Trump goes to War with America’s Children…

I never said anything that dramatic. I even said this will take decades. But we need to decrease the overall population here in the U.S.

 

A two child maximum policy, you say? Good luck selling that policy to the Catholics, Mormons, and just everyone who doesn't want further government intrusion into their lives, especially on such a personal matter.

You'll be thrilled to know that populations all over the world are in decline, for many reasons.

 

Overall, I disagree with you here. There are fundamental issues that (for the most part) unite the coalition that backs Trump. Trump is boldly anti-DEI, and that is a uniting issue for the coalition that voted for Trump, who view DEI as morally corrupt. That is a feature of modern social conservatism. Transgenderism is another issue that unites the coalition that backs Trump. That is another feature of modern social conservatism. A belief in a nation state with a secure border that enforces immigration law is another issue that unites the coalition that backs Trump. That is another modern feature of social conservatism as well. Also, lost faith in government, societal, and global institutions is another characteristic that unites people who voted for Trump. Education, media, medicine, and the federal bureaucracy...Trump voters believe one or more of these societal and global institutions are corrupt and need to be reformed or dissolved entirely.

I am sure there are people who might have their one issue where they take exception, but there are very real issues that divide the left from the right in American politics today.

 

So you think these values are "conservative":

• Tariffs, protectionism
• Isolationism
• Increased federal debt (yes, regardless of what he says. Just look up PPP loans and the budget he just released)
• Crudeness, vulgarness
• Anti-intellectualism/anti-science
• Police state tactics

What you describe is anti-establishment populism. There is no core ideology. There is only "anti-". The racism against Hispanics only proves that there is no actual values.

You should know your argument is flawed if you think Trump, someone who famously has multiple failed marriages and a very public affair with a porn star, is the leader of "modern social conservatism". Give me a break.

Honestly, someone like Romney in charge this would make sense. An actual family man with some class. That is not where this party is. They call him a liberal.

 

If you add in bigotry cloaked as "anti-DEI" that does pretty much define conservatives I have known in my lifetime.

 

I will admit that tariffs are one point the right seems to have shifted in the past few decades. I do think it needs to be understood that neither party is for Adam Smith's ideal free market economy. Neither party holds the position that the American government should let heavily subsidized Chinese vehicles compete freely in the American economy with no counter measures by the American government to offset huge Chinese subsidies. Something has to be done to level the playing field to allow American companies to compete. Both parties agree on this. Biden and the Democrats wanted to subsidize the American electric vehicle industry to enable American companies to compete. That is protectionism, but it is a form of protectionism where the government plans that electric vehicles will prevail over and against combustion automobiles in the American market. I personally do not like the government picking the winner of electric vehicles vs. combustion vehicles. That is why I find Trump's tariff strategy to be more free market friendly from a domestic standpoint since it thwarts foreign subsidies without rigging domestic winners and losers.

So, this idea that protectionism is exclusive to Trump is false. The parties simply have different visions about how American industry should be protected by the government. Never in history, though, have we had to contend with the hybrid corporation/government model of China where Chinese businesses are taking orders from the Supreme Leader, who is also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission of our greatest military adversary. How we deal with these adversarial foreign corporations is a question that is of primary concern to the commander and chief of the United States. China's strategy necessitates US government getting involved with how US businesses do business with China. The context of the situation is key. Comparing 2025 tariffs as a containment strategy against CCP directed economic activity to early 1900's economic policy is comparing apples and oranges IMO.

As for the federal debt that ballooned under Trump...COVID hysteria at the state level painted Trump into a corner where his hand was forced. I mean he could have allowed the economy to collapse, but I don't think that would have been the right decision. Trump was put in an impossible position on that one by COVID hysteria.

As for Trump's crudeness, vulgarness, ...I know a lot of people who tell me they voted for Trump, but they don't approve of his lifestyle choices. Hopefully, we can turn a new page in politics when Trump leaves office.

As for anti-science/anti-intellectualism...adherence to institutional authority can become its own form of fundamentalism. That is how "science" can become strangely unscientific.

There is more to say on many of these things, but conservatives pivoting on things like isolationism, protectionism, etc can be largely explained by America's need to respond to the threat of China, which is unique in comparison to any other adversary we've ever faced in our nation's history. China's rise as a peer adversary necessitates other countries in the world take on more responsibility to defend their own neighborhood with their own military. It also necessitates the government intervening to force supply chains to realign in ways that protect our national security.

 

Your information is really outdated.

first as to China stealing technology and knowledge - that ship has sailed. Putting a 145% tariff isn’t going to bring it back. In many respects Chinese manufacturing is far more advanced than the US.

as to labor costs, Chinese labor isn’t the cheapest anymore. Vietnam is about half, while India is much less than that. China is making more advanced goods - cheaper these days due to automation. They are experiencing a demographic crisis and labor shortage so they are automating as much as they can.

 

You typed about 3 full pages just to try to deceive people that the nonsense we see from the clown you love isn't really ........ real? That ... get this ..... both sides do tariffs, and pretty much equally?

Sorry, but take your Trumpy post-truth world somewhere else, please. We're not interested in your deception, our own eyes work very well, and we can see the truth, thank you very much.

 

One little problem with your theory: we are imposing tariffs on everybody, including multiple territories with no permanent human residents. If this was about China, we would be incentivizing China's manufacturing competitors, like Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, and Central America. For example, Donald Trump could have implemented the TPP, that would have served as a stable basis for reorienting supply chains towards those countries. Instead, we are doing the opposite.

A much simpler theory holds: Donald Trump likes tariffs because he is an idiot that thinks that bilateral trade deficits shouldnt exist and are a sign of being ripped off. And now, because you have tied your identity to him, you need to talk yourself into agreeing, no matter how dumb that idea is.

 

Yep, because Abortion has NOTHING to do with those dropping numbers.

 

It probably had more impact in the past, but I believe abortions have been declining for some time. Currently, the decline is a combination of the cost of living, anxiety about the future, and changing societal expectations. Mostly, I think, it's about money.

 

Children don't need too many dolls, according to Trump. Now, according to him, they also don't need too many pencils. The government will decide how many dolls and pencils you can get. You know, because we need to avoid communism.



Nobody tells this guy about colored pencils.

 

The rubes will soon be here telling us eating three meals a day is being financially irresponsible.

 

Tells us how many guns we should have, Trump.

 

It’s all about sharpies now

 

Produced in Mexicali, Mexico. While the government will get to use as many sharpies as they want, the people will need them rationed for the good of the commissars, who will lead our glorious proletariat to victory over those capitalist dogs that want your kids to buy dolls and pencils.

 

I think you might be on to something... The middle class has been shrinking for several years.