Trade, Trump, & the Inverse of Trust: I Gave a Quote to "Morning Brew" on How to View Trump
Like a declassé WWF performer yelling obscenities while waving a metal folding chair over his head & threatening to come into the ring and beat the s**t out of people with it…
Brad DeLong: ‘One of the top priorities for Canada, for Mexico, for Europe, for China right now is to figure out how to start de-risking from the United States as much as possible, as fast as possible….
[What happens] depends on whether there is actually a trade war, or whether it is the same kind of contest as a [faked] World Wrestling Federation match.
Donald Trump was in the ring. He went outside the ring. He picked up the metal folding chair. He waved the metal folding chair over his head. He said: “I’m going to come into the ring and I’m going to beat you up with the chair!”
The question is: Will he put the chair down and come back in the ring and have it be a normal wrestling match? Or is he going to do it again—pick up the chair and wave it around?
Either way, we are in substantial trouble.
My guess is we’re in as much trouble as Britain was after 2016, when they exited from the European Union. But it might be less. It might be a bunch more…
The show:
Good Work: Why Are We in a Trade War? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNptnCkCoVk>:
The trade war has begun, and investigative journalist Dan Toomey has been drafted to the front lines. In a top secret special operation, Lieutenant Colonel Toomey and the 13th Good Work Investigative Platoon infiltrate and uncover the reasons behind this war. Featuring interviews with:
Paul Kiernan, Wall Street Journal Reporter Paul’s reporting: www.wsj.com/news/auth…
Steven Kamin, Fmr. Federal Reserve Director of International Finance About Steven: www.aei.org/profile/s…
Sam Lowe, European Trade Expert Sam’s Substack: https://mostfavourednation.substack.com/
Gregory Zuckerman, Wall Street Journal Special Writer Greg’s reporting: www.wsj.com/news/auth…
Mark Blyth, Brown University Professor of International Economics About Mark: home.watson.brown.edu/people/…..
Brad Delong, Economic Historian & Author Brad’s Substack: https://braddelong.substack.com/
But there was a bunch more. My side, what is worth keeping:
“TRUMPXIT” is pronouncedd “Trump-Zit”. The “P” and the “X” together compress into a “P” and a “Z” in English phonetics. You want to preserve the “exit” reference in there, but that means the “P” absorbs the “K” part of the “X,” and what’s left phonetically is an “S” or “Z” sound. So: Trump-Zit…
What happens depends on whether this is actually a trade war—or a fake theatrical match like those of the World Wrestling Federation. Trump, after entering the ring, steps out of the ring. Now he is picking up a folding chair, waving it over his head, and shouting, “I’m going to beat you up with this!” He gets tons of attention and lots of praise from the people he listens to; praise for “standing up for America” and “fighting the globalists.” But then—he puts the chair down.
What’s actually happened? Not much, yet, apart from China noise and Apple rushing 600 tons of iPhones into the U.S. ahead of one of these threatened tariffs. So far it’s the threat—not the follow-through—that’s been driving things. And now he’s paused things for 90 days.
Will he pick up the chair again? Will he then declare another victory simply for dominating attention? Will he then put it back down?
Either way, we’re in trouble. We could be in as much trouble as Britain was post-2016 after its EU exit. Maybe less. Maybe more.