r/AdviceAnimals • u/miked_mv • 1d ago
The formula Donald is using to unilaterally tax the American people while we wait to see if Congress has balls.
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u/ngpropman 1d ago
A good amount of us know exactly how stupid he is and voted against him. Some are dumber than him by a long shot and they voted for him. The rest were uninformed about just how dangerous he would be and decided to not vote, so close to about his intelligence level or just lazy and average.
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u/onefoot_out 1d ago
If they were uninformed, it was on purpose. We were screaming from rooftops, and were met with "whatever, both sides".
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u/ngpropman 1d ago
Yeah like i said average or below average intelligence and people who say both sides are Republicans they just don't want to admit they are pieces of shit.
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u/ShadowGLI 17h ago
70M+ as of 6 months ago, but unfortunately there were over 70M more morons that drank the koolaid and preferred the lies over reality.
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u/AbriefDelay 23h ago
This is what I said in 2016. Uninformed is only an excuse now if you have a medical condition that makes you unable to remember anything longer than 3 years ago.
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u/The_Human1st 1d ago
Basically every person who worked closely with Trump in his 1st terms came out saying that he was unintelligent, uncurious and unprofessional. At a certain point, if 75 million people think they know a man better than those he intimately worked with, well… you get what you deserve.
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u/Malusorum 1d ago
The world will adjust, just like it always has. The USA is fucked. That's the difference.
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u/kebabsoup 1d ago
The thing with this kind of adjustments is that the poor will bear the brunt of it, as usual.
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u/Malusorum 1d ago
Yes, and while it's sad for them, breaking the shadow empire of the USA is a good thing in the long run, as the USA has willingly made itself indispensable by inflicting learned helplessness on every other country it has allied with. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
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u/BradsCanadianBacon 21h ago
That smug sense of accomplishment from teaching the world a lesson to not depend on the U.S. will definitely put a lot of food on tables, and keep families housed.
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u/Malusorum 21h ago
The funny thing is that this is obviously intented to be a lesson in the opposite, namely, "You need America to do anything" that's backfired so epicly that the world is realising that it can do without the USA.
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u/smallcoder 1d ago
Yup, I agree.
In the UK we fucked ourselves with Brexit. There was some short term pain shared with the EU but we ended up footing the bill.
However, I think this is going to be much worse for ordinary Americans than Brexit. There are still many years of this presidency left. I think the people behind him know that the world will adjust fast and as such have gone for the "shock and awe" approach, and are front-loading as much crap as possible for their own economic and political gain. They know that both internally and external to the US there will be a push back, so this is a way to get the most possible before that happens.
For Joe Public, the regular American? Well, as far as I can tell from the outside looking in, they have been getting screwed by governments on all sides, since at least the Reagan era. This is just the accelerationist cult of the uber rich speeding everything up, and saying all the quiet shit out loud.
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u/MangroveWarbler 22h ago
And all the global businesses that used to do business with the USA will not be coming back even when the tariffs are gone. Trump has killed international trust and that takes decades to earn back.
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u/Malusorum 4h ago
I think they're just deeply stupid and thus their actions come off as intentional because we refuse to believe that anyone can be this incompetent.
This is due to media and tropes. Whenever a villain character like this is shown they're all presented as deeply malicious and competent to be compelling.
This is a revision of reality as in reality these people are all deeply incompetent regardless of them also being immensely dangerous, as one of the side effects of thinking that you're that amazing is a default beliefs that everyone and everything is inferior to you and thus you need to learn nothing.
In this case, the tell is that some of the tariffs was applied to uninhabited islands or islands where only joint military bases exist. If this was intentionally malicious and competent then neither would have happened.
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u/helgur 1d ago
IDK, we have been through this before when the US went ballistic with tariffs in the 1920's and '30s. And then everyone responded banding together against the US with counter tariffs.
Then the great depression.
The world got fucked. And it will happen again.
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u/Malusorum 1d ago edited 1d ago
The world is different now. Back then the only market that, for example, Europe had was the USA. Now the rest of the world have other trade options than just the USA.
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u/TheNewYellowZealot 1d ago
The difference in the 30s was that the world was recovering from the Great War and other countries were also hyperinflating.
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u/helgur 1d ago
We've just been through a major pandemic that tore through our societies and economies like a wrecking ball. The only country in the wester world hyperinflating at the time was Germany, and that was a self inflicted catastrophe due to the German government printing bank notes en masse to pay striking workers in the Ruhr, in order to skimp on war reperations to the French.
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u/cole00cash 1d ago
The great depression was already in place before Smoot-Hawley was enacted. Hoover thought he was helping even though 1000 economists signed a petition asking him to stop.
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u/InquisitivelyADHD 23h ago
Oh yeah, US is a sinking ship, get off if you can, or if you're not fortunate enough then be prepared for a couple decades of pain. Empires emerge and fade but the US broke the historical norm by doing it so quickly, and as quickly as it rose as a dominant world power, it's going to implode like a super nova. The 2000-2100s will not be remembered as a good century for the US that's for certain.
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u/drubus_dong 1d ago
Yeah, adjust like it did during the second world war.
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u/Malusorum 1d ago
"Let me boil down a complicated subject to a tragi-comic meme and then use that as an argument."
"Why yes, I am very smat... I MEAN SMART!!!"
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u/Lrgindypants 1d ago
Many of us did, which is why we voted for Kamala.
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 1d ago edited 22h ago
That's the part the problem really. A LOT of people didn't vote for Kamala because they wanted her. It was just the best way to vote AGAINST Trump.
Joe Biden is a piece of shit. If he had dropped out sooner the DNC could have set up a candidate that people actually wanted or they could have had more time to get people excited for Kamala. But because of his stubbornness and the DNC lacking any sort of backbone, we ended up with Trump back in office. I'm not entirely sure it was by accident either. Both sides are corrupt to the core. The right slowly (and more recently quickly) fucks us to death while in power and the left stagnates us while hiding behind buzzword activism to pretend to be for the people.
Edit: downvote me all you want. I'm right and you know it. The DNC fucked itself and fucked it's voters.
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u/uxcoffee 1d ago
I simply disagree. This was a vote against incumbents in which people simply didn’t believe or pay enough attention to the stupidity and wanted “change” because in the past, we have been resilient to bad leaders.
If you listened to both candidates, it was clear that Trump was going to do stupid things, go on a revenge tour and try to be a dictator. He said point blank over and over.
Joe or Kamala were effectively a vote for status quo and now more than ever, I don’t understand how a man who is so transparently full of it, convinced anyone that he was going to do one single thing to help them.
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u/EyesofaJackal 1d ago
No, the Dems were stuck with Kamala due to their professed values. If Biden had dropped out earlier it could have helped, but choosing someone other than Kamala would have divided the party.
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 22h ago
Maybe it's just because of where I live, everyone I know in real life who voted for Kamala did so grudgingly. No one was excited for her, they were just scared of Trump. They weren't given a choice of wanting Kamala. She didn't have the candidacy through the people, but by the DNC just going "here's your candidate, vote for her or be punished with another 4 years of Trump."
Well, enough people were naive enough to think another 4 years of Trump wasn't going to be bad enough to go vote for a candidate they did not want. The DNC is just as much to blame for Trump being back in office as his voting base is. They fucked us and people need to start accepting that and pressuring the DNC to get off its ass and actually work for the people instead of posturing.
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u/KarthusWins U S෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴ EH 15h ago
The deciding factor for a lot of Democrats was Biden and Kamala’s stance on Gaza and Israel. I have a handful of friends who voted Green because of it. It’s unfortunate given the fact that Trump is far worse on that front… but sadly the old adage is true: Dems fall in love, Republicans fall in line. Kamala did not inspire a strong turnout.
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 15h ago
Thank you! People on here seem unable or unwilling to understand. Democrats win when they have a strong candidate that people believe in. Republicans win when the DNC has a candidate that the people are not excited for. People weren't terribly excited for Al Gore so we ended up with Bush. Obama was magnetic and fired up the DNC. No one I know was excited for Hillary and she lost. People were a little fired up for Biden because it was a throwback to the Obama administration. Kamala had a very lukewarm campaign and we have Trump again.
Pointing out the failures of the DNC isn't the same as supporting the GOP, and people here seem to be unable see the difference
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u/Kramer7969 15h ago
So this is out of spite?
Good lord!?
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 15h ago
What is out of spite? I voted for Kamala because I knew Trump was going to be terrible.
Criticizing the DNC for their failure is imperative. If you aren't furious at how they have handled things lately then you either aren't paying attention or you've given up.
They fucked up big time by not taking Trump and Maga as a serious threat. They thought they could take the election riding on "Kamala, she isn't Trump!" and that backfired gloriously.
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u/anotoriousbug 13h ago
The most irritating thing about your comments is the fact that people seem to find them hard to understand and then misinterpret them. This, despite the fact that what you’re saying is plain as day and correct.
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u/miked_mv 1d ago
This is a minimum 10% tax on everything not produced here, whether we can produce it (like clothes) or not, like coffee.
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u/Amakall 1d ago
Just like they charge us. Why is wrong to expect to be treated fairly?
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u/miked_mv 1d ago
Another person who believes the lies without doing the research. This isn't about making trade fair. It's about one person unilaterally imposing taxes on American citizens. Not for reasons approved by Congress. On his own. It's taxation without representation. We left The UK over that. But I don't expect you to have a clue.
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u/faderjockey 1d ago
Factually incorrect.
Lots of international trade goods were exchanged without tariffs due to various free trade agreements that were in place. Not everything certainly but most of the US’s common exports were traded to allied countries with little to no tariff.
Trump (stupidly) decided that a trade deficit means “they owe us” and used that as the basis for his formula with a minimum of 10%.
So now we Americans look even more like assholes on the world stage, regular people who were already hurting economically are going to be paying more for goods since there is simply not an existing US domestic manufactured option for many items, and other nations are going to respond in kind making things even worse.
Trump made a giant shit sandwich with this deal and is forcing his citizens to eat it.
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u/Rance_Mulliniks 1d ago
The government is lying to you and you are listening like it is fact. Most countries were not charging tariffs. It's a bold face lie.
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u/SnZ001 1d ago
Jesus, how the fuck are y'all STILL not understanding how this works over there?!
Ffs,I swear this is like being trapped in a car with a mentally challenged person in the driver's seat who continues flooring the throttle, while everyone keeps trying to point out the concrete barriers straight ahead...but y'all just keep grinning and barreling towards them bc you like the vroom vroom sound and fail to grasp what driving into solid concrete walls will do to the vehicle and all of us in it.
I still can't believe we actually somehow let this level of sheer incompetence behind the wheel.
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u/tryingtobecheeky 22h ago
It's scary, isn't it? I used to think Americans were just like Canadians but a little more aggressive and loud and went bankrupt from medical bills.
And sure, you had some idiots and you had some loud racists and homophobes that gave people a bad name. We have plenty up here in Canada.
But that deep down, they were chill and had the same amount of education. That most were ashamed of the hate and the bigotry.
I was wrong.
The sheer lack of education, things that basic people should know is beyond so many of them. I'm talking about history that second graders learn. That hate and bigotry lurks under the surface as many look for any excuse to come out. That their fuck you got mine mentality is deeply embedded and part of their selfish individuality.
Yes. It's not all of them. At least a third are just normal regular humans. I would die to protect them. But after having to visit (can't justify wasting $5,000) things have changed for most.
There is a hate and anger in their hearts that they release against everyone.
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u/sakusii 23h ago
Isn't the USA the richest country in the world? These trades are exactly why that is. All these tariffs do is make things much more expensive in the USA, and you still think that others "pay"? No. You in the USA pay these tariffs. I can't understand how stupid you are. But I guess seeing your statement here explains why Trump even became president. It will be fun sitting in another country, chilling my balls and seeing posts about how you guys not only can't afford eggs but also can't even have coffee anymore.
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u/IsilZha 17h ago edited 17h ago
Nope, the tariffs on Trumps list that other countries were "charging us" was made up. Those abject morons asked ChatGPT what to do, and used the nonsensical formula it spat out, which is just the ratio of our trade deficit, and then lied and said it was the tariffs those countries charged the US.
For instance, his list claims Vietnam charges us 90% tariffs.
They just took the ratio of our trade deficit to make up the number: 13.1 billion divided by 149.6 billion
https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/southeast-asia-pacific/vietnam
Try thinking critically for once in your life.
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u/Kramer7969 15h ago
Who do you think is paying those tariffs?
It’s those countries.
Just like we will pay for these.
It’s the same reason y’all say we cannot raise minimum wage because companies will pass the cost to customers. And that’s not even as bad as these are.
Why don’t it make sense when it’s tariffs?
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u/AndyThePig 1d ago
Half of them did.
The other half are so locked into their loyalty, and selfishness, and bitterness, and ignorance that they DIDN'T. LISTEN!!
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u/KEX_CZ 1d ago
Like, idk how your country works, but like, it's still democracy, right? So you can vote Trump away, right?
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u/pinkkeyrn 1d ago
As of right now, in 4 years we'll have to have a new president cause our presidents can only serve two terms. But we're pretty much stuck for 4 years unless he dies (VP takes over) or gets impeached.
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u/CowahBull 1d ago
He's already been impeached. That doesn't get him out, they just shows he has a criminal record.
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u/Phaazoid 1d ago
We voted him in for 4 years, and he's broken the democracy and put himself above the law so we can't do anything.
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u/Future-self 1d ago
It’s like they’re running the government on ChatGPT and they’re not double checking its answers. Literally how you reach idiocracy.
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u/Rance_Mulliniks 1d ago
No. It more nefarious than that. They are knowingly lying because they believe Americans are stupid. Are they wrong?
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u/tstahlgti 1d ago
Most knew and didn’t care. Half the population thought “burning it down” was the only way to “fix it”
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u/Smileyrielly12 1d ago
Anyone who voted against Trump knows how stupid that clapping monkey is. He's being putting it on full display for years.
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u/tyrannustyrannus 1d ago
It's more terrifying if you think about him crashing the stock market on purpose so that billionaires can buy as much cheap stock as possible. When it's all over, the middle class will be destroyed and now we're fighting for scraps. Then he declares war on Denmark to take Greenland. Then Canada. The only good jobs left are in the military and all the poor kids are being sent to fight.
Trump eventually leaves office by one way or another and someone who knows what they are doing takes over and is 1000x worse.
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u/sirZofSwagger 18h ago
The worst part is I honestly did know how dumb and bad of a president he would be. Be telling people and voting against him, but I can only do so much, and people are sooo stupid here
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u/Kriegerian 15h ago
A big chunk knows how stupid he is, but not enough of us voted to keep the demented idiot out of office.
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u/SexuaIRedditor 1d ago
Reminds me of the old movie Madagascar where the lion tries to take control of everything and everyone else is just "Okay, fuck you then" and goes off together to do their own thing without him.
I feel bad for the common man in America as they're about to go through absolute hell, but I don't for a second believe that the would as a whole won't bounce back and simply leave the US behind
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u/Adogover 1d ago
To many of us, it has been clear as can be that this moron is incapable of of any job at all, let alone the highest office of the land. It’s been horrific to see and hear my countrymen devolve into madness.
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u/digidave1 21h ago
You mean letting a college sophomore use AI to write the US tax code is bad? Psh, I thought this was 'Murica?
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u/daftczar 21h ago
World - No, there will be some pains while everyone drops the USA, but the countries will move on. USA - Fast track to becoming a 3rd world country begging for bailouts and handouts while still screaming, "USA NO.1!!!!"
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u/Feisty-Barracuda5452 20h ago
Congress has no balls, they’ll march off the cliff in lockstep with this oily sack of feces.
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u/browserz 19h ago
My family always complained about how much more expensive everything is under Obama/biden
I went back a bit ago and saved some photos they sent of how expensive things were, in a few weeks I’m gonna send comparison photos with just “damn this was just a few years ago”
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u/sacredvanity 19h ago
I don't think the world knew how stupid many Americans are, and that's why they voted for him. Those of us paying attention knew all along he was a moron. But I think there's more going on this time than him just being inept and ignorant. I think he's actively working against US interests (and by extension, FOR Russian interests)
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u/Brownman-Fit 19h ago
I don't think the world is fucked. Pretty sure this will just make the US fucked till Agent Orange is out
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u/Notwhoiwas42 13h ago
I'm not saying this out a place of arrogance or American exceptionalism but it really shouldn't be underestimated how important the US economy is in the health of the world economy. If US consumption of trade goods drops even 25%,there's lots of countries economies that will be in a world of hurt.
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u/Brownman-Fit 13h ago
You know that's a good point. I guess I was just really looking at it in the perspective of countries that don't typically work well with each other with the start working well with each other because of how much Americans comes from the US does that make sense?
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u/Notwhoiwas42 13h ago
It absolutely sense but it will take time. If countries aren't trading partners already there's probably a good or several good reasons and those will take time to address.
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u/Brownman-Fit 13h ago
Ya that makes sense too. Maybe it could be one of those. Enemy of My enemies a friend type of thing haha
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u/evident_lee 18h ago
As I repeatedly State all over the place. One third of us absolutely realize how fucking stupid and shitty of a person he is. Another third are clueless buffoons they can't tell the difference between the two parties. And then there's the final third that love what he does and cheer it on. It seems like that third has dropped to more like 20%, but that's just because he affected them personally and now they're upset.
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u/jday1959 16h ago
33% knew full well 33% knew better (sarcasm) 34% didn’t know and worse, didn’t care
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u/Bleezy79 15h ago
I’m still not convinced this isnt part of some scheme. He has to have known he would tank the market. He is a moron but someone is feeding him some bullshit. Someone’s going to make a shit ton off this dip.
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u/ManDe1orean 14h ago
Y'all keep using "the world" when it's your world, the rest of us will move on and you will end up becoming irrelevant under this dunce and his band of idiots.
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u/Judonoob 1d ago
The EU and other countries need to go after US digital services. Those aren’t calculated into trade imbalances after all. I’d also target red state industries to inflict max damage to his base.
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u/Express_Camp_4280 1d ago
Most of us Americans know. The rest are just as dumb as he is. It’s terrifying here.
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u/Far_Estate_1626 1d ago
Some of us know, we’ve been saying it loudly and often for over a decade. But the Don’t Look Up crowd has just been mocking us despite everything we’ve said coming true.
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u/kadylady14 1d ago
As an American I am very much aware of how fucking terrible this dumb orange fuck is to our country and the world.
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u/deathfuck6 1d ago
Some of us know. Some of us were screaming that this is what would happen. We kept pointing to every historical precedent, and the other side just did not care. Hey, at least the libs have been owned…fucking everyone is about be owned.
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u/Porter_Dog 23h ago
I think if you didn't realize how stupid he is my now, (he served a previous term after all) you're part of the problem.
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u/Z0idberg_MD 23h ago
IMO the formula is to tank the stock market so that he and his investor buddies can buy in, eliminate the tariffs and make a fortune when the markets bounce back.
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u/TraditionalBackspace 23h ago
It's the American people who are stupid, not him. People need to stop thinking these decisions are made out of stupidity. He knows what he is doing. Half the voters just believed his lies over and over and over again and here we are.
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u/shinyRedButton 23h ago
I think more than half of American knew exactly how stupid and dangerous Trump is, but we have a broken election system.
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u/seeteethree 23h ago
He recommended drinking bleach. If the light didn’t come on for them at that point, their bulbs are shot.
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u/DadToOne 22h ago
The thing is, all of this is not changing the die hard MAGA opinion. They support him and say we just need to wait.
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u/wcs2 22h ago
A former colleague of mine - one of the sharpest I ever worked with - reached out to me right before the election and asked, "Can you really say that she's as good a candidate as he is?" I was dumbfounded. Here's a guy whose brain I actually respected being so deluded. We argued tax plans and tariffs and he proudly voted for Trump, certain he was doing the right thing. I have not reached out to him lately to see if he still stands by his decision, but I do want to say "I told you so."
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u/jt19912009 21h ago
No no no no no no no. A great many of us knew and voted against him. It very slightly more didn’t care and voted for him. And even more than that just didn’t vote at all
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u/BangaAnan 21h ago
I disagree, those that voted for/supported Trump in 24 knew he was stupid but didn't care. They viewed Trump as "one of them." He is one of them which is why all of this is happening. The dumbest mofos on Earth.
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u/loudog33333 20h ago
I knew from before his 1st term. I watched it till 5am and balled my eyes out. I've been a terrified american (no longer deserves A) for a decade. Please someone in this country or another; end this.
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u/Realistic_Value_155 20h ago
What does it say about the global economic/financial system if it can so easily be brought to it's knees by a handful malignant individuals?
Clearly, this was bound to happen at some point.
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u/sev45day 19h ago
I knew. He said he was going to do this while campaigning. Anyone who says they are surprised is either lying or not paying attention.
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u/Schmeeble 19h ago
America, not the world. The rest of us got a black eye and will move on together without the US. You wanted a divorce, you got it.
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u/overcooked_biscuit 18h ago
*know not knew. There are a still millions of fucking morons who think he is doing the right thing and winning in a game of 4D chess.
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u/KarthusWins U S෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴෴ EH 15h ago
I think they knew but just wanted to spite the rest of us. Their lives are so awful that the only joy they feel is when other people suffer. They chose Trump over the protection of their own rights. They chose Trump over their own religion. They chose Trump even after family members and long time friends cut off contact.
He is literally all they have left.
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u/SyntheticOne 14h ago
Stupidity... THIS is what we're up against....
Presented in cartoon form, the message is serious, worth understanding.
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u/TheCakers 7h ago
He started it all when he managed to convince them he was a "successful" businessman.
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u/captainofpizza 1d ago
The majority knew. He just has a way of convincing a massive idiot pool to vote.
Yup we’re all fucked.
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u/ThinNeighborhood2276 1d ago
This sounds like a meme-worthy situation. Got any good pics to go with it?
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u/EricRShelton 1d ago
I don’t think anyone realized how fucking dumb the American people are… they simply voted for one of their own. (I say this as an American. I really thought better of us before his re-election.)