More time wasted attending the snake oil salesman's circus...

 

Sorry, there's only one show in town, only one circus that keeps the reptiles entertained ...

NSW just lost a minister? Nah, better to maintain the renewables rage (Inevitably a mass shooting also took away the headlines from the Hunter wine junketer). 

To be fair, over on the extreme far right, there was the usual Zionist rage, this time emanating from Dame Slap and the relentless copy churning machine known as the bouffant one ...

The pond would pay more attention to the endless blather about hate speech - from hate speech experts -if the reptiles offered anything but the standard Israeli government line on Gaza and the ethnic cleansing still continuing in the West Bank. 

For an ounce of empathy, you have to turn to the 'toons...

Still, think of the real estate opportunities ...

Talk about snow blindness being matched by dust and rubble blindness, a blindness to be found everywhere ...

Dear sweet long absent lord, the pond could end it there and comedy would be safe ...

But with that sketch of the world seen through reptile eyes by the hive mind done, the pond perversely decided to offer up day old Dame Groan ...

Donald Trump’s tariffs are set to deliver a turbulent economic ride worldwide, Donald Trump sees his threat of tariffs as a powerful lever to use in negotiations with other countries. It’s all about parleying, not economics.

It's only a three minute read, and the pond needed a good Groaning to make no sense of it all at all, with a snap of King Donald setting the pace ...Donald Trump has used tariffs as a bargaining tool. Picture: AP

And as it's a circus, a carnival atmosphere, the pond will supply the odd 'toon ...

By golly, that Muskian face looks eerily familiar, almost like the mutton Dutton down under.

Now let the Groaning begin ...

There are very few topics in economics where there is a consensus among the profession, but one is that tariffs are bad. They drive up prices for consumers, they distort patterns of trade, they raise little revenue, and they generally fail to protect local industries.
But when it comes to President Trump’s intention to impose tariffs on the exports of a number of countries, the economics is largely irrelevant. Trump sees his threat of tariffs as a powerful lever to use in negotiations with other countries. It’s all about bargaining, parleying; it’s not clear that the toolbox of economists has much to offer at this stage, although they should not vacate the discussion.

Sheesh, she really does know how to dance on the head of a pin, and the reptiles knew what was needed, an audio distraction...

Sorry, no time to listen, rendered inert, the pond is still unpacking it with a Groan ...

The recent case of Colombia was a case-in-point: the threat of tariffs by the US was enough to convince them to receive returning illegal migrants. And now we have seen both Mexico and Canada given a reprieve from the threat to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on their exports to the US, across-the-board.
The test that Trump imposed on these countries – to stem the flow of migrants and to reduce the movement of fentanyl across the borders – has nothing to do with economics. It’s what some commentators are calling geo-economics. It’s unclear what the measure of effort is, but Trump expects evidence of effort as well as results.

Ah, the pond knows what's happening here. King Donald is being presented as a crafty, cunning, coherent negotiator. It's part of a series ...see also Ex-New York Times Columnist Paul Krugrman Accuses Former Employer of 'Sanewashing' Trump ....

Never mind that it's just a bully elephant in the store, celebrate his wins, trumpet with him ... Free Expression: After the tariff threat, Canada follows Mexico’s lead and gives him a deal to trumpet and a story to tell.

And now, just like the Gray Lady, Dame Groan will valiantly attempt a little both sidering ...

It’s still important to point out the downsides of Trump’s unsurprising move on the tariff front. His view that trade is a win-lose proposition needs to be contested. He can surely understand the gains from exchange between buyers and sellers within a country: the same logic applies to international trade.
If he thinks that some things just must be produced in the US – specialised computer chips, for instance – tariffs are a very poor way of achieving this. Direct subsidies, tax credits and foreign investment rules are much more direct.
He also needs to come up to speed with how complicated global supply chains have become, particularly between the US and Mexico and the US and Canada. This integration of the economies has been partly the result of previous trade agreements between the countries, most recently the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement which Trump as President himself finalised.
The auto industry is probably the clearest example, where components are made in both Canada and the US, some components crossing the border several times. In these cases, the tariff would be cumulative and significantly drive up the price of the final product. There are estimates that cars in the US could be $US3000 higher.
Heavy oil is also exported by Canada and refined in the US. Any tariff, even at a lower rate, would make these refineries less competitive and drive up the price of petrol, particularly in the mid-West.

Yes, yes, all that, it's been said a thousand times and by others distracted by the snake oil salesman ... but as Krugman himself noted in his sub-stack, Trump Is Doing Exactly What He Said He Would. Who Could Have Predicted That?

The reptiles proceeded to an AV distraction, celebrating King Donald as a winner ...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ‘bent the knee’ to US President Donald Trump and paused all tariffs. Trudeau’s decision to pause the tariffs imposed on America will be suspended for 30 days after a “good call” with Trump. The outgoing prime minister announced his decision to X where he revealed a new plan to strengthen Canada’s border with the US. Following the news of Canada's tariff pause, social media users took to X to celebrate Trump’s trade victory. “Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela all bent the knee to Trump. America is back,” one user wrote.

So much winning ...

America is back baby, just offer the bully a bit of theatre and it's all good ...

At this point, Dame Groan took a sidestep to contemplate the benefits of the circus down under...

What do these developments mean for Australia? The fact is that the US runs a trade surplus with Australia, with the flow of goods and services relatively small. Australian exports to the US include meat, wine, gold, aluminium and some pharmaceutical products. Were Trump to impose a tariff on Australian exports, we would be very unwise to seek to retaliate.
The bigger issue for Australia is the indirect effect of tariffs imposed on China, our largest trading partner by a long way. Any slowdown in the Chinese economy would have an impact on the volume and price of the products we export.
No doubt, China’s massive industry subsidies as well as its manipulation of its currency both stick in Trump’s craw. The best scenario would be China making concessions on these fronts to avoid the imposition of tariffs on Chinese exports to the US.
Is there anything that can stop Trump in his tracks? The first issue is the reaction of the share market. Trump will be disinclined to take action that sees the price of equities fall significantly. The second issue is the impact on the currency. Higher tariffs are associated with an appreciation of the local currency; again, this is something that Trump may seek to avoid. We have already seen the value of the US dollar rise noticeably.
But the bottom line is this: we will all need to hang onto our hats because we are in for a wild ride this year on the tariff front.

Hang on to our hats? That's the best advice she could offer?

In the end, the pond had to mark Dame Groan down. Not a single mention of King Donald's ultimate triumph ... depriving Hamas of condoms ...

And so to "Ned", also grappling with King Donald and tariffs ... Trump’s tariff strategy is built on quicksand, Donald Trump sees higher tariffs as a core economic goal and as a lever to extract concessions from other nations. Both aspirations are flawed.

It was a heftier five minute read, and of course it ignored all the matters featured by Parker Molloy in The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup, As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news.

The pond is a bit like King Donald and tends to get distracted by whatever seen, in this case in the email box ...

In the past two weeks, Elon Musk — a man no one elected to any office — has gained unprecedented access to Social Security payment systems, fired federal workers, shuttered entire agencies, and installed his loyalists throughout the government. If this were happening in any other country, we'd call it what it is: a coup.
Yet mainstream media outlets continue treating this as just another story about government reorganization. The Associated Press matter-of-factly reports that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has "gained access to sensitive Treasury data," as though this were a routine administrative development rather than an unelected billionaire seizing control of the mechanisms that deliver Social Security checks to elderly Americans.
Even NPR treats this as a standard political restructuring. Their Morning Edition coverage frames the dismantling of USAID as Trump "seeking to remake the federal government" — as though this were a typical administration reorganization rather than an unelected billionaire declaring he's shutting down a congressionally established agency. When Musk announces on his own social media platform that he's eliminating a federal agency, NPR presents it as a policy dispute rather than what it is: an unprecedented seizure of power by someone with no constitutional authority to make these decisions. The interview questions focus on procedural details while skating past the fundamental question of how Musk acquired this authority in the first place.
This isn't normal government operation; it's a hostile takeover. At USAID, Musk's allies have fired senior civil servants with decades of experience, removed the agency's flag, and even taken down its memorial wall honoring those who died in service, according to an anonymous agency employee writing in Rolling Stone. The message is clear: this isn't about government efficiency, it's about power.
The playbook should be familiar to anyone who watched Musk's takeover of Twitter. As Wired reports, many of the same people who helped him gut that platform are now installed throughout the federal government. They're demanding lists of employees, sending out "voluntary resignation" emails identical to ones used at Twitter, and even trying to build sleeping rooms in government offices — just like they did at Twitter HQ.
But this time, they're not just dismantling a social media company. They're seizing control of the administrative state itself. Musk's DOGE commission now has access to Treasury payment systems, procurement data, and personnel files. His allies are attempting to use White House credentials to access GSA technology that could let them monitor federal workers' emails and remotely access their computers.
This is what a coup looks like in 2025. It doesn't require tanks in the streets or soldiers storming buildings. It just needs control of the bureaucratic machinery that makes government function. By seizing these mechanisms while Trump provides political cover, Musk is accumulating unprecedented power for an unelected individual. As president, even Trump should not have this kind of power.

Cunning eh? The pond purports to be scribbling about "Ned" and slips in a rant about the real coup going down ... but back to "Ned" and his opening snap, There is one certainty; the more Trump pursues his tariff strategy, the more he will alienate other nations.

The pond marvelled at that astonishing opening insight ...There is one certainty; the more Trump pursues his tariff strategy, the more he will alienate other nations.

You don't say? And meanwhile ...

And so on and on, as the real coup proceeds, and ning-nongs like "Ned" take the tariff bait ...

Don’t fall for the drum-beating brigade pretending Donald Trump has won a stunning victory over Mexico and Canada. Understand what really happened – Trump retreated from a devastating lose-lose tariff agenda that would have damaged the North American continent and punished American consumers.
At the weekend, Trump conceded Americans could be hurt. He posted: “Will there be some pain? Yes maybe (and maybe not!)” – but don’t worry because “it will all be worth the price that must be paid.” There were immediate signs of that price, given the hit on the sharemarket, corporate warnings that US prices would rise, that supply chains would be up-ended and statements from Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, spelling out their damaging retaliation against the US that would mean lost jobs and higher costs.

Again "Ned's" sanewashing misses the most important aspect, the all caps screeching. 

Once upon a time in any forum if you entered and started yammering in caps, you'd be ghosted, banished, expelled. Now it's standard procedure ...

That's more like it, that's the madman populist looking and sounding caps bonkers in a way that even a Castro might envy.

Back to "Ned" ...

The episode proves tariffs are fundamental to Trump’s governing beliefs and that his trust in tariffs is dangerous for America and the world. Trump sees higher tariffs as a core economic goal and as a lever to extract concessions from other nations. Both aspirations are flawed – high tariffs are a de facto tax on the American people that will drive higher inflation and damage global growth. By declaring a win with his opening tariff ploy Trump was ever the showman, addicted to brinkmanship and guaranteeing this is merely the start of his tariff revolution.
Here is Trump’s idea of a good deal: threaten a trade war to get concessions on reducing flows of fentanyl and illegal migrants at the US border. But cause and effect doesn’t work. Illegal drugs have flowed into the US for decades because of American demand. The idea tariffs will stop the drugs – by delivering extra preventive measures – is, frankly, absurd.
What’s not absurd is the populist politics sure to boost Trump. After it works once, you repeat the ploy. And promote the optics – the American strongman humbling the leaders of Canada and Mexico. While pausing his 25 per cent tariffs against both nations, Trump keeps the threat alive pending any final deal. The three leaders can say everyone’s a winner, while Trump entrenches uncertainty and intimidation.

At this point, the reptiles interrupted with a snap of two of the winners, with tags for those in the hive mind who don't get out much, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum. Picture: AFP, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Picture: AFP

It really should have been a snap of the real winner, making it all about the tariff and territorial takeover circus, while the real take over happens in house, performed by Uncle Elon and his ketamine-inspired band of young hitmen (a bit like mature age Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, and what a terrible movie that was)  ...

Back to "Ned", still trying to cope ...

If this was merely the tariff as a negotiating instrument, the consequences might be tolerable. But, of course, it’s not. Trump is a believer in higher tariffs – a commitment integral to his “Make America Great Again” credo and his nationalistic quest to re-industrialise America. His purpose is to attack and bury the collapsing global free trade model, already substantially undermined by China.
For years Trump has ranted against American bilateral trade deficits; above all, with China. He hates deficits as such – it doesn’t matter whether the trade deficit is with a rival or an ally. On any rational basis, picking a fight with Canada and Mexico makes no sense. But in Trump’s bizarre world, it makes perfect sense.
It’s almost as though he sees a trade deficit as a sort of US subsidy to other countries.

The reptiles quickly stepped in with another AV distraction:

President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping new tariffs, escalating tensions with Canada, Mexico, and China. With 25% tariffs on North American imports and 10% on Chinese goods, the move threatens global markets, disrupts supply chains, and raises costs for consumers. As Canada and Mexico retaliate and China prepares countermeasures, economists warn of recession risks, inflation, and financial instability, signalling a significant shift in global trade dynamics.

He looks so magisterial and authoritative, while "Ned" was still trying to catch up with the WSJ:

In its editorial The Wall Street Journal said: “Mr Trump sometimes sounds as if the US shouldn’t import anything at all, that America can be a perfectly closed economy making everything at home. This is called autarky, and it isn’t the world we live in, or the one that we should want to live in, as Mr Trump may soon find out.”

Trump’s mission is to cancel the existing order. In his inauguration address he said: “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”
It sounds like a policy. To this purpose, Trump said an External Revenue Service would be created “to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues”, with such “massive” moneys “pouring into our Treasury” from foreign sources. This is exactly what it sounds – a supposed policy to reduce America’s trade deficit with many nations, to bolster its revenues thereby creating scope for domestic tax cuts, and to extract concessions from other countries to enhance US power and territorial ambitions.
If this summarises Trump’s replacement world order, it is built on quicksand. Consider a slight problem – it is US importers who pay the tariffs, not foreigners. But that cannot diminish Trump’s infatuation. “Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” Trump said in the campaign. His attitude verges on romance. Trump says tariffs “are the most beautiful words to me in the dictionary”. He says tariffs come after God, religion and love. His views on the dividends from tariffs are delusional. Trump’s problem is that the faster he moves on tariffs, the quicker he accentuates the inflation risk.

Then came a truly meaningless visual distraction:

Donald Trump has paused his 25 per cent tariffs against Mexico, as well as Canada. Picture: Getty Images

If we're going to see a shopping mart, can we at least see him armed with a kart? 

While "Ned" was still stuck in the tariff wars, Rogé Karma was raging in The Atlantic about the real coup going down ... Who’s Going to Protect Us From the Next Disaster? Donald Trump is committed to dismantling the federal bureaucracy—and, with it, the government’s capacity to manage risk.

The U.S. federal government manages a larger portfolio of risks than any other institution in the history of the world. In just the past few weeks, wildfires raged across Southern California, a commercial flight crashed over the Potomac, a powerful Chinese-developed AI model launched to great fanfare, the nuclear-weapons Doomsday Clock reached its closest point ever to midnight, a new strain of avian flu continued its spread across the globe, and interest rates on long-term government bonds surged—a sign that investors are worried about America’s fiscal future. The responsibility of managing such risks is suffused throughout the federal bureaucracy; agencies are dedicated to preparing for financial crises, natural disasters, cyberattacks, and all manner of other potential calamities.
When one of those far-off risks became a real-life pandemic in the final year of Donald Trump’s first term, this sprawling bureaucracy, staffed mostly by career civil servants with area-specific expertise, helped limit the damage, often despite Trump’s own negligence and attempts to interfere. This time, things may turn out differently. Trump is committed to dismantling the federal bureaucracy as we know it—and, with it, the government’s capacity to handle the next crisis. Like an individual who chooses to forgo health or fire insurance, most Americans won’t feel the negative impact of this effort as long as everything in the world runs smoothly. What happens when the next crisis strikes is another story altogether.
No country was fully prepared for what became one of the deadliest pandemics in history, but it is hard to think of a leader who handled COVID more poorly than Trump. He spent the crucial weeks leading up to the outbreak downplaying the severity of the virus, at one point referring to it as the Democrats’ “new hoax.” His administration never developed a national plan for getting the virus under control and reopening the economy, leaving the states to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, the president undermined his own public-health agencies at every turn, telling states to “LIBERATE” their economies, refusing to wear a mask, and, at one point, suggesting bleach injections as a potential therapeutic. A February 2021 analysis by The Lancet, a British medical journal, found that the U.S. could have avoided 40 percent of the deaths that occurred under Trump’s watch if its death rate had matched  the average among America’s peer countries...

And so on, and the pond did a double take on that name, "Karma", as the real coup proceeded while "Ned" blathered away ...

At this stage Trump keeps his pledge of an additional 10 per cent tariff on China. At the weekend he said higher tariffs will “definitely happen” with the European Union, and “pretty soon”. Having a trade war with the EU makes no sense but Trump presumably will invest it with another purpose. Will he use the tariff threat to secure higher promises from NATO countries on the defence budget? Trump said at the weekend that America’s trade deficits with Canada and Mexico would need to be rectified before the tariffs were lifted. President Sheinbaum said that in her phone call with Trump agreeing the pause, Trump raised the US trade deficit with her. Of course he did. Nobody can say they weren’t warned.
For months before the election Trump’s trade retaliation threats were specific and his single most important economic pledge. Contrary to the claims made by Trump apologists for months – don’t worry about the tariffs, there’s no problem, they’re just a negotiating ploy by Trump to get his way – the reality is that on tariffs Trump has the will to power. As former Australian ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, told The Australian this week about Trump’s thinking on tariffs: “I think they are an end in themselves. We are very much into a new age of American protectionism, which will further impact global institutions and we’ll see to which extent it will lead to trade retaliation.”
This week’s events, however, show the disruption Trump cultivates can rebound against him. The allergic reaction of Wall Street, sharemarket losses and risks to the US household sector reveal higher tariff protectionism will deeply split US sentiment and carry a steeper domestic danger than Trump anticipated.
Trump’s extra 10 per cent tariff on China will apply to more than $400bn of goods America purchases from China, and has provoked Beijing to announce retaliatory steps, including tariffs on a range of US products. So, at what point might Trump engage China’s Xi Jinping in a phone call or a deal? The backdrop is Trump’s earlier threat to impose an extra 60 per cent tariff on imports from China, a move that would throttle the global economy.
The shift to a more protectionist world – which Trump has the power to deliver – will undermine Australia’s national interest, further compromise the cause of free trade and promote economic disruption that will work against Australia. Trump, in effect, asks other nations: What are you doing for America? China, by contrast, will merely tell other nations: Beijing is here to help you.
Australia might get an exemption because Trump is supposed to like us, and the US has a trade surplus with Australia. Who knows? There is one certainty; the more Trump pursues his tariff strategy, the more he will alienate other nations, compromise alliances and give China fresh opportunity.

Why do the reptiles do this? Why are they always fooled by the three card trick, the pea under the thimble, and keep lining up to buy the circus entertainment from the snakeoil salesman and carnival barker?

Perhaps it's better not to get too close. There are other jackals, vultures, carrion devouring crows, pilot fish, waiting at the table ...

That's why the likes of "Ned" can never admit to being kissing cousins with Faux Noise, still on board with the circus. 

That's why there can be no mention of that other hustler, and king of entertainment and distraction, though he's drawing headlines elsewhere ... 

There he sat, looking like a cross between a gnome and a gargoyle, an éminence grise for the ages ...

The pond has a cartoon for that ...

It's fitting that it made it into the trade rag The Hollywood Reporter ...

And so the vulture waits his turn. There's always carrion to be found falling from the table, and never has "Ned" looked and sounded so irrelevant when wanting some insights into what's actually going down ...

In other news, best covered by 'toons...

Don't woke up. Why that's about the only time the pond could allow the use of "woke" without imposing a fine for breaching Godwin's Rule ...

And so to end it all, this epic one from the immortal Rowe ...

It's the detail, "Ned", it's all in the detail, and the hand moving quicker than the eye ...