I'm sure that when Trump leaves the White House everything will be right as rain. The US is such a loveable country after all, that no country in the world has any reason to severely dislike. No sir.

No one really cares what people from subordinate protectorates think, anyways.

What's a subordinate protectorate?

So Ghislaine Maxwell got a sweetheart deal, can go off from prison to work, something similar that Epstein himself got the first time in Florida. Well, Trump wished the convicted sex trafficer well and here we see what that well wishing in actuality means in Trumpland.



Trump really has taken the corruption and criminality down to Third World level in the US. That Trump was introduced to his showcase wife by Epstein seems to have hit a nerve too in the White House.

Remember when people kept suggesting Russia had some sort of 'kompromat' on Trump? :rofl:

Turns out he was indeed compromised, by the all-American CIA, and now he's being blamed for not throwing US gov't employees in jail for doing their jobs.

Oh, the irony of it all.

What's the irony of intelligence services simply doing their work?

A sex offender like Trump can easily have 'kompromat' here and there.

SO all ready to watch Putin play Trump, yet again?

Played.

Before the talks, Trump told Fox 'I won't be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire'

After the talks, 'No deal until there's a deal', whatever the fuck that means.

Pissant.

What’s that horrible Americanism that Trump sycophants always used about the findings of various criminal and civil investigations into him, even when they were clearly incriminatory? Oh that’s right: a big, fat nothingburger.

Big gift to Vlad the Destroyer, though, being treated like a dignitary instead of the criminal terrorist he so plainly is.

What’s that horrible Americanism that Trump sycophants always used about the findings of various criminal and civil investigations into him, even when they were clearly incriminatory? — Wayfarer

TACO?

I prefer pissant.

No, what I said: a nothingburger. Spectacle and empty words.

Pissant. Makes a big fuss, gets the attention because of the smell, ruins the barbecue for everyone else and does nothing useful.

I was referring more to the event - pomp, pageantry and nothing of consequence.

I don't understand why non-Americans always focus on the stuff that doesn't really matter. You guys should read more Wall Street Journal and less of whatever it is you're reading.

Politics suggest we may not get the best of all possible worlds. Sure, tariffs turned out less bad than feared. Even if the most extreme claims of Democrats that democracy is dying turned out to be right, investors have long been able to make good returns from stocks in autocracies, so long as the autocrat doesn’t fall foul of more-powerful countries.

But the president’s firing of the BLS head and attacks on the Federal Reserve mean the U.S. is less likely to get decent data on its most important statistics or nonpolitical interest-rate — WSJ

In other words, the tariffs did exactly what Trump said they would do.

The highest tariffs in almost a century haven’t caused inflation to surge. The phenomenon has puzzled economists, some of whom suspect that companies have so far simply been reluctant to pass along the extra costs to their customers.

But another argument for the limited impact is gaining traction: that tariffs being paid by importers are lower than advertised.

In a new study, Barclays economists went through census data to see what tariffs importers actually paid in May. They found that the weighted-average tariff rate—the average of all tariffs, adjusted for import volume from each country—that month was around 9%. That number is well below the 12% rate that they had previously estimated based on White House announcements, and far less than what some others have estimated.

The reason is that more than half of U.S. imports were duty-free, the Barclays study says, and because many U.S. companies and consumers bought less from countries with higher levies, particularly China.

“The real surprise in the U.S. economy’s resilience lies not in its reaction to tariffs but that the rise in the effective tariff rate has been more modest than commonly thought,” the Barclays report says. — WSJ

JPMorgan economists argue that actual tariff rates in June were lower than headline averages suggest because importers switched to countries with lower tariffs or to domestic producers.

These lower effective tariff rates could help explain why consumer prices haven’t risen as rapidly as some analysts feared. The impact of tariffs has been a charged topic. Trump this week asserted that tariffs haven’t caused inflation and called on Goldman Sachs to replace an economist who had predicted price increases.

The new tariffs raised $58.5 billion in revenue between January and June, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model. And inflation has crept up in recent months, with prices of imported goods such as furniture ticking higher. The latest inflation readings remain well above the Federal Reserve’s benchmark of 2% year over year. In July, wholesale prices rose at the sharpest monthly rate in three years and well above economists’ forecasts.

But the overall inflation picture in the first six months of the year hasn’t been as ugly as many feared it would be in the wake of President Trump’s tariff hikes. — WSJ

I don't understand why non-Americans always focus on the stuff that doesn't really matter. — frank

The talks with Putin regarding Ukraine don't matter?

Do they matter to you? When's the last time you looked for an analysis of the Russia/Ukraine conflict? Three years ago?

When's the last time you looked for an analysis of the Russia/Ukraine conflict? Three years ago? — frank

Yesterday. I read the Kyiv Post maybe once or twice a week.

There's also a show in Australia called "Planet America", which is enjoyable. It's a mix of news and comedy - it might have once been called "satire" but that term no longer works in relation to US politics.

I suppose that the US foreign policy is perhaps more important to folk outside the US than to folk inside.

The tariffs are curious because they are somewhat novel and unpredictable. Estimates put the reduction of US GDP at up to 6%, and it is this slow down of the US economy that will have the greater effect on Australia, rather than a 10% tariff on our exports to the US. If everyone else ends up paying 10% or more, then that makes little difference to our competitiveness in the US market.

remember that it is the US customer, not Australia, who pays the 10%.

Australia's economy is much more closely aligned with that of China than the US, has been for decades, so the US economy is increasingly irrelevant. But our foreign policy remains closely aligned with that of the US and Europe, an it is this tension that is interesting here.

So the talks in Alaska matter at least as much to us as US economic decisions.

What may be developing is an alliance between Australia, Japan and South Korea, independent of US foreign policy. Australia is re-assessing it's own attitude in the light of the changes in the US.

The tariffs are curious because they are somewhat novel and unpredictable. Estimates put the reduction of US GDP at about 6%, and it is this slow down of the US economy that will have the greater effect on Australia, rather than a 10% tariff on our exports to the US. If everyone else ends up paying 10% or more, then that makes little difference to our competitiveness in the US market. — Banno

The US economy isn't slowing down, though. Not yet anyway. Maybe it hasn't affected Australia, but Europe is struggling now as European companies are gravitating toward the US looking for investors. European leaders are anxious about this because it increases the practical power of the US over Europe just when Europeans would like to loosen ties. That article is also in the WSJ.

remember that it is the US customer, not Australia, who pays the 10%. — Banno

So far, the way it's been working is that US importers are steering away from countries with high tariffs, and turning toward duty free and domestic goods. So no, so far Americans are not booting the bill.

Yesterday. I read the Kyiv Post maybe once or twice a week. — Banno

What's their assessment of what will take place in Russia if the war ends?

For sure, the economy has slowed, growing at an annual rate of 1.2% in the first half of the year, down one percentage point from 2024. — The US economy is a puzzle but the pieces aren't fitting together

We will have to wait and see.

You guys should read more Wall Street Journal and less of whatever it is you're reading. — frank

Washington Post, NY Times, Australian Broadcasting Commission, CNN, etc. Occasional stories from Wall Street Journal through Apple News. The ‘important stuff’ I see Trump doing is undermining democratic norms, attacking science, public education, public health and public broadcasting. Deprecating the power of Congress and attacking the Judiciary. Preparing to betray Ukraine out of his infatuation with strong-man Putin.

We will have to wait and see. — Banno

The US economy usually grows at around 1.3% in the first half of the year. It makes up for that in the last half. But yes, we're waiting for the full effect of the tariffs. So far, it's not as expected. It's actually a lot closer to what Trump predicted.

The ‘important stuff’ I see Trump doing is undermining democratic norms, attacking science, public education, public health and public broadcasting. — Wayfarer

By contrast, what I see is that he's filled the military with loyalists, and is now flexing his ability to use the military domestically. He recently floated the idea of arresting the governor of California.

And you're worried about PBS. :meh:

The US economy isn't slowing down, though. Not yet anyway. — frank

The US economy usually grows at around 1.3% in the first half of the year. It makes up for that in the last half. But yes, we're waiting for the full effect of the tariffs. So far, it's not as expected. It's actually a lot closer to what Trump predicted. — frank

Frank, one should remember just how GDP growth is calculated. Imports are subtracted from the equation, meaning that as imports to the US fall and as they now have fallen off a cliff, GDP grows.

Like the first quarter contraction wasn't indicative of a coming recession, the second quarter expansion is not a sign of a booming economy. Both readings have to do with Trump's tariff policy and the reaction to it. In the first quarter, it was a steep increase in imports in anticipation of upcoming tariffs that drove the GDP decline. As imports are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, a surge in imports actually hurts GDP growth, even if only in the short run. Conversely, imports declined at an annual rate of 30 percent in the second quarter, which in turn boosted GDP growth.

see U.S. GDP Growth Bounces Back as Imports Plummet

Now just ask yourself, is truly a huge drop in imports something that makes Americans better off? How about then having absolutely no imports of anything, starting from no coffee from abroad, no foreign cars etc? This would (with everything else being the same) also increase the GDP.

Now just ask yourself, is truly a huge drop in imports something that makes Americans better off? — ssu

It will help a lot of Americans, yes.

Will it, really?

Is it the mythical "domestic manufacturer" whose situation will improve when global trade / foreign competition is stifled?

Well, when it comes to a lot of things, like coffee production, there simply isn't that "domestic growers/manufacturers". But perhaps MAGA people simply hate trade and think they would be better off without the rest of the World. Unfortunately human history says this is totally wrong: trade is the thing that creates prosperity. To forget the billions of consumers and focus on the 300+ million Americans isn't going to create more prosperity.

And how about the American consumer? Fuck him or her.

It's noteworthy that where this Trumpian idea was very much used as a guideline was with many African states. After colonization, they opted for socialism and high trade tariff barriers to "get their domestic production" up and running. Well, all they did was create some (if any) small companies totally dependent on the trade barriers with no way of competing with in the real world. Socialism and state monopolies were of course one thing, but the idea of trade barriers was the same. The whole issue of the "trade barriers to protect your domestic industry" only has worked in history when the true objective has been to get the domestic industry ready to compete openly with global market, hence they haven't been permanent. Otherwise it turns into rotting cancer.

Trump is opting for the rot.

And who cares about the tiny export sector, like farmers, who are going to really feel how Trump's policies hinder them.

A year ago, if I wanted to start a shower curtain business, my only option would be to make high end ones for a niche market. I couldn't compete with imports to make regular ones.

Now, with tariffs, I can. I can hire workers, reinvest profits to expand into faucets, and eventually bathtubs. I hire more people, reinvest, and the next thing you know, there are fewer fentanyl addicts in my community because there are good jobs for them.

You don't want to see this because you're totally bound to anti-Trump. It doesn't once occur to you that autocracies start with giving the people what they want and need. You've rendered yourself blind.

So the Orange Emperor had to pause a meeting with European leaders to check in with his boss in Moscow.

As the commonwealth peoples once again become serfs, Americans enjoy increasing freedom.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/19/uk-apple-backdoor-data-privacy-gabbard/

You can watch in anti-Trump circles the increasing fanaticism in regards to Trump and Putin. The last thing they want is Trump to succeed.

Unfortunately, the ineffectual leaders of other countries have their peoples inured to the old diplomacy where a lot of talk and not much else happens. So the doubled efforts in the myth-making around the Anchorage summit and Trump’s meetings with Euro and Ukrainian leaders reveal the same old unhinged desire to set the stage, tell the history, while Trump is out there making it. If they get it wrong again it’s just another data point among many of their failing as a political class.