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So in regards to Trump, I don't think I've seen a better /r/leopardsatemyface example than the SV oligarchs who went all in on MAGA in the run-up to the election.
What was particularly interesting is how they fully took on the MAGA rhetoric style on Twitter and appeared to wholly buy in to that world view, complete with its insane conspiratorial thinking. I often wondered if this was playacting for the rubes, of if they had actually "become the mask".
Well, a look at Bill Ackman's Twitter feed shows that it was the former. For context, Ackman is a billion dollars long on Nike, lol.
What's fascinating is that you can see how the mask slowly comes off Ackman's face. The earlier Tweets, as the situation was just starting to develop, are along the usual MAGA lines of "Leader strong and wise! America's enemies will tremble before him.", along with a laundry list of how the pure and innocent United States has been taken advantage of by bad actors.
However, as it becomes clear that Trump isn't bluffing, panic starts setting in and Ackman (who unlike the average MAGA knows the difference between a tariff and trade deficit, and also why the latter is not a bad thing) starts diplomatically hinting that this is actually a pretty fucking stupid idea. After a while, he realizes subtlety doesn't work with his new audience says we'd be starting "economic nuclear war" with the rest of the world, and "this isn't what we voted for".
As of this posting, he's currently at the bargaining stage of grief:
https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1909313079130951801
I find Ackman really interesting as he's a very visible proxy for all the smart people who pretended to be stupid because they saw MAGA as a vehicle to even more wealth, power, and influence (Vivek & Vance would be others).
I think it's too soon to tell. The market came roaring back and Trump hasn't even done anything, nor any progress from China -US relations. As soon as the stock market goes back up, he will go quiet. he hadn't complained about tariffs until recently, for this reason. It's not so much the tariffs they they dislike, but the market's reaction to it. To wit, excluding April, his last tweet that mentioned tariffs was on November 25th, 2024: https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1861198845574815947
Regarding the economic implications, Ackman and others are justified in complaining. These tariffs are unprecedented in size and scope. It's like "we want trade reform, not a return to the early 20th century"
Are you serious?
check again .
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What? The market did well at certain points over the past couple of days almost only because it saw a path to ending the tariffs.
where you getting this from? i have not seen headlines indicating such
Surely, it is clear now that the market cares only about the negative impact of the tariffs.
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Yesterday, the morning climb was from the fake news about a 90 day pause. Today, the temporary ascent was from reports of negotiations with various countries before the news of the additional 50% on China sent things back down. There have been numerous headlines on WSJ and Bloomberg. The market absolutely hates the tariffs and loves signs that they might stop.
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There has been speculation that yesterday's huge fluctuations in the stock market were due to (1) a fake tweet claiming that Trump was considering pausing the tariffs for 90 days, followed by (2) Trump's denial that any such pause was in the works. But the truth of that narrative is disputed.
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