MAGA has some of the strangest cognitive dissonance I've ever seen in observing politics.
On the one hand, they see Trump as a God-King, a supreme political being who men and nations tremble before, whose exercise of absolute authority is the singular entity that can save this great nation.
On the other, Trump is powerless to even ask congress to decrease spending. If he doesn’t cave to their every whim, if he doesn’t meekly bless every penny demanded, whether it be tax breaks for blue states or money for transition surgery for children (yes, it’s in the BBB), then there is no way to pass any sort of spending bill. It simply can’t be done. There’s nothing anyone, even the almighty Trump, can do about it. It is literally an unchangeable and inalienable fact of life, the immovable object against which all forces are stoppable.
As I have said before, Trump is no strongman. He's a bully. He punches down as far as he can, and then pridefully thumps his chest. He won't even take on a senator like Rand Paul, even though his position on BBB and vote is exactly the same as Massie’s. No, Trump can only attack a mere congressman, the lowest level of elected national politician. And his sycophants slobber at this. As pictured below, Steve Deace’s panties couldn’t possibly be more soaked through by this spectacular display of might - again, over a dispute caused by Trump’s complete and total impotence and lack of influence.
I’d call it mental gymnastics, but there is no mind at work - only mindless worship of “winning.”
Don’t worry!
His “very smart people” are totally right about things this time when it comes to trade.
There is zero - I repeat, zero - moral difference between the people who pushed for "experimenting" with lockdowns because "we have to do something!" and the people who push for "experimenting" with trade wars because "we have to do something!"
Musk is out.
Musk put himself in a corner where he can't rip into Trump and he has to play nice probably at least through the midterms, but just look at the guy's face and watch him refuse to give a straight answer here. He put a lot on the line with endorsing Trump and starting DOGE, and Trump absolutely stabbed him in the back. Trump's supporters will blame congress, but Trump has very openly and loudly endorsed all of the DOGE-defying moves that congress has made, and has viciously attacked the one congressman (Thomas Massie) who has stood against it.
The reason is simple: Trump cares about trophies. Cutting the budget is not a trophy. DOGE trying to take a chainsaw to government was a trophy, but as soon as DOGE became more of Musk's than Trump's trophy, Trump stopped caring about it because congress offered him a Big, Beautiful Bill as a trophy instead. Just like the FBI offered the opportunity to build a Big, Beautiful new headquarters building for them (Trump loves buildings!). ...
As comedy slowly slides into unfunny wokeness hell, the last comedian standing (assuming he doesn't drop dead first, I mean just look at the guy; he's a trainwreck) will be Doug Stanhope. He closed out his recent special "The Dying of the Last Breed" with this bit on how important it is that we be able to make fun of anything. Because making fun.
Language warning, duh.
An early taste of the Trump Temper Tantrum Tariff recession was spotted in a ZeroHedge article this morning that was otherwise devoted to giving Trump a big fat slobbering blowjob:
-
Fixed Investment came at 0.08%, a big drop from the 1.31%, and perhaps the only concerning point in today's report: was there really no major data center investments in the second quarter... and if so what are the hyperscalers doing?
This is an area I've been working in lately. The reason is that if you want to start a large capex project under Trump, you had better be able to just write a check for it. Even then there are hold-ups (which is why even the Mag 7 are stuck), but there is virtually no big finance money flowing since the inauguration.
The reason is simple, easy, and obvious: these are projects that generally take 2-4 years to complete. Nobody knows what costs are going to be next week, let alone next year, because once they got their hands on the economic levers of power MAGA loves ...
Milei continues to cut taxes, in this case import tariffs.
Why not cut them to zero? He's commited to maintaining a fiscal surplus. He's decreasing tax rates as spending is cut and the economy grows, but paying down his national debt is always the number one priority.
