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c/politics · by Corvidae@lemmy.world · 6d

Trump’s political miscalculation reveals he lost his 'superhuman ability'

https://www.alternet.org/trumps-losing/

President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war with Canada has not only split his own Republican Party, it has revealed that he has lost what one writer described as a "superhuman ability" — much to his political detriment.

"Throughout his political career, Trump’s signature skill has been to drive the conversation where he wanted it to go. He declares victory when things have not been won," wrote Slate's Ben Jacobs on Monday. "He ducks attribution with the rhetorical tic 'many people are saying,' frequently followed by things that people are decidedly not saying. He posts outrageous graphics on social media. And, of course, he renames things: Political opponents get nicknames, buildings get Trump’s name, and bodies of water get America’s name."

Pointing out that Trump used to be able to commandeer the news cycle with his controversies, and thereby rally his base behind him, he failed to do so by changing Lake Ontario's name to Lake America as a way of taking a swipe at Canada.

"It’s a move we’ve seen before. Immediately upon taking office in 2025, Trump decreed that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of America," Jacobs observed. "It was a quick and easy troll for a president who had taken office blaming Mexico for illegal immigration and touting the need to build a wall."

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56 points · 13 comments · view on lemmy.world

13 Comments

echo@lemmy.today · 45 pts · 6d (3 replies)

He never had super-human ability. He's always just been a bully and everyone is fucking tired of him.

Alexstarfire@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 6d (1 reply)

He had a superhuman ability to bankrupt casinos he owned.

Lydon_Feen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 6d

The only superhuman ability in this story is the super stupidity of his followers and sycophants.

undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch · 2 pts · 6d

The entire headline conveys nothing whatsoever.

Buffalox@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 6d (2 replies)

Trump is losing on so many fronts now that it's hard to keep up.

  1. Iran War is a catastrophe militarily, economically and politically.
  2. Trump has managed to show the US military is vulnerable.
  3. Trump has managed to overstretch the military budget against a country with only 5% the military budget.
  4. Canada not yielding to stupid demands in trade agreement.
  5. The way he lets ICE operate is massively unpopular.
  6. Lost badly in trade war with China, where it quickly turned out China had the upper hand.
  7. Ukraine Russia war, where Trump had hoped to make deals with Russia.
  8. The economy in general, and the federal economy in particular. the federal spending is now 40% higher than revenue, creating the most massive deficit ever.
  9. Trying to manipulate bond yields.
  10. Former allies unwilling to help, because Trump has alienated them, for instance pissing Europe off with his claims on Greenland.
  11. Even farmers are turning against Trump, the people of the heartland, that are supposed to be his biggest supporters. But that too he has managed to fuck up.
  12. Declining popularity among voters in USA.
  13. He is losing his grip on congress.

On the other hand there are also all his many many victories like...
Hang on...
Goddammit I'm thinking!!

Ah yes.

  1. Tax cuts to the rich.

Phew, for a moment there I thought it was all for nothing.

hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 6d

He's also winning in that he's emptying the US Treasury into his own pockets, don't forget that

hoppeduponcoffee@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 6d

I wouldn’t say it was all for nothing, at least for Trump. He was hugely successful in setting out what he intended to do… grift American tax dollars to build up his own wealth. He doesn’t care about this country or its people at all. He’s said it himself.

The only reason he keeps insane religiofascist people around is because he’s racist, queerphobic and he uses them to hypnotize his deluded, cultist and theocratic base of Abrahamic assholes. Trump doesn’t give a shit about god or religion either, he believes he’s god himself. He’s a rapist, thief and pedo without morals.

CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 6d (1 reply)

He doesn't have any superpower, it's that so many people and institutions just cave in and try to treat him like a typical politician. They are not realist enough to see him for what he is, but instead want to both-sider things, play the "objective" card, and declare others are being "shrill".

daannii@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 6d

He's always just been a bully and never believed the law applied to him. Which was mostly true. So he just does whatever he wants and extorts as he pleases and calls it strategy.

ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 14 pts · 6d

what superhuman ability is this? The ability to con mentally challenged rednecks?

MyOpinion@lemmy.today · 10 pts · 6d

He was always a sack of s***. Supported by others sacks of shit. They can all suffer together.

adespoton@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 6d

Instead his reference to "Lake America" has, according to Jacobs, become an "instant political shibboleth."

"In the meantime, nothing has changed about Lake Ontario," Jacobs continued. "The water from Niagara Falls still flows down into it and it all still drains down the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing has changed with the trade war between the United States and Canada either. The only thing that will have changed will be a handful of government maps and, of course, the Canadian public’s view of Trump and the United States, which has only somehow gotten worse."

He concluded, "And, of course, Trump was able to drive the news. But not for weeks or even days. Just for a few minutes on a Thursday afternoon in August."

Trump's trade war with Canada has only hurt Americans, as the back-and-forth tariffs are increasing prices on hundreds of goods on which America relies. As economist and President Bill Clinton adviser Dr. Robert J. Shapiro told AlterNet earlier in August, "Just this week, Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on our largest trading partner, Canada, which will further increase inflation."

HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 6d

Trump never had a "super human ability". He had his state sponsored fascist media (Fox News, Newsmax, OWN, etc) and he had fascist media that poises itself as neo-liberal media (CNN, formerly CBS, etc) constantly play ball for him and endlessly suck his peodphile micro-dick. Now the latter is ever so slightly sucking his ass less because the entire country is collapsing at light speed under his reign of terror.