There is an embedded assumption in the question that he does profit in some way from it, but based on his past behavior it’s a pretty safe guess.

Most of the reporting I have seen on this talks about the impact of the different tariffs, but not the “why” behind it (beyond parroting what Trump says, which is never true). I’m particularly interested in the tariffs on Canadian goods and energy. The justification about stopping fentanyl smuggling is an obvious lie. (It isn’t a real problem, and tariffs have nothing to do with drug smuggling. All but the mentally handicapped can figure that out for themselves.)

Edit: Thanks for the ideas. Causing shocks to the stock market and profiting from them sounds plausible. Using tariffs directly to extort business interests sounds even more likely.

BTW, I noticed that one of the commenters somehow changed their username after posting from “ComradeShark” (or something like that) to “Sharkfucker420” after I called him “Comrade” in my reply. I suspect that Russian influence farms didn’t shut down after the election. They’re still sowing discord on even niche social media platforms like Lemmy. (Also, rookie mistake on the username, brosky.)

  • IonAddis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    13 hours ago

    Trump is an abuser. (He has a long history spanning decades of fucking people over.) If you look at human nature on a small scale, in domestic violence situations usually the abuser will first isolate the person they are abusing from any allies that may help them or go to their aid. On a small scale, this would be things like siblings, parents, friends, and such of the person the abuser is abusing. On a larger scale, it means breaking longstanding international alliances.

    Since Putin wants to break America, he’s giving Trump instructions to isolate America from its allies, just like an abuser will drive away any friends or aid from the person they are abusing, because when someone is isolated (whether an individual or country), they are easier to control and abuse.

    Trump probably gets PERSONAL benefit of staying out of jail/not being thrown out a window by Russians by complying, so he does what he’s told. Musk is likely a Russian asset too (I suspect he got into deep financial trouble when he was forced by US regulators to buy Twitter, and that’s when Russia swooped in, but he might have been compromised earlier too.) Musk, not suffering from the dementia that Trump currently seems to be having, is Trump’s handler. That’s why he’s always around now to make sure Trump doesn’t forget to stick to the script.

    So from a “what benefit to tariffs” is there perspective, what’s happening is that geopolitically the US is under intense attacks from enemies to the US that are purposefully attacking things that make America strong and killing them so that it is easier to shove the final knife in. It’s the same pattern that happens in domestic violence situations, just written much larger.

    Others smarter than me have pointed out Putin probably wants the USA to have a breakdown like the fall of the USSR, and is directing things so that this happens.