The reactions by some on the right to the tariffs are embarrassing in their mindlessness. Pure sophistry and non sequiturs that avoid actually putting forth a coherent economic argument. Probably because you can’t defend what actually happened. Trump unleashed “retaliatory tariffs” not even based on tariff rates but based on some formula regarding trade deficits which is nonsensical. Thus, the highest tariffs are against countries like Cambodia, Bangladesh and Lesotho, who apparently are the ones “ripping us off.”
There is no coherent strategy or economic view here. One day it’s “tariffs are necessary to rebuild the US economy” then they’re just 4d chess negotiating tactics, then when the markets plummet over the chaos that’s actually fine because (a la Bernie Sanders) the stock market isn’t the economy and who cares about people’s stock portfolios?! The only lodestar is trust in Trump no matter what. It will be interesting to see how long these rationalizations can continue if things get worse.
It’s funny to see the left use the same conspiratorial rhetoric as the right did a year ago regarding the jobs numbers being downwardly revised. So many on the right, who knew nothing of how the jobs numbers are calculated or why they revise them, were convinced the downward revisions were a conspiracy to help Biden win.
If people want to have a debate about the birth death model or the survey methods, ok, but that’s not what’s happening here. Most people are under the delusion that the BLS report is the govt reporting every job created and lost, and are thus easily swayed it’s rigged when it suits their political ends.
This is almost laughingly misleading, as it leaves out everything before the letter.
▪️After being repeatedly lampooned by the Smothers Brothers over Vietnam, Johnson finally had enough. One night at 3 am he called the head of CBS William Paley, demanding that he “get those bastards off my back.”
▪️Paley then asked the heads of CBS entertainment to get them to back off of LBJ. However, instead of backing off the Smothers Brothers doubled down, booking a folk musician performing “Waist Deep,” an anti-war song about a soldier being stuck in the mud while “the big fool says to push on,” clearly a dig at LBJ.
▪️At the last minute, CBS cut the song from the pre-taped show to the outrage of the Smothers. They continued to push the boundaries off and on for the rest of his presidency, with CBS sometimes cutting segments that they thought went too far. Basically, it was a soft form of censorship.
▪️It wasn’t until Johnson made his surprise announcement not to run in 1968 ...
