Murdoch's Paper: Trump Just Made the Swamp So Much Bigger

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/murdochs-paper-donald-trumps-tariffs-just-made-the-swamp-so-much-bigger/

Murdoch’s Paper: Trump Just Made the Swamp So Much Bigger
SO MUCH FOR DRAINING IT
Janna Brancolini
Updated 04.03.25 6:12AM EDT /
Published 04.03.25 5:47AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will be such a windfall for Beltway lobbyists that he might as well have called his announcement “Buy Another Yacht Day” for the Washington, D.C., swamp, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board wrote in a scathing op-ed. On Wednesday, Trump announced a baseline import tax of 10 percent on products from every country in the world, then hit products from about 60 countries with additional duties ranging from 20 to 34 percent. U.S. companies pay the tax, with the costs typically passed along the consumer. To avoid those additional costs of doing businesses and keep their sales strong, companies will seek exemption from the tariffs, the Journal warned. “Mr. Trump is saying there will be no tariff exemptions. But watch that promise vanish as politicians, including Mr. Trump, see exemptions as a way to leverage campaign contributions from business. Liberation Day is Buy Another Yacht Day for the swamp,” the paper’s editorial board wrote.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I think the WSJ has highlighted the main reason this makes sense to Trump - a reason for everyone to bribe him

This is Trump in his fundamental crook mode - "I control something, so how can I make people pay me to stop me hurting them?". He's holding the world economy to ransom. He'll accept payment in crypto, thank you very much. He learnt that from North Korea and their ransomware.

[Scrivener7]

7. Also, he lives to crush people and institutions as a sign of his power.

I can't remember where I read it, but there was an interview with someone who knew him as a child. They described him as the kid who, if another kid made a sand castle or a block tower, he had to kick it down.

His habit of not paying companies that dealt with him in business so they were ruined, and his endless lawsuits that forced companies to deal with him or go bankrupt, were all versions of this same impulse. He's truly sick, and his motives are evil. He wants to crush this country, maybe because it helps Putin, but mostly because it shows he has the power to do it.

This is what he has always wanted.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

12. Yep... my exact thoughts...

... Trump and his minions want their, "cut", of any products. Just like Jared and Istinka did with the COVID-45 supplies.

[Crowman2009]

2. Every accusation is a confession.

MAGA Trumpsville is the swamp!

[wendyb-NC]

3. He's a f$#king terrorist, fascist, dried out dictator

Sorry, I get so angry about the enigmatic entity in the peoples house.

[JMCKUSICK]

4. Campaign contributions my ass

More like line his pockets and the whole kissing the ring schtick.

[3Hotdogs]

5. That makes. sense to Trump. But why would Project 25 want tariffs?

[liberalgunwilltravel]

6. The goal is

To destroy the economy and all the institutions so the oligarchs can swoop in and buy the remains for pennies on the dollar, just like the Russian oligarchs did when the Soviet Union collapsed.

[mwmisses4289]

8. Dear mr. murdoch

You got what you have spent most of the 30-40 years brain washing some people to help you get, so why aren't you happy and content?

[Scrivener7]

9. They're never happy when they get what they want, are they?

[multigraincracker]

10. To be fair, a wealth tax would work best.

Some how the rich never pay much with an income tax. Only the middle and lower class end up footing the bill now. I have no problem with property taxes. They are a wealth tax.

[thesquanderer]

11. re: " the Wall Street Journal's editorial board wrote in a scathing op-ed"

If the editorial board wrote it, it's an editorial. Not an op-ed. How does a journalist get something like this wrong? {sigh}

[mdbl]

13. The Office of the US President is now one big quid pro quo

He even pardons criminals for money.

[niyad]

14. This is the same paper that carried a piece the other day about how Canada

should "lean in" to the insanity of becoming the 51st state.

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. Economic upheaval is core to the media business model

Quiet productivity is hard on subscription rates, but this kind of drama catches people's attention.

You will never convince me that the media's penchant for downplaying successes (the Obama/Biden administrations) while overlooking insane and erratic behavior during election seasons is anything less than the desire to have things to write about when the batshit candidate wins the office.

Watch out for the leopards you self-serving f*cks.