Is President Trump an Idiot? Or does he think we are?

Trump now admonishing FED chairman Powell to lower interest rates, and wants him fired.


It is now plain to see that Trump is a complete idiot. Thankfully he does not have executive branch
power to fire him. Originally Posted by VitaMan

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Trump actually has spoken with advisors about firing Powell. Bessent and Hassett, the adults in the room, are advising against it.

Powell's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Trump's the one who came up with the tariffs. Now Powell has to be forthcoming, honest and transparent about how the Fed will manage short term rates to try to comply with its dual mandates, to deal with the mess Trump's unleashed. Otherwise markets may become skittish, with negative effects on the dollar, demand for U.S. debt, and longer term interest rates. I wonder what would happen if Powell et al dropped the Fed Funds rate to 2.25%, as Trump appears to want them to do based on what he said today.

Does Trump wants to take us down the same road as Recep Erdogan? The Turkish president had the cornball idea that lower interest rates would lead to lower inflation. And so he installed his guys at the central bank, who let Erdogan call the shots. The result was not kind to the Turkish people. Unfortunately, Trump is narcissistic enough to believe that he's better than the Fed at managing monetary policy. He believes that in spades.

Horse manure, Salty.

Please indulge us with a credible source to support your claim of actual progress

Trump isn't winning. He done bent everybody over just for the fun of it. In fact, every time Trump farts in public, you claim WINNING!

Please let the class know why you think that. Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

... Crikey! ... Primary school in session.
The joeys in the tacker surely need to pay attention.

Credible source? ... I'll give ya TWO.

... President Trump believes they are making progress,
and so does Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni.
They both have mentioned that. ... A love of Fair Trade.

.... WINNING! ... ...

Trump's tariff program is NOT for idiots.

#### Salty

... Crikey! ... Primary school in session.
The joeys in the tacker surely need to pay attention.

Credible source? ... I'll give ya TWO.

... President Trump believes they are making progress,
and so does Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni.
They both have mentioned that. ... A love of Fair Trade.

.... WINNING! ... ...

Trump's tariff program is NOT for idiots.

#### Salty Originally Posted by Salty Again

" president trumpf believes"
Highest mark 4 snick!
Trumpf believes many things most don't

That's why he's an idiot!

... Crikey! ... Primary school in session.
The joeys in the tacker surely need to pay attention.

Credible source? ... I'll give ya TWO.

... President Trump believes they are making progress,
and so does Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni.
They both have mentioned that. ... A love of Fair Trade.

.... WINNING! ... ...

Trump's tariff program is NOT for idiots.

#### Salty Originally Posted by Salty Again

Salty, I really wished I lived in your Trump fantasy land where Trump is a genius and a great businessman. And we should just sit back and relax while people have already lost over 10% of their savings since he has been in office but hey, trust him; he knows what he is doing although he is fucking clueless about what he is doing.

The idiot is talking about firing the fed chair and he is not even authorized to do so. That's how clueless that dipshit is. How can Trump expect the fed to lower the interest rates when he is purposefully increasing inflation with his unplanned and poorly executed tariff bully plan?

In Salty reality that may be called WINNING. In my reality when folks are losing 10% of their life savings in less than 3 months, I call that LOSING. Please riddle me that shit so I can understand what "idiot" means in Trumpland.

... Crikey! ... Primary school in session.
The joeys in the tacker surely need to pay attention.

Credible source? ... I'll give ya TWO.

... President Trump believes they are making progress,
and so does Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni.
They both have mentioned that. ... A love of Fair Trade.

.... WINNING! ... ...

Trump's tariff program is NOT for idiots.

#### Salty Originally Posted by Salty Again

Great job, as always.

Gotta love the pretty-birds. And review them too!

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Trump actually has spoken with advisors about firing Powell. Bessent and Hassett, the adults in the room, are advising against it.

Powell's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Trump's the one who came up with the tariffs. Now Powell has to be forthcoming, honest and transparent about how the Fed will manage short term rates to try to comply with its dual mandates, to deal with the mess Trump's unleashed. Otherwise markets may become skittish, with negative effects on the dollar, demand for U.S. debt, and longer term interest rates. I wonder what would happen if Powell et al dropped the Fed Funds rate to 2.25%, as Trump appears to want them to do based on what he said today.

Does Trump wants to take us down the same road as Recep Erdogan? The Turkish president had the cornball idea that lower interest rates would lead to lower inflation. And so he installed his guys at the central bank, who let Erdogan call the shots. The result was not kind to the Turkish people. Unfortunately, Trump is narcissistic enough to believe that he's better than the Fed at managing monetary policy. He believes that in spades. Originally Posted by Tiny

Congress has given the president sweeping powers over the use of tariffs. Essentially a tax mechanism. Does anybody think it’s a good idea to give Trump control over the interest rate and the ability to print money as well?

I’m not saying that the fed board always gets it right but at least they are educated reasoned individuals who must work as a group before agreeing to monetary policy.

We definitely don’t want a repeat of the Erdogan fiasco here in America.

Congress has given the president sweeping powers over the use of tariffs. Essentially a tax mechanism. Does anybody think it’s a good idea to give Trump control over the interest rate and the ability to print money as well?

I’m not saying that the fed board always gets it right but at least they are educated reasoned individuals who must work as a group before agreeing to monetary policy.

We definitely don’t want a repeat of the Erdogan fiasco here in America. Originally Posted by txdot-guy

Well said Txdot

Possibly the answer to the questions is "both." If these tariffs are so good for American manufacturers and American jobs, maybe someone can tell me why share prices of some companies like Ford Motor are at multi-year lows.

As you probably know, parts and intermediate products used to manufacture an automobile can cross the border multiple times. Apparently a 25% duty will be paid now every time that happens. Anderson Consulting is estimating the cost of pickup will go up by $8000 and an SUV by $9000. Or that's what the talking heads on CNBC are saying. Fruits and vegetables imported from Mexico will go up big time. How are we supposed to grow avocados and watermelon for harvest in March in the good old USA?

The Trump administration is telling us that we're imposing tariffs on Canada to stem the flow of f******* and illegals. Bull shit. Do they really believe we're that stupid?

The US probably sends more d**** and illegals to Canada than they send to us. And how about the new 10% tariff on imported oil? Republicans fought tooth and nail to keep the Keystone XL pipeline on track, to ship oil from Canada to the USA, so we'd have more energy security and more jobs. And now Trump has given the Canucks a bigger incentive to ship their oil to China than Biden did when he jerked Keystone. This is no way to treat your 51st state!

Well, I guess that Mexico and Canada can team up with China now, since they're all kind out of locked out of trading with us. The Europeans will be next.

I feel sorry for Treasury Secretary Bessent and Commerce Secretary Lutnick, having to explain this lunacy.

What the f*** was Trump thinking? Originally Posted by Tiny

The word is stupid

https://youtu.be/BJVNfKWfFuA?si=6S76ugGDIDqc8GO4

...The frustrating part is that I was on board for a reset. Truly. I’ve said it publicly. I’ve written about it in this very feed. I understood the need for a detox. For decades, the U.S. economy played the part of the rich guy at the table -- picking up the check for a global order that no longer worked in our favor. We hollowed out our industrial base. We enabled unfair trade imbalances under the illusion of diplomacy. We subsidized demand for cheap imports while outsourcing the hard questions about how our domestic workforce would adapt.

Eventually, that had to stop. It was unsustainable -- financially, politically, and morally. We couldn’t keep pretending that a consumption-led economy held together by zero-interest rates and global fragility was a long-term solution. I wanted a rebalancing. I welcomed the idea of a harder, smarter America-first policy that pushed for fair treatment, reciprocal agreements, and a real industrial strategy rooted in technological superiority, national security, and capital formation. That would’ve been leadership.

But that’s not what this is.

What you’ve rolled out isn’t detox -- it’s whiplash... Originally Posted by Texas Contrarian

He maybe should check in to a rehab facility, to at least observe, if nothing else. Detox is not a pleasant thing. It's a total shock to the system. But at the level of ye olde New World Order, it's exponentially worse.

Rip off the BandAide and perform massive triage and wound care. That New World order crappola ain't gonna go quietly in to the cold dark night on it's own accord. It needs a garlic necklace hung around it's neck, a couple silver bullets to the skull and a wooden stake driven through it's heart.

Then the New Dawning of Americas rises.

...That New World order crappola ain't gonna go quietly in to the cold dark night on it's own accord. It needs a garlic necklace hung around it's neck, a couple silver bullets to the skull and a wooden stake driven through it's heart... Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

That kinda had a Borris Karloff-y vibe to it. Let's try something a bit more contemporary, maybe rooted in a sports motif.

As the poet laureate, turned boxing legend, aka Mike Tyson, might say:
Every New World Order has a plan, until it gets punched in the face.

If you are entering the ring to square off against it, you need a clear focus of "malicious intent" and not go back to your corner after stunning it.

But fine!
If one insists on a market based approach, let's turn to the Warren of Buffett:

3 Key Reasons Warren Buffett Is Making Money Hand Over Fist Why the Stock Market Flounders -- and How You Could Too

By Keith Speights – Apr 16, 2025 at 4:47AM

Key Points

• Much of Berkshire Hathaway's revenue is generated by tariff-resistant businesses.
• Berkshire has a highly diversified portfolio with several big winners this year.
• Buffett has built a massive cash stockpile that he can put to use buying great stocks at a discount...

When a magician performs a trick that astounds the audience, most people ask, "How did he do it?" I think that's a relevant question for what Warren Buffett has accomplished so far in 2025.

Most investors have seen their portfolios decline significantly this year. Buffett is a notable exception. His net worth has increased by billions of dollars. How did he do it? Here are three key reasons Buffett is making money hand over fist while the stock market flounders -- and how you could too...

Relative to that article, Reason #2 I believe. He sold a massive amount of Apple before it was cool. I dunno, maybe he saw them as dependent on tariffs or susceptible to them. Why would he blink on them mid way in 2024?!?

Again, I dunno. Maybe because one party was touting tariffs heavily, while their competition was yanking out a freshly revealed potato-head and installing a Kackling, word salad spewing, Hyena, that had a weird hankering for Joy and Vibes, in it's place.

(The below comments are excerpted from a couple of emails and posts I wrote during exchanges of information with other investment professionals and all were written between about last Thursday and yesterday, so are reasonably current. I believe all are pertinent to the tariff/trade deficit discussion.)

Did Donald Trump have something of an epiphany? Did Bessent sit him down in the Oval Office and initiate something like a "come to Jesus" meeting?

Since he backed down so quickly after people, in his words, became "yippy," I'm guessing so.

It sure seems that way, after the bond market began cratering in overnight trading after Trump launched an unexpectedly maximalist tariff threat against almost the whole world a couple of weeks ago.

A president can abide an equity market selloff, especially if investors are confident that the precipitating factors are transitory and that the market will recover. But the bond market is a totally different animal. Any president will surely rue the day that he decided to extend his middle finger toward it.

Remember the discussions that were taking place as Bill Clinton was about to take office in early 1993? Robert Reich, the left-wing Labor Secretary appointee, wanted to spend big dollars on various "stimulus" and "infrastructure" measures -- while Robert Rubin, appointed to Treasury, felt that we didn't have the fiscal space within which to do all that, and that the bond market would rebel as a consequence.

This prompted Carville to famously quip that if there was reincarnation, he had previously thought he'd like to come back as the president or a revered celebrity or a superstar MLB home-run slugger. But now, he said, he'd like to come back as the bond market. Because "if you're the bond market, you can intimidate everybody?"

Why is this relevant to the tariff discussion?

Well, because the flip side of the current account deficit (mostly our trade deficit but also including a few other items) is the capital account surplus.

In an earlier post about a month ago, I mentioned something called the "Triffin dilemma." This was first discussed way back in 1960, when Triffin testified before congress about what he expected to be the upcoming difficulties in maintaining the Bretton Woods gold-exchange-standard, agreed upon in 1944, wherein the US would fix the dollar's value at $35/oz and the rest of the world's major currencies would be fixed to the dollar. Of course, Nixon jettisoned the whole thing and closed the gold window in 1971, after which currencies free-floated and the rollicking inflation of the 1970s ensued.

In my view, even in our current fiat-money global system, the Triffin dilemma is just as valid as ever.

The trade deficits and budget deficits go hand-in-hand. One enables the other. In fact, I think it's fair to say that they mutually "force each other" to exist.

Since the USD is still the world's primary reserve currency, and such a large percentage of global trade not involving the US is priced in dollars, a whole lot of stuff falls completely apart if the US significantly cuts its trade deficit. Dollars we send overseas lubricate the international financial system, and if fewer of them are sent abroad, fewer come circling back around and support the market for net new issuance of treasury bonds, notes, and bills.

What all this means is that there's no way we can make large cuts in our trade deficit without concomitantly large cuts in the budget deficit. There isn't any way around that (at least, not without leaving a horrific amount of wreckage strewn about the global landscape).

And let's get real here. Does anyone believe for a minute that politicians (of either party) have the guts to push through tax hikes that would raise a significant amount of revenue relative to our current run rate of deficit spending, or spending cuts that amount to much more than "nibbling around the edges?" (Of course not!)

Salty, I really wished I lived in your Trump fantasy land where Trump is a genius and a great businessman... Originally Posted by Lucas McCain

But would we have to refer to you as Mr. President or a billionaire or would we still just call Lucas?

...And we should just sit back and relax while people have already lost over 10% of their savings... Originally Posted by Lucas McCain

...on theoretical paper. You left that part out. Any insights into how Warren Buffett is fairing soooo much better?

...The idiot is talking about firing the fed chair and he is not even authorized to do so... Originally Posted by Lucas McCain

Here ya might have a point. Clearly, he could take a page straight outta the team Dem playbook and try to buy an RPG or Drone through a Deep State contact in Ukraine to take him out.

But would we have to refer to you as Mr. President or a billionaire or would we still just call Lucas? ...on theoretical paper. You left that part out. Any insights into how Warren Buffett is fairing soooo much better?Here ya might have a point. Clearly, he could take a page straight outta the team Dem playbook and try to buy an RPG or Drone through a Deep State contact in Ukraine to take him out.

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Dude! Really?

Wyid
No reason for that type of talk!

Trumpf day by day hrs by hrs sets the idiocy bar lower and lower!

...No reason for that type of talk!... Originally Posted by winn dixie

That's ya'll talk. That's ya'lls rhetoric causing loons to behave more badly. We can't talk about the latest loon as they don't have valid voter ID yet.

...Trumpf day by day hrs by hrs sets the idiocy bar lower and lower! Originally Posted by winn dixie

Two words: Jasmine's Crockett. If'n ya'll don't want him to think ya'll are ID-10-Ts, quit proving him right. In short, get ya'lls idiots under better control and quit lighting fires under their keesters.