Do we... not have any official policies that treat them as such? Have we been spending the past 50 years pretending they're the same country and that literally every instance of "China" in any laws and treaties applies to both together?I wonder how China feels about Taiwan being listed as a separate country.
It is weird, though. Water is available and cheap. It is just being uselessly mean. And people will die and that surely won't look good on anyone.Again, sorry. Typo.
it is, in fact illegal by any standard of care when it comes to inmates. But this administration actively does not care about the law. They deliberately flaunt it because Trump has "immunity". Until every asshat under him realizes they don't after spending time before a judge and, hopefully, behind bars, they will not change.
How do Republicans keep a straight face to say that the Canadian tariffs are important because of fentanyl? No one but redhats believes this and even to the redhats you could just say the truth. Canadian tariffs are important to show how important Trump is.Senate just told him where to take the tarriffs.
Ironbite-4 GOP senators in "safe" seats crossed the aisle.
Surely you've heard the phrase "The cruelty is the point" by now.It is weird, though. Water is available and cheap. It is just being uselessly mean. And people will die and that surely won't look good on anyone.
It is weird, though. Water is available and cheap. It is just being uselessly mean. And people will die and that surely won't look good on anyone.
Yeah that's major. I was rolling my eyes at "oh no one cup of water an hour", but one per day sounds illegally bad.
That's the game. They want to speedrun retaking the culture by driving CEOs to the White House to personally pledge loyalty in exchange for relief.
Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A thread to explain his plan and how we fight back.
2/ This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense.
That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.
3/ You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature.
Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.
4/ British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent.
Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance.
5/ Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way.
He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.
6/ Healthy democracies rely on an independent legal profession to maintain the rule of law, independent universities to guard objective truth and provide forums for dissent to authority, and independent state/local government to counterbalance a powerful federal government.
7/ But the private sector also plays a rule to protect democracy. Independent industry has power.
The tariffs are Trump’s tool to erode that independence. Now, one by one, every industry or company will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.
8/ What could Trump demand as part of a quiet loyalty pledge?
Public shows of support from executives for all his economic policy. Contributions to his political efforts. Promises to police employees’ support for his political opposition.
9/ The tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship. Why? So that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry.
As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.
10/ And once Trump has the lawyers, colleges and industry under his thumb, it becomes very hard for the opposition to have any viable space to maneuver.
Trump didn’t invent this strategy. It’s the playbook for democratically elected leaders who want to stay in power forever.
11/ The tariffs aren’t economic policy. They are political weapons.
But as long as we see this clearly, we can stop him. Public mobilization is working. Today, a few Republicans joined Democrats to vote against one set of tariffs.
The people still have the power.