volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@paulc

Yeah, one thing that didn't get enough emphasis at SCOTUS oral arguments is that this refund process is already largely handled by US law.

It wouldn't cause chaos to issue the refunds since there are already systems in place to manage it. Adjustments are just part of life for these trade activities, so the refund would be just another adjustment, albeit a particularly large one.

The SCOTUS brought this up at argument, but I believe at the moment they misunderstood the answer.

Hopefully this was clarified starkly through briefs.
@glynmoody @JonChevreau

@six_grandfathers_mountain the key is your word "can do".

This would be about something not being done. The president is not going after these people.

It's a case of prosecutorial discretion. The administration doesn't consider it worthwhile to bring the hammer down on folks making beer pong paraphernalia.

@z_everson

@amalia22 yeah, Republicans have been celebrating how well Trump did with latinos.

@wms SCOTUS specifically refused to allow a person to be picked up merely because of skin color.

@Richard If Trump listened to his advisors he wouldn't get himself in so much trouble.

No, it's really not about him. Conservative media projects what amounts to an alternative reality, so it doesn't even matter what Trump does, they reinterpret his stuff on a daily basis.

So it doesn't matter what Trump's advisors tell him to do, because he won't do it anyway, and it doesn't matter if he does it anyway, because the narrative among his base is actually disconnected from what he himself does.

@dever @GoodComradeLolaDaviet

@davesomebody

I think you put your finger on it: the Democrats in charge right now have no idea how to engage with voters that they need to engage with, so they end up saying things that are counterproductive and harming their own causes.

We need to stop reelecting these same ineffective Democrats.

It's actually not that hard to engage with the other side. I do it all the time. Unfortunately we keep reelecting politicians that lack the skill to do it, and that's why we are where we are today.

@carnage4life

@Richard

We might not actually be in disagreement here. Trump has this core base that isn't some great majority, but they manage to get him over the line for election because they are barely enough to join with a coalition of other disaffected voters.

But the point is, Fox News type hosts spend everyday reinterpreting the stuff coming out of Trump for that audience, and it's kind of fascinating. Different hosts can't even agree on what he just said, but the audience hears what they want to hear too.

And that's why it doesn't really matter.

@dever @GoodComradeLolaDaviet

@faab64 I always emphasize, it wasn't inaction that was the problem, but that the left misunderstood what was happening and ended up actively promoting Trump.

They kept attacking the guy in ways that he was able to gain support from. They worked it exactly wrong. He wore the attacks as badges of honor, and Trump supporters amplified them because they loved it.

@dever

Keep in mind that for so much of Trump's base, it doesn't actually matter what he says or does. Never has.

So that list of issues like the mortgage and the workforce just really don't matter, because so much of the mainstream GOP media spend their days reinterpreting everything he says anyway, and starting different meanings that they want to hear.

This is a long-standing pattern that you can catch by tuning into their influencers every day of the week.

@GoodComradeLolaDaviet @Richard

@evdelen I don't think we need to go out that far. There's no reason to assume.

The simpler explanation is simply that Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, never knows what he's talking about, and there's no point trying to find any message in any of his statements like this.

Occam's razor would have us assume that he's just babbling like always.

@willie1foot Well, what action would you suggest?

@Dgun8 I think for a lot of them it's the sense that if they didn't take the job, someone worse would, and so they take the hit for the greater good.

@El_Jefe It's between him and his constituents, really.

If they like his performance in office, that's what matters.

@shoq keep in mind that this can be a feature and not a bug.

The key is to make sure that politicians need to be responsive to people to keep getting that power.

@hfaust But... Spider-Man?

This seems like just a new flavor of the same old pop. Just more teenage angst instead of deep thought.

I don't think there's hope here. It's going to be comic book stuff instead of relationship drama stuff.

@carnage4life people voted for this because they didn't understand economics or governance, and because they didn't understand how the world worked they were misled into thinking that these policies were good ideas.

It's a great example of the adage Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

But we need to recognize it so we can address the problem and try to avoid this in the future.

@yodaladywhooo

The reason that I'm harping on this is because the way to defeat him is to point out what a loser he is to his own people. When we talk about him as if he is effective, even when it's to say that he is corrupt and out for profit, that plays into the idea that Trump knows what he's doing.

So take for example the recent court process where he lost on SNAP payments. The judge emphasized that the government lawyers were making one argument while Trump kept contradicting his own lawyers as he posted to social media. Trump lost that judgment because he couldn't just let his lawyers do their job. And that happens over and over.

I don't think it has anything to do with billionaires having his number. He screws up so often that he's screwing over even billionaire friends, and he's likely going to put himself in prison at some point.

No I think the obvious conclusion based on this long track record is that he's just an idiot. It really is that simple. No conspiracy theory, no profit seeking, he's just a moron.

And if we emphasize what a moron he is, maybe his supporters will stop voting for it.