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S12E08: Trump & Tariffs

Lantern7

By Lantern7
in Last Week Tonight

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Lantern7

Lantern7

(edited)

I’ll be damned. ShowMeYourNetherlands.com is operational.

Before we get to fish, doorbells and screwing, we get about thirty-plus minutes on tariffs. It’s depressing and a little too big. All John can do is play clips of the President and those who choose to lodge their noses in his rectum, play more clips of the fallout, and quip about it. I’ve come up with so many ways to describe Donald Trump. I’m a little mad that “monkey with a gun” wasn’t one of them.

After last week and the lack of “And Now, This” early in the episode, I thought the whole 41 minutes would be dedicated to tariffs. Nope . . . we get a story about the Dutch setting up a doorbell system to allow fish to breed. I think we needed that. Oh, and we get Mario doing R&B to inspire fish coitus. Good way to end things before the Easter break.

Speaking of which . . . no ANT about the horror of Peeps? That’s disappointing. I miss the heavy metal rage voice bellowing diatribes.

ETA: I forgot about Kermit and Fozzie explaining the crash of 1987. On Nightline. With Ted Koppel. Un-freaking-real.

Edited by Lantern7
  • Like 10
Annber03

Annber03

Watching all those right-wing commentators bending over backwards to avoid admitting that Trump has no clue what the fuck he's doing with this tarriff bullshit after he paused said tarriffs was...truly something. They really will do and say ANYTHING to avoid having to admit they made a massive mistake following and supporting this moron, and telling his supporters flat out how much of an idiot he is. It amazes me that people still honestly think Trump's playing some kind of masterful 3-D chess game here or something, or that he's some kind of intimidating figure against the rest of the world, and it never occurs to them that he backed down because a bunch of rich people saw their portfolios going haywire and put pressure on to stop this shit before it got any further out of hand. 

Just...all these clips of Trump and his cronies defending this insanity make me want to throttle and slap every dumbass involved in this bullshit. I don't understand how so many people can be this monumentally stupid. I don't understnad how we got here. I don't understand why the hell we're continuing to let this overgrown toddler run rampant and destroy everything in his path like a bull in a china shop without any sort of consequences. When the fuck are the adults going to come in and kick him and his cronies out and take over already? 

John's reaction to realizing he agreed with Jim Cramer was 100% mine. 

Um. On a significantly lighter note...that R&B song was perfection. Also, the whole thing with the prime minister named Dick Schoof made me laugh WAY harder than it really probably should have XD. 

  • Like 8
peeayebee

peeayebee

(edited)

Absolutely LOVED Mario's song, though I couldn't make out all the lyrics. Still, it was sexy as hell... AND about fish!

Last week talking to some friends, I actually said Trump was like a monkey with a machine gun. His obsession with tariffs is ridiculous. I can imagine that he might see how it's hurting us -- not that he would care except in how it affects him -- but I don't know how he would ever back down. He never ever admits making a mistake -- one of the lessons he learned from Roy Cohn. He and his gang will have to come up with some way to save face, which will continue to be a bunch of lies.

Cramer's explanation was great. I also love the tweet (I think it was) about the trade deficit with the guy's barber. I've read similar ones. Didn't Jamie Raskin say something along these lines too? 

I had read something recently that Trump's interest in tariffs happened when he asked Jared in his first term to find him an economic advisor, but as we see in the clip John showed, Trump was into tariffs back in 2012. Anyway, as this article explains:

Quote

It all started back during Trump’s first presidential campaign, when he told his son-in-law Jared Kushner – who is married to his daughter Ivanka – to do some research so that he could “speak more substantively” about China." ... So, Kushner went on Amazon and had his attention grabbed by a book called ‘Death by China’, written by economist Peter Navarro in 2011. ... 

After seeing the book title, Kushner cold-called Navarro and invited him to be an adviser to the Trump 2016 campaign, according to the Vanity Fair report.

I think we've all gotten sick of his sycophants saying this is "the art of the deal." He's not a great negotiator or deal-maker. He's a blackmailer.

John describing Scott Bessent as a "Whoville tax accountant" was perfect. 

Was Bowser in the Mario Bros game named after Doug Bowser?

I have to googled Boris Johnson and ostrich.

Also, in the opening sequence, the last, new one was "Bawkus Jockus, Chicken Jockey." What is that?

Edited by peeayebee
  • Like 6
Shrek

Shrek

8 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I had read something recently that Trump's interest in tariffs happened when he asked Jared in his first term to find him an economic advisor, but as we see in the clip John showed, Trump was into tariffs back in 2012. Anyway, as this article explains:

I think we've all gotten sick of his sycophants saying this is "the art of the deal." He's not a great negotiator or deal-maker. He's a blackmailer.

 

I read some news article that traced when he first ever mentioned tariffs & how good they were & how much he loved them to sometime back in the mid 80s in an interview he did back then. Not sure how true that is but it wouldn't surprise me.

  • Like 4
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

He didn't even write The Art of the Deal. Also, there's a chapter about the casino in Atlantic City. 

Since the taping, China has halted exports on rare earths. So we'll see how that goes. 

I don't really get the endgame here. I suppose the overall goal is to 'bring manufacturing back' if I'm being judicious. Why though? That ship has sailed. 

 

  • Like 5
peeayebee

peeayebee

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

He didn't even write The Art of the Deal.

Yeah, his ghostwriter has huge regrets about writing this.

Quote

I don't really get the endgame here. I suppose the overall goal is to 'bring manufacturing back' if I'm being judicious. Why though? That ship has sailed. 

I really think it's just his bullying personality. He thinks he can puff out his chest and get what he wants. He's all about using his personality and going by his gut. Because he's too lazy to learn how these things really work.

He wants America to be the biggest, bestest, strongest country in the world, which means all the other countries need to bend the knee and kiss the butt, and be subservient to the US and, of course, Trump. He wants to win, which means EVERYONE else has to lose.

  • Like 5
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I really think it's just his bullying personality. He thinks he can puff out his chest and get what he wants. He's all about using his personality and going by his gut. Because he's too lazy to learn how these things really work.

'Bring manufacturing back' isn't really a Trump or Republican issue. That's my question. We're supposed to be the global leader in innovation. Shouldn't the policies be developing the new skilled jobs?

  • Like 5
peeayebee

peeayebee

One thing is that Trump seems stuck in the past. IMO, he's imagining manufacturing being like in the 70s or 80s. He doesn't seem to understand how intertwined all of manufacturing is, with different components and materials coming from many different countries.

And, yes, having workers develop new skills is common sense. Another thing is to build manufacturing sites before we decide to cut ourselves off from the country where that thing is made.

And then there's the cost of labor. I would think that even paying the minimum wage here would make stuff like electronics so much more expensive for consumers. 

There just doesn't seem like a lot of thought put into it. Maybe I'm repeating myself or not really addressing what you're saying, but I think that Trump's idea is that he'll impose tariffs on imports, which will cause those countries to be unable to sell to us, and so they'll cave and buy more from us. I don't think he cares that costs will be passed onto US consumers. He just sees tariffs as a power play.

And the more I think about it, the less I understand it.

  • Like 6
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

He thinks tariffs are like a shakedown 'nice place you got here, shame if anything would happen to it', but it's not like he doesn't have people who know something about something in the administration, whether I agree with them or not. 

'Bring ______ back' has been standard republican policies since Reagan. I think Reagan even was a free trade advocate though.

Bottom line, you just can't run the government like a business. 

  • Like 7
Annber03

Annber03

3 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

'Bring manufacturing back' isn't really a Trump or Republican issue. That's my question. We're supposed to be the global leader in innovation. Shouldn't the policies be developing the new skilled jobs?

This. Some of those jobs are just never going to come back no matter what we do economically, because times have changed and the world has changed and technology has dhanged - and changed rapidly at that. 

And, as John rightly pointed out, most, if not all, of the manufacturing jobs that do come back are going to be automated. These people seem to think these jobst will come back and everyone will magically get their old jobs back again and live whatever comfortable financial lives they once had...

...and no. No, they won't. Most companies are going to save costs every way they can, up to and including hiring as few actual workers as they possibly can. And even those they do hire, they probably won't get great wages to match the price of things nowadays, and they'll be lucky if they get any sort of decent healthcare and benefits as well. And if the Trump administration has its way with its continued efforts to gut our healthcare system, that's just going to further ensure that any workers who do have a manufacturing job are going to be struggling to afford that sort of thing. 

But people just continue on with this delusional fantasy that Trump will magically somehow bring back everyone's jobs for them ('cause, you know, he's TOTALLY shown he's cared so much about what working class people are going through thsu far) and they'll be living on easy street. I wonder how long it will take for the reality to siink in for them, when it will finally hit them that this magical economic boom is not going to happen. Not on Trump's watch. 

  • Like 7
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

As red as my state is, the governor is pushing programs for workforce development in technical training, vocational too, but it's healthcare, welding, electricians (you're always going to need), professional certificates. So I don't think this needs to be a partisan issue really.

I do and still support Biden wanting to grow good paying union jobs, and my state is anti-union, but even Biden was talking about a traditional factory job. Though he does support green jobs. Which they should have never called them that. 

I'm not sure people fit for those kind of jobs wouldn't opt for a safer one if those were offered. 

  • Like 4
iMonrey

iMonrey

As with everything I think it's just as simple as the fact that Trump is a very stupid man and doesn't understand trade deficits. As John pointed out at the very beginning of the piece, Trump has an overly simplistic perception of trade in thinking any country that doesn't buy as much from us as we do from them is "ripping us off" and makes us suckers. 

He's just dumb. I honestly don't know how anyone can't see that. Just listen to him talk for five minutes. He sounds like a third grader. And yes, I realize that's an insult to third graders. But how can anyone watch him and listen to him for more than five minutes think he's smart? It's like watching the Three Stooges and going "Oh, they're smart. Let's put them in charge."

I could have lived without the Fish Doorbell piece. I realize it was meant as a palate cleanser but I've never heard of Mario and it did nothing for me.

  • Like 5
iMonrey

iMonrey

9 hours ago, purist said:

John and his writers did a decent job of explaining a pretty complicated and boring (to me) situation. I glaze over whenever anyone tries to talk to me about economics, but LWT managed to mostly hold my attention during the episode. I

I think most people are now starting to understand the basics of tariffs, given the chaos they've caused and how they've been in the headlines wherever you look. I mean, everyone has been talking about this since Trump first put tariffs on Canada and Mexico and that was weeks ago. So at this point I felt like I knew all this stuff.

  • Like 3
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

I don't think most people know what's going on. You're not looking at your 401k everyday if you're still in your working years, and it's not really tangible.

Once everyday costs go up, then there's going to be a lot of 'whaaa?' I mean, Harris basically lost because of eggs. (I'm generalizing, but there is merit there.) The Twitch is already on hold, but that's not really an everyday item. If stuff like clothes and shoes, or toilet paper, gas, laundry soap, getting your car fixed, then people will notice. 

There's not going to be any new factories or jobs created, but there weren't anyway. But, businesses aren't investing in growth because of the uncertainty. So if you're looking for a job, you may see not as many in the usual places. 

We're an uninformed, selfish body politic that demands immediate gratification. So even if all that happens, people probably aren't going to know why anyway. 

  • Like 5
Lugal

Lugal

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

And then there's the cost of labor. I would think that even paying the minimum wage here would make stuff like electronics so much more expensive for consumers. 

That's the big one right there.  It was one of the main reasons that they left in the first place. There are three things that make American labor much more expensive: Health Care, Housing and Transportation.

Healthcare is run by profit-seeking insurance companies (which employers have to pay into), and there has been no effort to reign them in.

Housing driven up by rent-seeking banks (with an added bonus of Air B&B making it even more scarce and expensive).

Transportation, with little public transit in America outside big cities, is mostly by privately-owned car which the worker must pay to gas up, maintain and insure.

Over the last 40 years no one has done anything to reign in those costs, and some of these same government people did everything they could to further drive them up.  Any company who wants to re-shore knows they will have to pay a certain amount (higher than in other countries) for American workers just to cover these costs for the job to be worth having from the worker's POV.

  • Like 4
milkyaqua

milkyaqua

This is what I don't understand.  People seem to forget that when NAFTA came into being (with support from both parties) it was because those same big businesses' didn't want to pay US worker wages.  So now people are thinking those same businesses are going to start up factories again and hire actual people instead of most of it being automated?

Also, people also seem to not understand that when prices go up, they likely are not coming down (at least not in any way that's noticeable) and a lot of things in addition are also going to go up.

So now you've blown everyone's retirement plans and who knows when the stock market will stabilize in the long-term.

Heaven forbid this country concentrated on developing/supporting jobs needed in this current climate but heck, we don't do that here.  No, let's build our hopes on an old model that has long since sailed.

  • Like 5
iMonrey

iMonrey

10 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think most people know what's going on. You're not looking at your 401k everyday if you're still in your working years, and it's not really tangible.

You're sure as hell looking at it if you're in your 50s and 60s, and those are much more likely to vote than younger people. Plus you can't get away from it no matter where you're getting your news from, it's all Trump and tariffs wherever you look. Not saying Trumpers aren't still drinking the Kool-Aid and buying every dumb excuse Fox News comes up with, but the sliver of voters that put Trump over the top in 2024 (the so-called "swing voters") just wanted him to "fix" the economy and know he's doing exactly the opposite of that.

  • Like 2
DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

That is a key point about the 50 to 60 demographic, and they will be voting for sure, but I don't think it's enough for 2026. I still maintain getting hit from those everyday goods, or if your phone dies, you have an emergency car repair, and it's through the roof, then it's really going to hit. 

I just don't think people watch enough news to grasp what's going on. Sure, they may have heard about tariffs; it is hard to avoid, but I don't think what that actually means is on the radar, on average. 

  • Like 3
andromeda331

andromeda331

I agree with @iMonrey Trump is just stupid. That's why everything he's businesses and everything else has gone to crap. He's the only one who keeps failing upwards. I don't get why people don't see it either. 

He wants the country to be the best ever but he's doing everything he can to make the opposite happening. Destroying agencies. Putting so many people out of work.

The tariffs. He really believed that none of the countries would do the same thing to us. Oh no that won't happen. Except it did. Of course they would. He didn't care about the falling markets or anything until his rich buddies in tech were concern. He also doesn't seem to understand that countries will go elsewhere for what they need. Of course they will. He just sabotaged all of our trading.  

I'm glad John explained how both claims from Republicans don't work. Manufacturing is never coming back. It's never going to happen. It's still cheaper for it all to be done in China. CEOs will never bring it back. I like John explaining the automated and China having the stuff to manufacture with. We don't.

There's no way any of this was a plan. He doesn't have the cards. I love the Chinese insult back to Vance about the thank you. That was so good and correct.  

  • Like 5
milkyaqua

milkyaqua

12 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I agree with @iMonrey Trump is just stupid. That's why everything he's businesses and everything else has gone to crap. He's the only one who keeps failing upwards. I don't get why people don't see it either. 

This.  Why would anyone think that a guy who's filed for bankruptcy at least half a dozen times knows how to run the country or its economy?  He's pretty much just grafted people out of money while in office (which technically isn't legal) and has spent more time trying to bolster his business interests while in office than that of the folks who elected him.  It's all a sick joke.

  • Like 4
Annber03

Annber03

5 hours ago, milkyaqua said:

Why would anyone think that a guy who's filed for bankruptcy at least half a dozen times knows how to run the country or its economy?

This is the part that will forever baffle me. If I fucked up that many times, no way anyone would give me a chance to run anything financial. And rightly so. 

But for whatever batshit insane reason, Trump fucks up that many times and people just look at him and are like, "Yes, I trust him with my money." 

Boggles. The damn. Mind. What IS it about him for some poeple? I don't get it. 

  • Like 5
Rlb8031

Rlb8031

On 4/16/2025 at 6:54 PM, Annber03 said:

Boggles. The damn. Mind. What IS it about him for some people? I don't get it. 

My theory is that a lot of mediocre folks look at him and say "Here's a guy who is not the best looking, not the smartest, not the nicest who has made it to the top, so the story I've been told since the beginning of time - that I'm better than at least half the world - could be true. The only thing standing between me and success is these damn immigrants, the liberals, and the fact that we've been forced to care about the weak, the sick, and the downtrodden." 

They honestly believe that he is them and seem to forget about the fact he is a small-penised millionaire who grew up as a slumlord for the working class who bought his way into his education, his society, and respectability. He's literally made his money off of stealing it from banks in such an extremely blatant way that everyone has been astounded by it.  

  • Like 4
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