There Was Never a Master Plan

[Celerity]

Trump backed down on tariffs. His supporters think that was the idea all along.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/04/trump-tariff-reality-test/682373/

https://archive.ph/DCEk5



To plainly state what is going on right now would make you sound delusional. The president of the United States has essentially been holding the global financial system hostage. He’s done so by threatening massive tariffs on nearly 100 countries and territories, including one that is unpopulated. These tariffs, which were set to go into effect today but have now been put on a 90-day pause for every country except for China, which will see a 125 percent tax on exports, seem to have been calculated using a blanket formula that some economists and trade experts find almost nonsensical. (Many have speculated that the math was done by a chatbot.) The administration’s supporters do not have a coherent message about why any of this is happening; before President Donald Trump announced the pause, they’d argued simultaneously that the tariffs were a temporary negotiating tactic but also that they might be durable enough to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

As the world braced for Trump’s tariffs to go into effect, stocks plummeted, wiping out trillions of dollars in value. The price of government bonds also dropped precipitously, triggering genuine fear of a dangerous debt crisis. Wall Street analysts likened the tariffs to a U.S. tax increase of roughly $660 billion; one economist called it a set of “punishing sanctions against the American people.” The situation is volatile: 10 percent universal tariffs are still in place, inflation remains a concern, America is still in a trade war with China, and it’s not at all clear that Trump will not just repeat this act as we approach the 90-day deadline.

For many, the second Trump administration has felt like a constant tearing of the fabric of our reality. The country is facing a deadly measles outbreak after Congress confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man with a profound skepticism of modern medicine, to run the Department of Health and Human Services. For a time, the businessman Elon Musk seemed to be acting as a shadow president, and he’s participated in the gutting of the federal government (when he’s not streaming himself playing video games on social media). ICE has apprehended visa-holding students off the street—sometimes for no clear reason at all.

While many of these acts have been ignored or rationalized by the president’s supporters, the tariffs may be different. Can the culture war—largely powered by memes, ideologies, vibes, and extremely online radicalization—survive the harsh reality of a trade war? The pause is only temporary; if Trump does not relent, he might still cause a financial meltdown. Trump has also destroyed a lot of trust—just the possibility of future tariffs may cause enough uncertainty to hurt businesses and investors. This would be the ultimate stress test of people’s otherwise unshakable devotion to the president—a final gantlet for this MAGA delusion.

snip

[dweller]

1. gantlet

a form of punishment where someone runs between two lines of people who strike them,

✌🏻

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. gauntlet

[dweller]

4. Interchangeable

but I had to check


✌🏻

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Look what you've done now

You made me look it up! For which I thank you. I learned something! I always knew about the glove spelling, but now I will use the spelling you used when I refer to the stick punishments.

Gantlet was the original spelling of the word referring to a form of punishment in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines and beat a person forced to run between them. It came from the earlier English word gantlope, which in turn comes from the Swedish gatlopp.1 Gauntlet is an alternative spelling of gantlet, but it also has several definitions of its own, mostly related to gloves.

Gantlet was the preferred spelling in early use of the phrase run the gauntlet—meaning to suffer punishment by gantlet or to endure an onslaught or ordeal—but gauntlet prevailed by the 18th century. Today, most writers use gauntlet, though gantlet, which is especially common in American English, is not incorrect.

[dweller]

8. Now you see what I subject myself to

Is it a typo or is it a new word ?
Must check …





✌🏻

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. A very good habit. If I have doubt I check. In this case, though my spelling is okay, yours is better. . . . nt

[Celerity]

7. Gantlet vs. gauntlet

https://grammarist.com/usage/gantlet-gauntlet/

Gantlet was the original spelling of the word referring to a form of punishment in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines and beat a person forced to run between them. It came from the earlier English word gantlope, which in turn comes from the Swedish gatlopp. Gauntlet is an alternative spelling of gantlet, but it also has several definitions of its own, mostly related to gloves.

Gantlet was the preferred spelling in early use of the phrase run the gauntlet—meaning to suffer punishment by gantlet or to endure an onslaught or ordeal—but gauntlet prevailed by the 18th century. Today, most writers use gauntlet, though gantlet, which is especially common in American English, is not incorrect.

The phrase throw down the gauntlet, meaning to issue or accept a challenge, uses gauntlet in its glove-related sense. It derives from the practice among medieval knights of challenging each other to duels by throwing down their gauntlets. So gantlet does not work as an alternative spelling here.

[dweller]

10. But doesn't it ?

Since his supporters are hypothetically running between 2 lines (is Pisswig right or wrong) while being struck with tariff sticks ?

🤔

“ This would be the ultimate stress test of people’s otherwise unshakable devotion to the president—a final gantlet for this MAGA delusion.”



✌🏻

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. There is a master plan but it is absurdly simple so tRump makes up the sub-plans on a daily basis

The master plan is: Secure a legacy as the greatest president ever by using tariff taxes to eliminate the income tax. All the other reasons given are gaslighting. Because tRump is a simpleton, he bought into the "shock and awe" approach and did everything at once, including launching a trade war against literally every country, all at the same time.

The rest is made up as he goes along. He has instincts to bully so that plays into the shifting plans. His basic modus operandi is to gaslight and bluster but that is easy to improvise given a few pre-conceived tropes: fentanyl bad, gangs bad, immigrants bad, trade imbalances mean they must be cheating, create millions of jobs (misdirect away from plans to use robots).

So he stumbles along from day to day. It was confirmed today that 24 hours before that Rose Garden charade last week there had been no decision as to what tariffs to charge beyond a flat 10%, though they all knew it would be more than 10%.

Likewise, despite rumours, he didn't decide to do a partial pause until today.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Case in point today at Congressional hearing

Trump's top trade official wasn't informed of tariff delay until after announcement

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143437177

[mitch96]

11. The "master plan" is Mu$k's mantra.. Move fast and break things...nt