Trump Is Destroying Everything He Touches
POSTED BY: JJ
UPDATED: Saturday, September 5, 2026 01:01
VIEWED: 85257
PAGE 65 of 136
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Comrade signym tried to debate against facts in this thread and lost. She thought she could take me down a philosophical rabbit hole. Her mistake was she thought she was debating with me. Instead, I stayed on topic and I put forth facts as reported by the experts. Needless to say, she lost. It was fun.
Comrade, I'm ready for the next topic on the list. Comrade?
T
Give it 2 months and everything you said today will be wrong.
I know that you never bother checking up on those things, but I do.
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For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death, I will wander on.
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You might have noticed THGR that I haven't been posting much and my posts have been really short. Tariffs, globalism, trade, rapacious capitalism, and the whole lot are all tangled up and need to be unpicked.
And, no, I don't think I'm debating you.
But, as usual, you think you've made an argument by name- calling (comrade, Marxist) when you haven't actually addressed the point someone brings up. You don't because you can't.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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T
Why Portland? This is why.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You might have noticed THGR that I haven't been posting much and my posts have been really short. Tariffs, globalism, trade, rapacious capitalism, and the whole lot are all tangled up and need to be unpicked.
And, no, I don't think I'm debating you.
But, as usual, you think you've made an argument by name- calling (comrade, Marxist) when you haven't actually addressed the point someone brings up. You don't because you can't.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
He ignored you again, and posted his fat gay cowboy.
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For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death, I will wander on.
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OK, BACK TO THE DISCUSSION.
Quote:
signym
I think reindustrializing is a laudable goal, don't you?
Why don't we hash that out before tariffs, bc if you don't think the goal is achievable or worthwhile then tariffs are, in your view, entirely counterproductive.
THGR:
I am not against having more manufacturing. We need it. Look what happened during COVID. I think the South lost the civil war because for the most part, they couldn’t make a canon.
SIGNY:
Agreed
So, we agree that manufacturing is important, if for nothing else than making weapons. I would say that basic production is important for sovereignty and independence, bc if you depend on other nations for critical supplies and goods that can be leveraged against you. Look at Japan. It has to do what we tell it, otherwise we could blockade their oil like we did right before WWII.
Quote:
THGR:
Tariffs are for dealing with countries that need tariffs to be placed on them. Trump tariffed the world, and I think it’s sad you can’t differentiate between those two perspectives.
SIGNY:
Wow.
You're either not reading or not comprehending what I posted. I posted over ... and over ... and over ... that I'm good with the CONCEPT of tariffs, but not the way Trump is doing it. IMHO it needs to be sector by sector, infrastructure and supply chains need to be established, and investment assured.
can we agree that reindustrialization is a good thing, and tariffs should be part of the plan, but Trump is making a hash of it?
Also, which countries "need" tariffs, which don't, and on what grounds? Bc AFAIK Trump in putting tariffs on nations that have the largest trade surplus with us.
Quote:
THGR:
And again, Congress, according to the constitution is responsible for tariffs except in individual circumstances. You keep ignoring that Trump is breaking the law by what he is doing. Your posts are nonsensical. Tariffs don’t belong in a conversation about bringing manufacturing home.
SIGNY:
Tariffs are an essential part of bringing manufacturing home. Even when we officially ended tariffs, post WWII it took a couple if decades for other nations to rebuild, so effectively we had protected industry from our founding to roughly 1970. [About 200 years]
THGR:
It’s not about tariffs. It’s about finding ways to bring more manufacturing home that we can sustain. Remember, we live in a society that barters with each other.
SIGNY:
Not true, and apparently you don't understand "barter". Barter is exchanging goods for goods. When we get oil from Saudi Arabia, for example, what "goods" do we send to Saudi Arabia? Cars? Wheat?
The answer is, we don't. We give them money. USD. And Nixon forced them into that deal. That's not barter.
THGR:
The best product sold at the cheapest price wins. We could do everything here but if wages make it too expensive to sell then what's the point?
SIGNYV
I already addressed that point.
But I'll address it in detail.
The purpose of tariffs is to make foreign products more expensive, to put American-made products on a more equal footing. That protects American manufacturing and and American labor.
So, who does this affect?
Let's look at iPhones. Apple pays China an estimated $500 for a phone that retails for $1000- $1200. Cellphones are currently exempt from tariffs, but let's say Trump decides to impose a 50% tariff on Chinese made iPhones.
Suddenly, the retail price could jump to $1500 -$1800, with US gov collecting $500- $600 at the border.
What is Apple to do?
Apple could try to bargain with China to reduce costs. And China could reduce its wages or invest in more automation, but that's unlikely bc they have a deal with their population- staying in power i
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You just keep playing stupid. I am not debating Tariffs as a standalone entity. Between one country and another. I said, I would point out the destructive aspects of Trumps' different policies. I don't care about what would be nice if it happened. Different hypotheticals you keep suggesting in your posts. Instead, I care about what is actually happening.
If apple were to make their phones here. It would take several years to set up a manufacturing plant first. And then those phones would cost about 3.5 thousand dollars each. Look it up. If the entire manufacturing process was moved to the U.S., some say they would cost 30,000 per phone. Stay in reality please and do what I do, deal in facts. This way you won't come off as ignorant.
First topic, was to be about Trump using tariffs the way he is.
Well, for one thing, it is illegal.
His tariffs are killing our relationships with our allies, and weakening our standing and security globally.
They are killing American businesses. Both large and small. It is a huge tax on them and our citizenry. According to our constitution, a president is not allowed to raise our taxes like this. It takes an act of Congress to do that. Again, look it up.
I told you I would show, using your list, how Trump destroys whatever he touches. Not to debate the difference between the effects of tariffs on different countries. And to continually watch you post about the subject with no regard for its legality, when the constitution clearly states what Trump is doing is not.
Who gives a shit about the effect of tariffs on Switzerland vs. another country. Really, get a grip and stop posting bullshit hypotheticals. Stay on topic. Which is, what I don't like about Trumps' policies. That's what you asked me.
In response you keep lecturing me about tariffs, which makes me laugh. The subject is not the pros and cons of tariffs. Or, how they work. The subject is, Trumps tariff policies and what I don't like about them. Which encompasses, are they legal, and what are they doing to the country; pay attention.
You put all that work into your past and current posts and you aren't even on topic. Which is why I've taken to underlining some words. Yano, make it simpler for you to understand lass.
too funny...
T
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Quote:And then you veer off into hypotheticals...
Originally posted by THG:
You just keep playing stupid. I am not debating Tariffs as a standalone entity. Between one country and another. I said, I would point out the destructive aspects of Trumps' different policies. I don't care about what would be nice if it happened. Different hypotheticals you keep suggesting in your posts. Instead, I care about what is actually happening.
Quote:
If apple were to make their phones here. It would take several years to set up a manufacturing plant first. And then those phones would cost about 3.5 thousand dollars each. Look it up. If the entire manufacturing process was moved to the U.S., some say they would cost 30,000 per phone. Stay in reality please and do what I do, deal in facts. This way you won't come off as ignorant.
So I looked it up.
Quote:
iPhone Cost
The iPhone 16 is Apple’s latest phone and comes in various iterations, as previous models have. The iPhone 16 Pro, depending on storage size, costs from $999 to $1,599. It’s quite a hefty price tag, especially when it’s estimated that the actual cost of all the components to make the phone amounts to approximately $568.34
According to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, the reason to build in China is not because of the lower labor costs. If this were the case, Apple could make its phones in even cheaper locations. The main reason, according to Cook, is the skill required in tooling engineering. He claims that the specific skill set is no longer available in the United States, but in China, the expertise is prevalent.9
In addition, logistically, China makes the most sense to ship a product around the world, as the country has seven of the world’s largest 10 ports.
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/the-cost-of-making-an
-iphone.aspx
Quote:
How much in the USA?
One analyst estimates that on labor costs alone, an iPhone made in the U.S. could cost 25% more than it does now. Another analyst pegged the price of a U.S.-made iPhone at $3,500.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/heres-how-much-a-made-in-the-usa-iphon
e-would-cost.html
Quote:
First topic, was to be about Trump using tariffs the way he is.
Well, for one thing, it is illegal.
Probably. Unfortunately people will cheer on a lot of illegality if they see it as fixing a badly-wrong situation.
Quote:Good. These aren't allies but hangers-on. They couldn't possibly help us in a war.
His tariffs are killing our relationships with our allies,
Quote:I don't even know what you mean. What is "standing", to you? Reputation?
and weakening our standing and security globally.
Quote:Do you have figures on how many businesses have shuttered?
They are killing American businesses. Both large and small.
Quote:I brought up Apple to show you that tariffs don't NECESSARILY raise prices. I depends on what the transnational does.
It is a huge tax on them and our citizenry.
Apparently you didn't get that.
It depends on what happens to prices to determine whether the tax fall on Americans and American businesses or on transnationals.
Quote:Back to the "it's illegal" argument.
According to our constitution, a president is not allowed to raise our taxes like this. It takes an act of Congress to do that. Again, look it up.
Quote:Yep, most likely.
I told you I would show, using your list, how Trump destroys whatever he touches. Not to debate the difference between the effects of tariffs on different countries. And to continually watch you post about the subject with no regard for its legality, when the constitution clearly states what Trump is doing is not.
Quote:Apparently you don't learn by watching others.
Who gives a shit about the effect of tariffs on Switzerland vs. another country.
Quote:
Really, get a grip and stop posting bullshit hypotheticals. StayNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
You’re full of maybes what ifs and rabbit holes. I hope you do not think your response warrants an explanatory response from me; because I don’t.
T
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So, about business failures.
According to this website
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/bankruptcies
over a the last ten years, business failures peaked in Q2 2016 to 25.2K per year. After that, it started to drop slowly. Then took a HUGE dip beginning Q3 to 12.7K in Q2 2022, rising there to max out Q1 2025. It has started to fall slightly since.
So far, there hasn't been any noticeable increase in business bankruptcies.
So there goes one point.
Now, AFA price increases, except for the price of beef, inflation hasn't been the issue that it was under Biden*
So there goes another point.
Of course, any change in policy can takes months or even YEARS to have sn effect, but SO FAR your concerns haven't played out.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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