And now this: trump's nonsensical tariff war becomes even more stupid as he exempts all computers and smartphones

@MarkPaul (264)
April 12, 2025 9:32am CST
After his Commerce Secretary (Howard Lutnick) continued to make a fool out of himself by explaining the objective of the 145% tariff on China is to build factories in the USA so Americans can be the ones who turn the "little screws" that hold the electronics together in phones and computers, trump announces (through a spokesperson, of course) that all computers and smartphones are now exempt from any tariffs.
1 response
DE
@DaddyEvil (146212)
• United States
12 Apr
IF new factories get built in the US, I can guarantee it will be AI that is turning the little screws to build anything here, not Americans! Why pay people to do work when AI can do it better, faster and cheaper?
Mark-Paul
@MarkPaul (264)
•
13 Apr
Agreed. That's why the reason being given for the tariffs is so ridiculous. When pressed, Howard Lutnick did agree that AI (or A1 as the Secretary of Education calls it... multiple times... in the same speech) would actually turn the screws, but he countered AI would be supervised by American workers. In any case, if they plan on building AI factories to turn screws, you would think they would promote that first before applying then exempting tariffs on such a broad scale.
1 person likes this
DE
@DaddyEvil (146212)
• United States
13 Apr
@MarkPaul None of them know what's really going on. trump is insane and making things up as he goes along and his cult blindly follow him.
Mark-Paul
@MarkPaul (264)
•
13 Apr
@DaddyEvil The frightening part is that most of them (not all, but most) do know what is going on and they are behaving cult-like anyway. And, not only that, but they know what they are doing for reasons they seem to be rationalizing. These are low self-esteem, low morality people who, like the fans of their leader, don't mind the consequences of their actions because they assume it won't affect them. If and when it does... they will express shock at what is happening and a denial of their accountability.
1 person likes this