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Comment by breadwinner | Hacker News Reader

There is away out of this mess: A U.S. Senate bill that would require congressional approval for new tariffs gained more Republican support on Friday [1].

Trump is not going to back down since that will make him look like a loser. Neither is China. But GOP can help Trump out by creating a new law that automatically expires all new tariffs after 60 days unless approved by congress. This will let Trump extricate his head from this mess without losing face.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-us-senate-republicans-...

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To be clear, this is going to have to pass the house. Then, Trump will veto it. Then, the senate will need 16 Republican senators (30% of the party) to vote against it. And it's still a toss-up if Trump will even obey it or if he'll executively order customs to continue the Tariffs.

So unless Republicans suddenly grow a spine, which is unlikely given their current strategy is "hide the stock ticket on Fox news" and pretend glorious leader is a genius, this is a token effort that will do nothing.

And even if the tariffs are revoked, we've destroyed our reputation. You think countries will want to continue on like nothing happened after this? The only thing that might stop the impending collapse of the US economy as 180 nations divest from the empire we built is if we were to impeach and convict Trump immediately and set an example that this economic chaos will not be tolerated; that allies are not fair game to bully.

But, honestly, I think that ship has already sailed. It needed to happen immediately, not after a week of testing the waters.

I absolutely agree that impeachment and conviction is the only way to restore the world's trust in the US.

If this bill passes and Trump vetos it, don't you think that could raise the odds for a 3rd impeachment process?

In my opinion? No, and precisely because you used the words "third impeachment". I have come to realize there simply is no bottom. He was truly right: he could shoot someone in broad daylight and he wouldn't be held accountable.

If Republicans weren't aligned with Trump, it wouldn't have been a 51-aye vote. If they actually cared, they would be on the news discussing historical precedent and impeachment right now. Yesterday they were praising him on Fox, calling this a genius plan that will save America while denying the market collapse is even haplening. They, again, talk of a third term for glorious leader.

The party has become fundamentally incapable of admitting they are wrong about anything to the point that they would rather descend into a fascist regime that disappears political opposition to El Salvador prisons.

My assumption is that Trump understands what a mess he has gotten himself into and wants to extricate his head, without losing face. Congressional action will allow him to do that because he can blame congress for undoing his tariffs which was a good idea all along. This is the only way out.

I don’t think that’s a fair assumption.

I don't see what would lead you to this conclusion. Multiple members of his cabinet have direct said the plan will do this, so it's not like they don't know they're collapsing the economy. His secretary of commerce (?) has published papers about wanting to remove the US dollar as the reserve currency and destroy our status as the hegemon in pursuit of us becoming a T-shirt sweatshop nation instead of an infotech powerhouse.

Heck, even Musk accidentally said the quiet part aloud on Twitter about burning it all down.

You are laboring under the dubious assumption that Trump gives any fucks about the US economy. (And that, even more dubious, that the real-life congress will manage more than bloviation on TikTok.)

This is a pure klept move. Who knows if he understands that the US manufacturing iPhones and cars-with-no-foreign-parts isn't possible in his lifetime (or most of ours), but regardless, he understands that this is his chance to finally get rich for real after all that cosplayin', and doesn't need to understand the rest.

> dubious assumption that Trump gives any fucks about the US economy

I do believe that. If the economy crashes he will lose support from his billionaire friends. Also, the economy (along with immigration) was one of the top reasons people voted for him. I do believe he doesn't want to lose popular support. Currently GOP senators won't speak up against him because they know MAGA supporters will turn on them. But if he loses support GOP senators will be emboldened.

Trump does care about his base, if his base support starts dropping, he will look for the escape hatch. His ego and narcissism need that, bigly.

Trump would surely veto, and I currently have doubts there will ever be enough Republican votes to override

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