Sometimes you twist yourself into pretzels trying to find rational explanations for certain things assuming they were done with malice when they were, in fact, just done by stupidity. E.g. Trump’s tariffs and the kidnapping of Maduro. Both actions had very predictable downsides for the US with virtually no upside.
Trump may be the perfect idiot to act as the facade of the capitalist class and pull all the spotlights on his person, but he isn’t the one calling all the shots. As always, it’s the capitalists that really shape the direction of politics, and now they have a great loud distraction so they can pass all their fascist policies to terrorize the working class and make it all look like the decision of a few bad apples that corrupted “democracy”.
When all this is done, assuming that there will be another election then, they will say that the big bad cheeto man has been defeated and now we can live harmoniously again, returning to the blissful ignorance of everyday class exploitation.
Did it have no upside or is there a very clear case of corruption?
Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to benefit everyone in the US or the US as a whole. It’s a few people who are massively benefiting from it and they are conveniently Trumps financial backers.
You’re missing the part that the VN gov already was willing to do everything they’re current doing. They were willing to let American companies come in and extract some oil, that was Maduro’s offer.
Upside of adding and removing tariffs like he’s doing is being able to selectively suppress stock prices, drive them down scoop them up at a discount then roll back the relevant tariff and wait for the stock price recover
Sometimes you twist yourself into pretzels trying to find rational explanations for certain things assuming they were done with malice when they were, in fact, just done by stupidity. E.g. Trump’s tariffs and the kidnapping of Maduro. Both actions had very predictable downsides for the US with virtually no upside.
Trump may be the perfect idiot to act as the facade of the capitalist class and pull all the spotlights on his person, but he isn’t the one calling all the shots. As always, it’s the capitalists that really shape the direction of politics, and now they have a great loud distraction so they can pass all their fascist policies to terrorize the working class and make it all look like the decision of a few bad apples that corrupted “democracy”.
When all this is done, assuming that there will be another election then, they will say that the big bad cheeto man has been defeated and now we can live harmoniously again, returning to the blissful ignorance of everyday class exploitation.
Did it have no upside or is there a very clear case of corruption?
Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to benefit everyone in the US or the US as a whole. It’s a few people who are massively benefiting from it and they are conveniently Trumps financial backers.
You’re missing the part that the VN gov already was willing to do everything they’re current doing. They were willing to let American companies come in and extract some oil, that was Maduro’s offer.
Upside of adding and removing tariffs like he’s doing is being able to selectively suppress stock prices, drive them down scoop them up at a discount then roll back the relevant tariff and wait for the stock price recover