6578

Seriously, somebody call Duke Nukem. Now.

6579

Get me the justice department… entertainment division.

6580

Oliver. If the reason you are sleeping at night is because you think that Ivanka and Jared are a moderating influence on Trump, you should be awake at night.

Screw you Oliver I want to sleep at night!

6581
6582

That guy, Osaba Bin Laden, had good TV ratings.

6583

Trump makes hilarious claim of accomplishments.
Despite being incredibly weak, and essentially saying, “I signed the most executive orders of anyone!” It also turns out that his claim is false.

Because everything he says is false, alternating between being born of incompetence and malfeasance.

6584
6585

Wait, I thought signing executive orders was a bad thing. Presidential overreach and all that. It’s something to brag about now?

6586

“People don’t realize Canada’s been very rough on the United States. Everyone thinks of Canada being wonderful and civil,” Trump told a roundtable of farmers at the White House. “I love Canada. But they’ve outsmarted our politicians for many years, and you people understand that.”

Seriously a trade war with Canada. Please tell me this is some sick, extended April fools prank, or that we are in some Civilization computer game and they just cranked up the difficulty level up to insane.

6587

Softwood lumber has been an issue between the US and Canada for a long time.

6588

I understand I imagine I’m one of the small number of Americans who’s even known it was an issue mostly because I’ve been read Meghan McCardle for a long time she has helpful update on it.

It is just this type of issue has typically been settled by the Assistant Trade negotiator from the commerce department working with the US and Canadian Ambassadors, and perhaps a statement that if things don’t go our way the US is prepared to issue tariffs from the White House press secretary.

It isn’t talked about by the President along with making disparaging comments about one of our country’s best friends and closest allies.
I understand that Trump thinks this tough talk is part of his brilliant negotiating strategy, but A. it is extraordinarily transparent tactic and B. sometimes trade issues should take a back seat to diplomacy.

6589

You’re right, and overall the trade interdependence is so significant that the ultimate threat of walking away is just not available to Trump. So, like it or not, a reasonable trade policy is going to have to prevail here, and all the bluster in the world is just going to make the Canadian negotiators shrug and say, “Come back and talk when you’re ready to really do the hard work.”

I think this is just Trump playing to his anti-NAFTA Rust Belt voters, but ironically they live in border states that are the most reliant on continued good tourist and trade relationships with Canada. He can really do some harm to what’s left of these economies if he continues to try to force things to be 100% beneficial to the US with no consideration for Canada’s overall economic importance. Already, I’m seeing articles in the Canadian press talking about our deepening trade ties with China and Europe. It’s still a fraction of the US trade, but it’s been increasing.

6590

I can’t watch Trump talk about the Holocaust.

Just can’t.

6591

But… AMERICA FIRST! Apparently even if it just happens to go against America’s long-term interests.

6592

Later Wednesday, at a signing ceremony for an unrelated executive order, Trump responded to a reporter’s question asking if he was surprised by the court’s ruling by saying, “I’m never surprised by the 9th circuit. As I said: We’ll see them in the Supreme Court.”

Judge William Orrick, who handed down Wednesday’s injunction, is a U.S. district court judge based in San Francisco and does not sit on the 9th Circuit, although that is the next court that would hear the case should the Trump administration appeal the decision. Some observers consider all federals courts in the states where the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisidiction to be collectively the 9th Circuit.

(bolding mine)

6593

Twitter is easy. Facts are hard.

6594
6595

The National Review weighs in on the softwood dispute.

Donald Trump wants to take the Canadians to the woodshed.

The Trump administration has announced that it intends to impose a silly and potentially destructive retaliatory tariff on imports of some Canadian timber, which U.S. timber companies insist — contrary to the facts — is unfairly subsidized by the Canadian government.
…
Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce, says that this dispute shows that the North American Free Trade Agreement is not working as it should. What it has shown is in fact the opposite: The question of Canadian timber subsidies has been challenged by the United States under both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, and in both cases there were credible, fair-minded studies that concluded the U.S. complaints were without merit. That is exactly how these trade accords are supposed to work — but, sometimes, U.S. interests will lose. And, sometimes, they deserve to.

But shallow symbolism is not without costs. Tariffs are not a tax on foreigners. They are a tax on American consumers and, in the case of raw materials such as timber, a tax on American producers, too. They are a tax on American workers and a brake on the productivity of those workers. How many construction jobs would the Trump administration be willing to sacrifice in the cause of looking tough on . . . Canada?

At this point, I’m convinced that Donald Trump is actually a KGB sleeper cell agent, determined to fuck up all of our international relationships.

6596

Fox poll:

6597

Coal miners are going to lose their government guaranteed healthcare in a few days.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkprogress.org/amp/p/c53ecc09be0b