Welcome to the Trump Slump. Merry Christmas.
It’s happening right before our eyes. When His Orangeness was elected by the slimmest of electoral margins in 2016, normal people cringed, understanding that this chapter in our history was going to be a complete disaster. Trump has certainly met that expectation; his erratic reality television show behavior has destroyed everything from 100 year-old international alliances to entire industries. His tariff war has cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in economic value; his withdrawal from the TPP handed international trade dominance to China and Australia; his idiotic rantings on twitter have roiled the markets and destabilized politics in the US. The entire world is either laughing at us, or worse, preparing for the lunatic in the White House to declare World War III over some fabricated crisis.
Up until now, the markets have shrugged off Trump’s insanity, primarily because they’ve enjoyed the trillion dollars he’s pumped into the economy with unneeded tax cuts causing skyrocketing deficits. The result was overheating the economy which caused inflation to raise its ugly head, forcing the Fed to act by raising bank rates. His shutdown of the federal government over his idiotic wall is the last nail in the coffin of the 2018 economy. The Dow has plummeted 4,000 points from its highs; this is the worst December since the Great Depression. The market the last 2 years has now returned only 4% per year, barely beating inflation.
Instead of trying to understand what the hell he’s doing, Trump bumbles around, attacking everything that moves; he spent Christmas Eve savaging the Fed for the inflation HE PERSONALLY CAUSED. Even worse, the Fed is now the only agency standing in the way of this hair-weaved moron from pushing the entire country into the abyss. He has never grasped that the POTUS is supposed to CALM the markets, not burn them down; this narcissist is playing with matches while standing knee-deep in gasoline, complaining that he doesn’t have a blow torch. On top of that, of course, the invertebrates in Congress have fled DC to celebrate the holidays in hiding while the economy burns down around our ears and almost a million federal employees go without paychecks at Christmastime.
This is the worst disaster I’ve witnessed, including the last disaster started by GWB ten years ago. The difference? GWB was just a dumbass who surrounded himself with evil neocons and Darth Cheney, but at least he wasn’t nuts. Trump, a loose cannon, is singularly the most corrupt, narcissistic, and insane POTUS in the modern era, including Nixon. He’s run off all the adults who tried to restrain his worst instincts. And, as Mueller gets closer, he gets more dangerous and erratic; finally, after almost 2 years of complete chaos, the markets are now destabilized and plummeting. This one won’t end well.
Merry Christmas.
The really sad thing is that the Trump presidency is merely a symptom of a larger disease: the Right Wingnut media bubble. Too many of our fellow citizens think Trump’s doing the correct thing, because that’s the only news they hear.
When the destruction wrought by Trump’s policies can no longer be denied, the far right noise machine will loudly blame Nancy Pelosi and their other favorite scapegoats. Sadly, about 40% of the country will believe those lies.
1Well, yeah, that’s happening, for sure. Of course, what’s also going on is that he’s burning ALL his bridges. Once he’s burned them all, he’ll be trapped in a hell of his own making, trapped with people he’s destroyed for profit, people who really, really hate him.
If we still have television and the world’s not on fire, I will watch that spectacle with great enjoyment!
2Hair weaved moron. Gonna have to steal that one.
3Trump is a traitor by any definition. He has turned on his country and is attempting to wreck, ravage and destroy our democracy under Putin’s playbook.
Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham are complicit and have already moved on up to their trump tower apartments in the sky.
And too many democrats look to the better nature of mankind, acting as if a victory in ’20 will cure all ills. But an election two years away would be like a fire department showing up after the fact to find the cow that kicked the lamp.
A pity the GOPeers have no one among them to walk over and advise Trump to resign or else.
4Many are going to suffer if the GOP allows Rump to crater everything. Of course these same people and Rump, who destroyed everything, might not be safe anywhere.
I beginning to think extra food and cash at home, just in case..
5And, Papa, the ones who’ll suffer the most are the poor, including the poor whites who voted for the schmuk, ever singing his praises as they sink below the waves of the rising seas.
61. What are ‘the Markets’? By function & definition – specificity counts.
72. Who says or believes the aggregate of common stock exchanges aren’t disorganized nor are they destabilized. The moneyed class has now determined that trumplthinskin is a traitor and a coward, and left to his selfish desires will betray the U.S. to either the Arabesque or Putinesque ollie-garks — thus snuffing out this great political experiment of self-determinism and participatory enterprise and governance.
3. Ordinarily I won’t quibble with ‘the chief’. His values system is uniquely similar to mine. But this time I’m wont to let this perspective slide without comment. The hoi & the poloi know he’s a crook and as long as he is THEIR CROOK … they leave him alone. He has now become too narcissistic to control. They are fleeing into the nearby hills.
Just a random thought – say a foreign dictator seeking to undermine his greatest enemy plots to put a mole inside the WH. How would that look at all different from the current ButtWhistle administration?
8For all the sycophants humoring the ***king moron and mumbling “let Trumpie be Trumpie” before it becomes any trumpier, take a deep breath and make a list of ten things accomplished by this ***king moron. Still stuck at one? Look up. You’re in the same ditch you were in with Reaganomics and the Bush ‘doctrine’, stop digging. Einstein was thinking of you guys when he stated: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Now swallow your medicine. It’s a big pill, but for your own good and the sake of the country, admit your are both wrong and insanely stubborn. Relax, forget about ill gotten fortune and insane power. Step back and allow the Democrats to fix this for you. Again. This time understanding will come with a price, no do overs, no change of heart, no “joining” the Democratic Party. This time it’s step back and STFU. Forever.
9What thous sayest, El Jefe. I’m 78 and I am still working. My schedule would remind you of a temp. Yup. My job is just that “stable”. I would like to sell my house, take what I can get, and run back to where I came from. I am sure the family will let me in as long as I have enough $$ to pay my own way inasmuch as they don’t have any secret Caymen accounts. The stock market sure looks as if it has having a massive amount of the “vapors”. I am wondering if there is any place in this country I could go where if i really really had to (probably will) continue working. There are people around here with excellent education and resumes who haven’t worked a real job since the Bush recession. Gigs come and go and just don’t pay enough to cover a family and a mortgage. A friend of mine passed away recently and despite her diligent and astute handling of money, there wasn’t enough left over to cover the cost of a simple obit in the paper. If anyone out there beyond the beauty salon has any ideas on surviving not just a recession but a depression, let me know!
10Don’t forget … pants is a greater problem. Do not impeach until August 2020.
11at this point, the Republicans have no more use for Trump. with a Democratic House coming next month, no more of their legislation stands a snowball’s chance of making it to his desk for signing. his continued occupancy of the Oval Office simply degrades the GOP, as long as he’s there. their best bet, if their party is to have any chance to survive, would be to join with the Democrats, and get rid of him, “for the good of the country”.
Pence is a religious whackjob, but he’s not actually clinically insane. that McConnell & co. seemingly have no plans beyond 12-31 suggests to me that the Republican Party has a collective death wish.
12@BillR #6
I was thinking of poor when I made my comment. Those who lead and make the rules should remember the ultimate consequences that followed The Paris Bread Riots of 1789.
Maggie #10
I have a dear friend who lives in a subsidized apt. She is 72. She worries she’ll be out on the street if the funding dries up. I’ll have her come to my place if that happens.
As for myself, if my pension dissolves and SS gets chopped badly, I guess I’ll be learning Spanish and consider
13American friendly, cheap countries like Panama. Since English is my first language, there may be an opportunity to teach it online there as a second language.
Jonathon Hubbert’s remark is why I don’t want 45 impeached.
14Larry … you – are a wise man. Must be a Geologist. Feet planted firmly on the ground
15Maggie: I fired Cratchit yesterday. If you are able to add columns of numbers quickly and accurately, and not spend all day complaining that I don’t put enough coal in the office stove, I may have an opening for you. Bring your own ink and quills.
16Funny how withdrawal from TPP was a progressive goal until Trump.
17Yes, and even the bone spurs seem to be a lie!
18Actually, that’s not true. While some opposed it, it was generally widely supported by progressives and Dems. This is the problem when cynical charlatans like Trump use trade to whip up divisive anger. Like all generalizations, generalizing TPP almost always mis-informs. Politicizing guarantees misinformation.
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