan started hitting the industrialized market hard they went over, it was cheaper. They came back about 10 yrs later because they weren’t satisfied with the work, they had to have full time people there to make sure things were being done properly. Still not satisfied they came back. But they wanted our quality at the price they went over to Taiwan for in the first place. I added 25% to my quote just for the go away value. So it wasn’t worth it for them to go in the first place and we’d replaced them as customers so it wasn’t worth it to us to take them back. To the brain trust that was Mattel at the time, everything was money, more for them, screw everyone else. They were the epitome of the American corporate culture that exists to today. And what a lot of labor doesn’t understand is that the foreign counties found out that a good basic education and modern technology makes things a lot more equal. Something that a lot of Americans have never learned in the last 75 yrs. They think their whiteness and their freedom is everything. And it isn’t.

  98. 98.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 19, 2019 at 12:42 am

    @germy:

    Spoof account.

    The real one (with the blue check) is
    @larry_kudlow.

  99. 99.

    apocalipstick

    August 19, 2019 at 6:47 am

    @Adam L Silverman: I was wondering what was going on. I couldn’t tell if he was drunk, high, or having a small stroke.

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