President downplays recent stock market volatility that followed his ducking and weaving over tariff policy
Summary
Donald Trump declined to rule out a U.S. recession in 2025, citing a "period of transition" due to his trade policies.
When asked if tariffs would fuel inflation, he acknowledged the possibility but pointed to lower interest rates.
Despite stock market volatility, he insisted “you have to do what’s right.” The Atlanta Federal Reserve warned of economic contraction, raising recession fears.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed concerns, predicting strong growth. Trump's stance contrasts with his past claims that trade wars are "good and easy to win."
No, it's not a certainty that Trump's policies will cause a recession. What if we get hit by a giant meteor before then, wiping out humanity before the tariffs have a chance to do any damage? Or if God finally decides He has had enough and exercises His Ultimate Recall Vote on Trump and his presidency tomorrow?
How do we separate him from his cult though? That's the real question. Who would have thunk that in a month, he's destroyed our economy. How can we destroy his cult's adoration in the same amount of time?
Sure there's the maga cultists, but that is not the majority of people who voted for Trump. I honestly think a self-inflicted recession may turn out to be a good thing.
Right now Trump is behaving like, and being treated by the opposition like he's invincible. But I do not think we are at the point where maga has such a hold on power that they can withstand being broadly unpopular. There is still a lot of the government and civil society that remains intact, and could be a platform for stopping the authoritarian takeover, but they are going to need a huge amount of public support. Causing a recession when your mandate was to improve the economy may be enough for this.
The longer this festers, the more maga will be able to destroy or compromise the state and civil society. I think we need to force the crisis sooner rather than later.
They'll be praising him for how good the stuff is that they scavenged from their neighbours burnt out homes. And saying how nice it is not to have mortgage payments on the cave they live in
It's ridiculous that Biden wasn't celebrated for avoiding a recession in the U.S. when there was a global recession and analysts were certain we were going to have one here.
To paraphrase the Narcissist's Prayer, he's currently moving from "That won't happen" to "And if it does, it won't be that bad" and on to "And if it is, that's not a big deal."
So expect "And if it is, that's not my fault" in the not terribly distant future.
From:“THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET,” Trump wrote in an all-caps Truth Social post, “BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.”
It’s like if you cut someone off in traffic, forcing them to collide with a large truck. Trump’s the sort of person who won’t stop to help, but will drive off pretending he had nothing to do with it, only to proudly point out “Hey! I was there!” When it makes the evening news.
The really keen among you probably saw this coming last summer due to the slowing job growth numbers as being inevitable regardless of how the election turned out but this fucker is absolutely making it much more painful than it needed to be.
I've never actually seen Trump think proactively. Perhaps it's my bias, or perhaps I don't consider him thinking of his own future as proactive thinking...
There is no 200 IQ 4D chess plan. He just wings it as he goes. He says and does whatever "feels good" to him at the moment with zero regards to consequences, consistency or truth. He doesn't consult experts, he doesn't study anything because he thinks he knows everything about everything already. He is simply lucky when things go his way and is really good at shifting blame when they don't.