As Trump is gonna put his insane tariffs in place, what do you guys think is the goal here? Because I fear that he is playing 4D chess but making it look like he is playing checkers, and if his tariffs are out into place it’ll undoubtedly anger and radicalise lots of Americans especially, and just cause a general shitshow for approval ratings and threaten the domestic safety of capital. Thoughts?
This is all highly speculative and subject to trump getting what he wants at every turn: I think he is going for the big tamale. I think he wants to become supreme dictator of north america. I dont think he cares about approval ratings or the whims of the bourgeoise. I think he has the support of the military and is going to lean into that. He’s going to make a total war economy before starting a total war with China.
I did a bit of looking into the foreign aid ban and the investigations into state department and pentagon officials and the details are slim but it sounds like he is doing a purge.
I think he and the right wing have realized usa can’t compete against state owned arms manufacturers and banks. So the plan is to declare the profit gouging (like the $52k garbage can) by defence contractors as treason or some such. They’ll build up a case against all the companies selling things to the government at inflated cost and then force them to nationalize. They’ll make a government monopoly on arms manufacture and vertically integrate them so they can produce weapons at a lower cost by not paying shareholders or middle men. This probably means they will do this for some other industries like steel mills and even mines. I think he’ll leave tech companies and farming alone.
The tariffs will be coupled with large numbers of visas for temporary workers. High cost of living in canada and mexico will drive people to work in america for slightly better wages. Meanwhile he will raise the pay for joining the army and maybe even offer citizenship to white canadians who join the military as a way to make the annexation of canada easier. If a salary from a entry level soldier can raise a family and all the low skill jobs are filled with migrant labor americans will have little choice but to join up.
editing for conciseness/i ramble too much
some points to think about ::
in summary, I do see a point and trend towards retooling/trimming the fat, starting an era of concentrating inwards rather than outwards, but even if it was possible to oust the vultures of the MIC, I’m still unsure if that would be enough to get the military on proper even footing with foreign adversaries, particularly on innovation and tech
I think this is highly unlikely. Now maybe there are certain elements in the US, in and around the Trump administration, who in their most optimistic fantasies like to dream of something like that, but frankly i don’t see it happening. Not least of all because it is basically impossible for any US government to undertake such a sweeping nationalization of the military industrial complex as you describe and as would be necessary for such an ambitious undertaking. The MIC is too powerful, too influential, much like the banks, big pharma, big tech, etc. They are more powerful than the politicians, and that includes Trump. At this point i don’t think America is capable of ridding itself of its neoliberalism. They are too addicted to it, even as it is clear that it’s what’s dragging them down and destroying their empire.
Trump reducing corruption and middleman charges? Does not seem realistic but I’m not in the confidence :D