Bok Bok Bok by Clay Jones
Trump chickens out again Read on Substack
This is not a conspiracy theory, but it’s something to watch out for: Trump declares “Liberation Day” and raises tariffs on every nation in the world except Belarus and Russia. Stocks plummet, and Wall Street loses nearly $6 trillion. Then, after all sorts of promises from him and his goons about being tough, Trump chickens out and delays the tariffs for 90 days, and Wall Street rebounds. What needs to be questioned is if Trump gave any insider information to his friends that he was going to delay the tariffs, thus making Wall Street rebound. Can I get a “hmmm?”
Trump said, “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are dying to make a deal. “Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything, sir.” And then, Trump chickened out again without making any deals. Not one.
One nation that did NOT kiss Trump’s ass is China, who retaliated by raising their tariffs on us to 84 percent. Trump retaliated by raising tariffs against China to 145 percent. China is the only nation not spared by Trump’s 90-day delay.
China threatens to stop buying our products and even stop watching our movies. This is bad news because not only will that hurt Hollywood’s revenue but also make our Chinese competitors smarter because they won’t be sitting around all day watching shit like Dude, Where’s My Car?.
Trump is mad at China for retaliating. In his feeble, twisted little mind, he believes it’s personal. How dare they retaliate, which the European Union did too. The EU is now delaying their retaliatory tariffs.
So, what happened to “Liberation Day?” There was a giant dog and pony show for “Liberation Day,” and now it’s “never mind?”
Trump claims 75 nations called to negotiate, but as we’ve learned over the years, Trump lies. I’m pretty positive nobody told him, “I’ll make a deal. I’ll do anything.” But, of course, other nations are willing to negotiate. That’s what diplomacy is. Diplomacy is NOT attacking an ally by saying they should stop being a country and join yours. Diplomacy is not demanding that it give you parts of its territory. Diplomacy is not attacking your friends with tariffs to make them negotiate. You could negotiate without the attack.
Trump is making every one of his policies personal, which is how a narcissistic toddler governs. This is bullying. I would not be surprised if this entire thing is only about Trump getting more people to kiss his ass.
Attacking the entire planet with tariffs, then backing down a few days later, isn’t strength; it’s cowardice. It also shows the world that Trump is indecisive, suffers from mood swings, and can’t be trusted.
Trump’s National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said, “This was Trump’s plan all along.” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said this was Trump’s “strategy all along.” White House spokesgoon Karoline Leavitt said, “Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal.”
I did miss “Art of the Deal,” Karoline, which Trump did NOT write and probably hasn’t even read. But do you know what I didn’t miss, Karoline? I didn’t miss Trump’s “art of the deal” when he negotiated ending a government shutdown with Nancy Pelosi. I didn’t miss that Trump walked into those negotiations with a little bit of something for his border wall and walked out of the negotiations with the government reopening and getting nothing for his stupid, racist border wall. Was that his strategy all along?
I also didn’t miss that Trump negotiated a new NAFTA with Canada and Mexico during his first term (sic) and broke those promises in his second term (sic).
I’m sure other nations didn’t miss those “arts of the deals,” nor did they miss that when Trump starts chaos, he’s impatient and will back down quickly. When push comes to shove, it’s easy to push Trump down. If you’re playing chicken with Trump, he’ll swerve first.
Every nation that negotiates with Trump on tariffs will start with the upper hand. Just like Obi-Wan Kenobi, they have the high ground.
Trump’s post about other nations kissing his ass is him showing his cards. All they have to do is kiss his ass by appealing to his giant ego, and they will out-negotiate him. It also helps them that our president (sic) is a dunderhead.
Fascist blogger Curtis Yarvin (anti-democracy, pro-slavery, says Whites have higher IQs than Blacks, cited by JD Vance as an “influence,” attended Trump’s inauguration), talked about Trump’s “confidence” in 2.0 in an interview with The New York Times, saying, “It’s almost like he actually feels like he knows what he’s doing.”
Isn’t that exactly what we want in a president, for him to “almost feel like he knows what he’s doing?” That should have been one of the campaign messages.
What happened to make Trump chicken out with the tariffs wasn’t because he got 75 phone calls from nations ready to negotiate, but phone calls from oligarchs freaking out about the stock market. Trump says they got “yippy,” but nobody was saying, “Yippee.” Maybe something more like, “Yippee-ki-yay, Motherfucker.”
Cartooning colleagues, do NOT steal “yippee-ki-yay, Motherfucker” from me.
Trump gave himself credit for Wall Street’s rebound yesterday, but today, it’s going “yippy” again. But I’m sure Trump almost knows what he’s doing.
Creative note: I wanted to do something with “yippy,” but I couldn’t resist this penguin idea after it landed in my brain. I may do “yippee ki-yay” later if it’s not stolen from me.
Music note: I listened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but only for a few minutes because this cartoon didn’t take long to color.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see)
Scottie's Playtime 