Exhibit A — American Despotism
The G-7 Summit was a drag for the Western Alliance. Chancellor Angela Merkel posted that pic above to her instagram account. The German leader’s posture and glare at President Trump conveys her mein of frustration that speaks volumes. It gives insight to the exasperations of dealing with an imbecilic president unmoored and unchecked by an imbecilic congress and electorate.
This is due to an exponential factor of stupidity that Trump wields at any given moment or place. The culmination is inestimable and includes varying degrees of credentialed stupidity like Peter Navarro, the senior economic advisor on industry and trade, who treats the trade deficit with Canada as a threat to national security.
“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” Navarro said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Mind you Canada is not only a major ally to the intricate security apparatus for the US geopolitically, our neighbor to the North is also a major trading partner. The economies of both countries is also intricately interwoven.
The trade deficit with Canada is $18 billion. That’s only 3 percent of the total Canadian trade of $582 billion. The United States exports $282 billion to Canada, more than it does to any other country. It imports $300 billion.
Canada is not ripping the United States off on trade. I really believe he is mad that Russia has not been invited back into the summit by the G-7 members. This sounds stupid because Trump is stupid.
Exhibit A. “Russia should be in this meeting,” Trump said Friday in Washington before leaving for the two-day summit here. “Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run. . . . They should let Russia come back in.
Most of the electorate is probably assuming that this trade deficit argument that Trump has fixated himself on with no proficiency is ostensibly a matter that warrants reimagining. This imagined outcome of trade that gives America a net positive balance of payments with major trading partners, essentially mirroring services — which primarily enjoys a surplus, with all goods on the current account. This to Trump and his supporters is fantasized win for America.
The Trump Doctrine is basically about using this perceived American might to bully its allies and show its adversaries that Trump can be just as despotic as Putin and Xi can be for their respective countries and make America Great Again.
The only way to resolve this is for the non-stupid among us to make up for the losses heading our way — both current and impending.
“The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.” — Seeking Alpha
The tremendous perseverance of both the Russian and Chinese people that struggle and maintain the fortitude to eek out a decent living under the strain of their respective governments are exemplars to that offset.
President Trump acts like he is doing the American people a favor but he is simply only seeking favors for himself. These favors will eventually end in a loss for him. The unabashed stupidity of Trump as conveyed in the photo posted by Chancellor Merkel is so resolute that that there is no hope in believing that our president would even attempt to rethink his stances. The damage by electoral college vote has already been done.
Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behavior. An intelligent person may understand the logic of a bandit. The bandit’s actions follow a pattern of rationality: nasty rationality, if you like, but still rationality. The bandit wants a plus on his account. Since he is not intelligent enough to devise ways of obtaining the plus as well as providing you with a plus, he will produce his plus by causing a minus to appear on your account. All this is bad, but it is rational and if you are rational you can predict it. You can foresee a bandit’s actions, his nasty maneuvres and ugly aspirations and often can build up your defenses.
With a stupid person all this is absolutely impossible as explained by the Third Basic Law. A stupid creature will harass you for no reason, for no advantage, without any plan or scheme and at the most improbable times and places. You have no rational way of telling if and when and how and why the stupid creature attacks. When confronted with a stupid individual you are completely at his mercy. Carlo Cippola — The Laws of Human Stupidity
