Trumpenomics

[Doctor Phibes]

US Trade Deficit Hits Record High Despite Tariffs

US goods imports continued to outpace its exports last year, sending the country's trade deficit to a new high despite sweeping tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump.

The gap between the value of goods imported into the US and American products sold to other countries widened by 2.1% compared to 2024, hitting roughly $1.2 trillion (£890bn), official figures show.

The rise emerged despite a sharp drop in trade with China, one of the earliest targets of the tariffs.

The gap runs counter to one of the White House's key aims which is to reduce the deficit, arguing that US reliance on overseas goods has hollowed out the country's production abilities and put national security at risk.

[taiwan_girl]

Quarter look at how things are going since the election. Blue numbers are tentative.

[89th]

Interesting. It will be intriguing to see (perhaps by heat map) over time how each category has trended, too. Thanks for posting these.

[jon-nyc]

[89th]

[jon-nyc]

A pound of ground been now costs more than the federal minimum wage.

First time ever.

[Axtremus]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/business/trump-budget-federal-deficit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YVA.bcEQ.wtAy307mjdd1

“It’s the most number-free budget we’ve seen in recent history,” said Maya MacGuineas, the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ...

... referring to the latest federal budget proposal by Trump.

[taiwan_girl]

All is not bad news.

The March jobs report indicates that the U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate decreasing to 4.3%. Job gains were primarily in healthcare, construction, and transportation sectors.

[jon-nyc]

Lowest Consumer Sentiment ever recorded.

[89th]

47 heh

[jon-nyc]

Trumps approval rating on the Economy has dropped 9 points since the beginning of the war.

[Doctor Phibes]

How bad do his ratings have to be before he stops blaming losses on election fraud?

Obviously, this is a rhetorical question.

[jon-nyc]

That’s just another way of saying ‘how gullible is his base’ and we don’t yet know the answer. We just know that no one has found the bottom yet.

[Horace]

From your perspective, you should at least acknowledge a gradual erosion of his "base" as the poll numbers drop and as his previous supporters abandon him over the Iran war. It's easy to point and laugh at how dumb the base is when you're redefining it daily as it gets whittled down to some combination of people who really do align with his decisions and those who simply agree with whatever he says. (The latter are not represented in any mainstream media I'm familiar with.)

[jon-nyc]

It’s not clear to me how much of that erosion has been from true believers vs lesser-evil voters or, in the pundit space, grifters. We have evidence for example that Tucker never believed Trump won the 2020 election (though that evidence comes from an unreliable source- Tucker himself).

The percentage of people who believe he won the 2020 election is very similar to the percentage rate that view him favorably on the economy and the Iran war. That’s probably more or less the same group of people.

[89th]

Yeah, it's probably erosion of clumps of sand on a hard MAGA granite rock. It's actually remarkable how many true believers have ditched him lately (e.g., Carlson), or perhaps he knows the Trump era is over in 2.5 years and it's time to start moving on. Unfortunately during the next election the Trump influence will likely still be there like an awkward coworker who doesn't leave your office after the conversation is clearly over.

[jon-nyc]

[Doctor Phibes]

@Horace said:

From your perspective, you should at least acknowledge a gradual erosion of his "base" as the poll numbers drop and as his previous supporters abandon him over the Iran war. It's easy to point and laugh at how dumb the base is when you're redefining it daily as it gets whittled down to some combination of people who really do align with his decisions and those who simply agree with whatever he says. (The latter are not represented in any mainstream media I'm familiar with.)

Trump has always been a nightmare. It's reassuring that more people have finally figured this out, but let's not pretend these people weren't duped. I was told I was delusional for saying this, but he's the same guy now that he was then.

So who exactly was delusional?

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said:

@Horace said:

From your perspective, you should at least acknowledge a gradual erosion of his "base" as the poll numbers drop and as his previous supporters abandon him over the Iran war. It's easy to point and laugh at how dumb the base is when you're redefining it daily as it gets whittled down to some combination of people who really do align with his decisions and those who simply agree with whatever he says. (The latter are not represented in any mainstream media I'm familiar with.)

Trump has always been a nightmare. It's reassuring that more people have finally figured this out, but let's not pretend these people weren't duped. I was told I was delusional for saying this, but he's the same guy now that he was then.

So who exactly was delusional?

You not liking him is not a prediction that he'd go to war with Iran. (I don't actually care much about the war personally, but I recognize it as a betrayal of his campaign platform.)

[Horace]

@89th said:

Yeah, it's probably erosion of clumps of sand on a hard MAGA granite rock. It's actually remarkable how many true believers have ditched him lately (e.g., Carlson), or perhaps he knows the Trump era is over in 2.5 years and it's time to start moving on. Unfortunately during the next election the Trump influence will likely still be there like an awkward coworker who doesn't leave your office after the conversation is clearly over.

Occam's razor is that you're witnessing people with actual beliefs and principles change allegiances due to a conflict with those beliefs and principles.