• kreskin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    7 hours ago

    so a “war” on our own bond markets then? Will they be firing missiles on buildings in the US?
    …What a time to be alive.

  • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    2 days ago

    This statement is really weird, even for Trump because in the question asked immediately prior he clearly understands the question about whether he directed Bessant to intervene in the bond market stating.

    “Not at all. No, he’s a very capable man. He wanted to do it. He’s very good at it. He is a good touch. Very good natural touch for the bonds and interest.”

    Right? He understands ehats beung spoken about, or his answer at least makes it sound like he does.

    Then the reporter mentions that yields came back up and asks if Trump was going to direct Bessant to do “some other type of intervention”. At this point Trump suggests military intervention.

    He goes from “Bond market intervention” -> “Interest rates” (reasonable) to “Intervention” -> “I might direct the military to attack the bond market” (deranged) in, like 10 seconds. Is he just playing word association? Is he fucking with the reporter?

    • VoodooMischief@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      I disagree with your assessment that he understands the first question. His answer is just your typical responsibility deflection (“He wanted to do it”) combined with vague praise (“He is a good touch”). It’s akin to Maurice’s generic answers about football in IT Crowd (“Did you see that ludicrous display last night”). The only thing Trump DOES understand is using the military for his problems, which is why his answers ultimately land there.

      • monotremata@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        2 days ago

        This is my read on it too. He has no idea whether we want bond yields high or low or what. He actually feels a little bit attacked by the question because he doesn’t understand it. At first he tries to deflect it, because if the question will just go away, he doesn’t have to care about it anymore. But then there’s a follow-up. This is a challenge that isn’t immediately going away. That makes him angry. He still doesn’t know what’s going on, but now he has to care about that. So he’s gonna make a vague threat about being in control of the military. That should do the trick. That makes the reporters’ eyes get wide every time, and he can just walk away at that point and be guaranteed to get a lot of press attention. It’s a win-win.

        You have to understand that he doesn’t see these interviews as means of communication. He sees them as power struggles. Any communication that occurs is entirely incidental.

        • floofloof@lemmy.caOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          Someone else offered the darker explanation that he’s threatening to use the military against countries like Canada who decide to reduce their investment in US bonds. I don’t know whether that’s seeing meaning where there isn’t any, but here in Canada we haven’t forgotten that Trump keeps saying he wants to destroy our country one way or another. But overall I think it’s more likely he’s just failing to understand the question then forgetting what he’s supposed to be talking about.

          • monotremata@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            2 days ago

            Yeah, he definitely seems untethered enough that any kind of threat seems risky to entirely dismiss. I don’t think he’s gonna do anything with the actual military against Canada, though. That’s expensive, and his puppeteers don’t see a big profit in it. He’s kind of already acting as an occupying force within the US, and his hold on power here is tenuous; and war with Canada, who can actually hurt Americans on their home soil, would be even more unpopular than his various overseas entanglements.

  • sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    311
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    3 days ago

    America isn’t like this because Trump is president

    Trump is president because America is like this

      • stoly@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        29
        ·
        3 days ago

        It’s worse than that. Everyone has been brought up to be a narcissistic consumer and they approach public policy the same way.

          • stoly@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            2 days ago

            I became so disappointed in my grandmother when I was in high school when she expressed this attitude. I couldn’t understand why it mattered as children still needed school.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        3 days ago

        That’s not the issue at all. It’s the curriculum, the no child left behind act implementation, and the overall indoctrination and corruption of a system of government that rewards the rich.

        Most schools get plenty of money and just blow it on things they don’t need. Buildings way too fancy and overpriced educational subscriptions to crap, instead of spending it on more teachers and teacher salary. The money is plenty there. None of the rich fucks get a cut from cheaper buildings and teacher payrolls.

        • Prairie_Madness@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          24
          ·
          3 days ago

          Stripping education doesn’t necessarily mean money. The GOP has waged an all out war on knowledge over the last few decades. Hell Fox News was recently saying “colleges make liberals” despite the fact that all the people saying it had college degrees.

          No Child Left Behind gas been terrible. And I agree that money needs to go to teachers, not admins

          • WoodYouLookAtThat@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 days ago

            I’m in my mid 30s and Fox News was saying that colleges make liberals when I was in middle school.

            Probably even before that, I was just too young to notice

          • MrGeneric@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Fox News was recently saying “colleges make liberals” despite the fact that all the people saying it had college degrees.

            Wait, Jesse Waters has a college degree?

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              2 days ago

              In 2001, he graduated from Trinity College in the state capital of Hartford, Connecticut, with a Bachelor of Arts in history

              A liberal arts major, no less. From an East Coast private school in one of the bluest states in the country.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        You say that like some of the most educated people in the country don’t consistently vote Republican.

        This idea that earning a MBA or a JD or an MD makes your politics good is completely wrong. The idea that failing to earn a HS Diploma makes you unqualified to vote is equally dogshit.

        Politics is a consequence of your social affinity and your material conditions. You don’t just take a class and become a liberal Democrat if your grade is high enough.

        • 5318008@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          This idea that earning a MBA or a JD or an MD makes your politics good is completely wrong

          Well, on average… it does.

          You don’t just take a class and become a liberal Democrat if your grade is high enough.

          No, but being intelligent is correlated with both of these things. Dumb people are more easily tricked by right wing talking points. Dumb people also don’t get good grades. Smart people are, for whatever reason, more likely to agree with liberal or leftist talking points. Smart people are also more likely to get high grades.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Well, on average… it does.

            The Republican majority in Congress, the SCOTUS, and the White House all have advanced degrees.

            • 5318008@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              2 days ago

              Average. On average, people with degrees are more liberal/leftist. As a group. Separate the degrees from the non-degrees, and measure their liberalism/leftism, and find which group has the higher average. Average.

              Average.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 day ago

                On average, people with degrees are more liberal/leftist.

                On average, liberal neighborhoods and counties have more educated people.

                Go into a red neighborhood, and the math changes. Mormons break 70 R / 22 D / 8 I for candidates while enjoying a 36% bachelor completion rate - 3pts higher than the national average.

                Hindus break 46 D / 49 R and have a staggering 70pt college competition rate.

                Meanwhile, historically black Protestants have a meager 24pt college rate, but regularly vote 80/20 Democrat.

                • 5318008@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 day ago

                  Go into a red neighborhood, and the math changes

                  No, it actually doesn’t. Within a Mormon community, I would wager we would still see that the most educated Mormons are also, ON AVERAGE, the most liberal/leftist Mormons.

                  Sure, if this is the only thing you knew, there could be a Simpson’s paradox situation, but we already know what the data looks like when we count everyone as one big group. Your “exceptions” can be true, and at the same time, are not evidence against the original claim. Even IF you found that, within EVERY group, education correlates with conservatism… it would just be Simpson’s paradox, because we already know that, on the whole, education is correlated to liberal/leftist attitudes.

    • Deacon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      3 days ago

      It a fair and accurate criticism and it probably shouldn’t have snuck up on us like this.

        • stoly@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          3 days ago

          Exactly. I gave up hope when W was elected a second time after an abysmal presidency and terrible performance in the debates prior.

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    2 days ago

    This is more an example of advanced senility dementia that spouts more and more absurd out of his mouth, rather than any imminent declaration that any bon seller is a commie traitor insurgent. Though central banks around the world might want to consider this out of control spiral, and sell before they are threatened not to be allowed to sell.

    Still this is just the dotard mixing up his talking points, although technically he could claim winning this war. The bond market no longer has an air force or navy, and its missile production facillities are down at least 90%.

    • nkat2112@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      76
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      I laughed about your comment, paused, and then started getting nervous.

      I decided to take a quick glance at the article and came across this:

      President Donald Trump suggested Friday he could use the military to stage an “intervention” on bond markets in a confusing response to a reporter asking about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s efforts to bring down soaring yields.

      Much to my dismay, you weren’t exaggerating.

      • DougPiranha42@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        Just for the record: in the comments section of a post about a news article in a news community, you described a story about how you read what the lead says when you took a quick glance at the article.
        We’re talking about an “article” that is shown as a “2 minute read”, and takes about 30 seconds to read.
        Fun fact: the demographic in which Trump gained the most before the 2024 election was “people who don’t read news daily”.

    • frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      He can. There’s literally no process to stop him right now. He could have people executed in the streets and his supporters would cheer and sell merch.

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      49
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      3 days ago

      It’s not a case of the people “letting” him destroy your country. The people wanted him to. Maybe not all the specific details of how he’s doing it, but the previous election was largely a choice between “status quo” and “break the system” and break the system won. For some reason few of those voters seemed to be aware of how well the system was serving them, it appears they may have been misled. But that’s democracy for you.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        3 days ago

        Plesse stop with this nonsense narrative. The super-rich and corporations want that, regardless of who is in office, and they get that. They are ecstatic that it’s hastening under the current mouthpiece, everyone spouting this nonsense are just mad it’s so mask-off, and kidding themselves it wasn’t still happening under the fake opposition.

        • Ooops@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          18
          ·
          edit-2
          3 days ago

          The super-rich and corporations want that

          The real problem is that because the super-rich want it the majority is also on board because they are mostly brain-dead and will parrot every shit media pours into their empty heads.

          Which again leads to: the people want Trump. Why they want him is a completely different topic. But the fact does not go away just because you don’t want it to be true.

          • kwomp2@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            3 days ago

            Their heads are not empty. They are filled with believe in an individualist notion of the subject and accordingly in individual freedom beeing maximized in a free market. This ideological branch is called liberalism and it’s been hegemonial for about 80 years, mostly under the brand neoliberalism.

            Those 2 central believes proof more and more dysfunctional, but the threshold to overwrite them is high, regarding the consequences for ones social identity, how to view ones biography, friends, role models, etc.

            The democratic party is neoliberal, the republican party as well, MAGA might have some neo-feudalism and fascism added to the mix.

            There is very little political organization among the majority of people, like in neighborhoods or at work (unions weak), that could provide socialist critique or the experience of lived solidarity.

            Anti-communism adds to the threshold of reforming ones ideolocical dead end situation.

            Here you go, a little praxeological explanation of why people are so “dumb”, which is much better than saying they are idiots, at least when it comes to actually trying to better the world, when it comes to hope ;)

            • Ooops@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              3 days ago

              Here you go, a little praxeological explanation of why people are so “dumb”, which is much better than saying they are idiots, at least when it comes to actually trying to better the world, when it comes to hope ;)

              Yeah, sounds right… until you broaden your horizon and realize that this is not US exclusive.

              There are many countries that actually have non-neoliberal parties to chose from. And guess what… those also don’t get enough votes to be more than a minor factor in government coalitions. Because the reality is: many people are really idiots (not their fault often given the state of education but still…) and fall for the same right-wing screaming again and again (and yes it is exactly the same - the right only has one single playbook and they all constantly copy from each other), no matter if there is actually a voice of reason to listen to instead.

              • kwomp2@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                3 days ago

                yes, elsewhere the 2 party system does not help stabilize hegemony. It still works good enough to keep a fundamental question of social order from happening.

                Still, analyzing the situation with notions like hegemony and the praxeology of ideology is far more fruitful and instructive. It leaves room to look for breaklines and opportunities in the political-pedagogical complex of humans writing history.

                Diagnosing general idiocy or constrict it to public education obfuscates chances of change, thus stabilizing the whole shitshow further…

            • Maeve@kbin.earth
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              3 days ago

              The more aware I become, the more I’m aware it was by design, from the beginning.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        The poor are overworked and overwhelmed, extremely underserved or disserved, and floundering about as best they can for solutions.

        They need to take a cue from what is supposedly taught in scuba lessons: if you forget which way is up, stop swimming and watch the bubbles.

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Hey now, I can actually get behind the idea of invading wallstreet. Lets let the man cook.

    • mrmaplebar@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      And our world. Don’t forget that.

      Let’s see if people keep voting for him and his party!