Comment by the_gipsy
7 days ago
> I think the wealthy elite who are siding with Trump are charting a plan to return the US to the same kind of domestically-focused economy
You're delusional, if you think there is any kind of plan going on here. Nobody knew any plan beyond "tariffs" and ideas about invasions coming out of thin air. The tariff numbers are a complete joke.
No, there is no grand scheme, hidden behind an act of absolute incompetence. It's just a short-term money/power grab for the already rich. An attempt to turn the world's "hyperpower" as you put it, into a second-world oligarchy. This may end up in total disaster, that is, a thirld-world oligarchy, if you look at China. But it's hard to actually look at China from the West.
Half the people complaining about Trump's actions say that it's all according to Project 2025, and half the people say what you're saying, that's it all chaotic incompetence with no plan.
I suppose the worst-case scenario is elements of both are true. They've got a fucked up playbook but can't even execute it correctly?
For the record I also don't think they are likely to succeed, I'm just trying to assess what/how they might be planning, or what direction they think they can take the country in. We can agree that they probably won't get the results they want and that America is in for a very rough ride.
> Half the people complaining about Trump's actions say that it's all according to Project 2025, and half the people say what you're saying, that's it all chaotic incompetence with no plan.
I think this is a misunderstanding (not sure if it's on your part of on the part of some of the complaining people): the Trump admin's agenda and strategy are clearly following Project 2025, for the most part. But Trump's tariff obsession does not originate there. I'm quite certain that even the most pro-tariff of the conservative think tanks are uncomfortable with how far he's pushing it.
I get the impression that the zeal behind Project 2025 is not motivated by their economic ideas but mostly by their perception of being in a culture war that they are now on the cusp of winning (they aren't). They deeply hate and resent the "liberal elites" (academics, journalists, etc) who they feel have too much influence on American culture, and the dream that keeps them going is not merely defeating these liberal elites electorally, but utterly destroying them. To "put them in their place", as it were.
One thing that would derail their plans is if Trump lays waste to the economy early in his term, so that he's likely to lose the midterms and a Democrat becomes the next president, and perhaps even making their political movement unviable for years or decades. So even his pro-tariff supporters are uneasy now: the tariff policy is so extreme that it is likely to interfere with their overarching goal.