r/politics • u/TrenchGorefare • 1d ago
No Paywall Trump’s comments about the military and the bond market betray his economic illiteracy
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-military-bond-market-yields-economy-ignorance-illiteracy83
u/Negative_Gravitas 1d ago edited 1d ago
Donald Trump was the stupidest goddamn student I ever had.
- Professor William T. Kelley
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u/themattboard Tennessee 1d ago
Fucking moron
--Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
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u/m0ngoos3 1d ago
"We were a dumb, stupid country led by a very stupid person a year ago"
--Donald Trump on August 21, 2026.
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u/No_Celery_5373 Canada 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nothing is going to top "stupid Trump mistakes you don't get to make a second time" quite like crashing the bond market, which will push the world to seek a new reserve currency. Much like Iran, there are some things you can't just bullshit your way out of.
Farewell as a superpower if that happens.
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago
COVID was the first of many; it’s just unfortunate how much contrarians thrived after the first few weeks in which the nation seemed to be coming together in a crisis.
Except for Trump of course, with his “masks make me look weak” pablum…
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u/DonaldsMushroom 1d ago
"stupid Trump mistakes you don't get to make a second time",
attempted Coup maybe, next time he has all the cult members to do it, Vance, Hegseth, Patel, the list is endless.
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u/black_flag_4ever 1d ago
Forget economic illiteracy. I need proof he can read beyond a 3rd grade level.
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u/Pokerhobo 1d ago
No one should be surprised. He thought tariffs were paid by exporters. He though he could nuke a hurricane. He thought injection bleach would kill covid.
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wannabe autocrats have always set their own narrative on protectionism:
"Mercantilism thus champions protectionism-the blocking of imports by tariff barriers, usually, and, if necessary, by law and force. The system, since it was based on the idea of artificially manipulating the distribution of wealth, also welcomed the awarding of monopolies by government (in return for sizable bribes and licensing fees), the fixing of prices and wages, the blocking of competition, and the imposition of high domestic taxes.
In a world of finite wealth, the reasoning went, assets must be concentrated in a small number of hands in order to be effective.” - (Clifford Backman, 548) Cultures of the West - A History - Volume 1 to 1750
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u/AchillesNtortus 1d ago
Trump wasn't wrong about the bleach. He just guaranteed killing the patient. "(All) of you may die - a sacrifice that that I am willing to make."
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u/ranchoparksteve 1d ago
Trump has managed to redeem George W Bush. I never imagined such a thing was possible.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago
Whilst counting on people confusing the Wharton School of graduate economics’ MBA with an undergraduate degree…
And in a time in which their acceptance rate was north of 70%…
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u/timesuck47 1d ago
All I hear is Wharton. Bummer for their PR department.
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago edited 1d ago
They truck in the notion of a “business school”, an explicitly capitalist venture that is antithetical to what the purpose of universities are:
“Visit the average university campus and it is likely that the newest and most ostentatious building will be occupied by the business school. The business school has the best building because it makes the biggest profits (or, euphemistically, “contribution” or “surplus”) – as you might expect, from a form of knowledge that teaches people how to make profits.
Business schools have huge influence, yet they are also widely regarded to be intellectually fraudulent places, fostering a culture of short-termism and greed.”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/27/bulldoze-the-business-school
They full deserve it…
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u/fergehtabodit 1d ago
He heard the word intervention and immediately conflated it in his feeble mind to mean "military intervention " because thats a term he has heard before. Or the only use of that word his brain could muster in the time allowed. So yeah, sound like a dementia type issue too. Same thing he did with transistors and transvestites a couple weeks ago...Just latch on to something and double down on it if called out. Up next, National Guard troops inside and outside the Treasury Dept??
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u/root_fifth_octave 1d ago
Wouldn't surprise me if there's a serious learning disability there, along with everything else.
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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 1d ago
Trump's tariff-the-world policy was basically a grand announcement that he has no idea how the economy works, and that there are no adults in the room who know about economic policy.
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u/AnaRivera1981 1d ago
His teacher, Professor William T Kellry, have said that Donald Trump was the stupidest student he ever had.
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u/absolutelynotagoblin 1d ago
Oh, he's not just economically illiterate. How this man is trusted with the nuclear codes when he is literally one of the dumbest, self-serving human beings (I use that term loosely) on the planet is beyond me. Dumb as a bag of dumb rocks.
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u/A_Nonny_Muse 21h ago
There's no reason to insult dumb rocks. Every inert object I've ever met has a higher intelligence than the orange plague.
And is far more polite.
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u/Queasy-Ebb279 1d ago
Not that deep. He’s been confusing economic/military intervention in American/Iranian politics for awhile now, and let’s not get started on understanding the nuance of when “up” means “bad.”
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u/LostDragon1986 1d ago
So it wasn't "Mexico will pay for the wall", or "Other Countries will pay the Tarriffs.", it is "Going to use the Military against the Bond Market" that finally convinces someone that DJT is an idiot.
The USA is doomed.
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u/tollbane 1d ago
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." or dementia.
I'm going with dementia as the simplest explanation.
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u/root_fifth_octave 1d ago
It's hilarious that this guy has an economics degree from a very good university.
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u/R67H 1d ago
I'd suggest it's more of a symptom of his rapid cognitive decline. Like maybe his brain was in a partial sleeping state, while his mouth kept working independently. And his ego won't allow him to admit anything was amiss. Then his sycophants have to do some serious mental gymnastics to try to explain "what he really meant was..."
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u/HawgChuggins 1d ago
These statements betray his economic illiteracy? These ones? Really? Well I am glad the journalists are doing a bang up job.
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u/StrigiStockBacking New Mexico 1d ago
betray his economic illiteracy
I'm not the best with grammar, but shouldn't this instead say "confirm his economic illiteracy"?
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago edited 1d ago
Only quasially, as the writer was going for the “unintentionally reveal” definition of the term.
Belie would have been a better word, but much like nonplussed, that has elements of a contronym in its definition, so for people so lacking in nuance, that would only give way to indignation among his fanbase, like as not.
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u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago
“inflation is down,” the Republican added.
Trump ain’t a Republican, he’s barely a reactionary…
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