Trump did it again - no oops.

The man is positively glowing about the impact of his self-proclaimed genius. In one clip in the White House he is pointing at two folk and saying "He made 2.5 million today and he made $900 million. That's not bad."

I'm of course talking about the 9th April pause for 90 days on most reciprocal tariffs except ones on China, which are supposed to go up to over 100%

The fact of the manipulation is what has him stroking his thighs: Ability to spook global markets and decision-makers, pushing folk to show knee-bending breaking points, and 'diamond handsing' the on again / off again - 'Fake News' they said to the Bessent hint that exactly this would happen, causing the interim bump. 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!' he posts to paid subscribers on Truth Social, just in advance of the reverse. Grabbing the financial world by the...

That's what had him burbling like a teen about global leaders supposedly lining up to kiss his ass. No namby pamby nonsense about wearing power lightly in this White House.

World leaders lining up to ‘kiss my ass’, Donald Trump boasts

President Donald Trump has boasted that world leaders panicked by his gargantuan global tariffs are “kissing my ass-” in desperate bids to reduce the levies.

Irish IndependentMary Papenfuss

Abusive Global Relationships

This is what it made me think about, a parallel I'm far from the first to surface:

Survivors Know Donald Trump’s Type

As someone who has worked in the field of intimate partner violence for 30 years, Donald Trump has felt familiar to me—and not in a good way.When you are good, you are in a wonderful romance: (“Women love me.”) When you step out of line, you are crazy and no one will believe anything you say. (“Kamala Harris is mentally disabled.”) If you leave, you’ll be sorry. (’If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath.)

Ms. MagazineAmy Barasch

That ultra-controlling partner who manufactures and constantly shifts relationship red lines. Keeping their woman on eggshells. Not knowing if it will be a slightly overcooked breakfast or disliked tone that leads to sanctions, or even physical violence.

The woman is quiet and subservient, complying as best she can, to protect herself and her children, lacking immediate means to walk away.

The master of the house, out with his like-minded pals, is crowing about her dancing like a puppet, perhaps throwing out a trigger command to make her jump and send her scurrying. The assembled men knowingly chuckle.

It is not a hidden undercurrent. This is the MAGA media equivalent of those buddies in the bar admiring how he keeps partners in fight or flight mode.

Trump and his followers are cloaking his awful economic ideas in weird ‘masculinity’ talk

Some MAGA voices are framing the president’s destructive economic policies as necessary to prompt a resurgence of American manhood. It’s an obvious scam.

MSNBCJa’han Jones

What he doesn't see are the pennies being hoarded, the go bag in the back of the closet, the network quietly built to make the move when feasible. Or, in extremis, the hyper-awareness of weapons to hand to defend herself - the frying pan, the bedside lamp, the knife.

The tenterhooks, appeasement, and compliance on the surface is a thinning and expertly refined layer.

What scares me more than a loud angry man? A quiet resolute woman at the end of her tether.

That destruction of the baseline structures that enable constructive compromise and more than short-term reactivity have an economic parallel. It is there in the impact on the Treasury bond markets.

The asset historically viewed as a safe bet, as good as gold, backed by a rock hard government guarantee to repay the bearer. Yielding interest in the interim.

The interest rate on those bonds is the price of US debt. When the US government writes money into existence for public spending (lacking any banked surplus from taxation or other sources) it is in the form of those bonds. Bonds that big global institutions and other governments purchase. The return on that investment started to rise dramatically (dramatically in this context is single percentage points, because it is interest payable on trillions in cumulative bond holdings).

There were substantial bond divestments (the Financial Times reporting on that) by different global players as trust in their security waned and investors moved to reduce their exposure to American economic whims.

"So far the US administration has not been concerned with the market sell-off, and in the past referred to the 10 year yield as its preferred barometer. However, if there is risk to financial stability in the US from the currency policy action, then the administration may have to pay more attention or face the risk of living through their own Liz Truss moment."

Kerry Craig, Global Market Strategist, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Melbourne, April 9, 202511:16 AM GMT+1 (because the timing on the 9th matters), as reported by Reuters

If that still feels woolly, consider this: In your personal finance world you may want a loan. If you are very wealthy and financially secure that will probably come with a low interest rate. The more risky the loan, the more interest, right down to massively costly payday loans, or 1000% a week interest from loan sharks. Perceived security of investment in the US is moving in loan shark directions. No matter the situational noises to smooth short-term bumps around tariffs.

Treasury Bond: Overview of U.S. Backed Debt Securities

A treasury bond is a marketable, fixed-interest U.S. government debt security with a maturity of more than 10 years and which pays periodic interest payments.

InvestopediaFull Bio

If the pattern is unpredictable abuse and manipulation, largely driven by ego, greed, power-addiction, cruelty, and self-aggrandisement, then that person or body is not offering negotiation or rewards for good behaviour, they are offering political theatre, benefit solely for buddies, and constant knife-edge conditions.

Cyrptocities or Charter Cities as Corollary

The same kind of characters who are cheering Trump on, vaunting him as the master dealmaker, are seeking to build their own fiefdoms. Mother Jones reports the latest, but this is a longterm(ism) fever dream.

The New Founding staffers hobnob with Vice President JD Vance. Andreessen—the venture capitalist and Srinivasan’s friend—has invested in New Founding. New Founding’s Nate Fischer has invested in the startup societies venture firm Pronomos Capital, Pronomos head Patri Friedman recently told me. Through the online magazine American Reformer, which Abbotoy and Fischer cofounded, New Founding has robust connections to the world of the TheoBros, a group of mostly millennial, ultra-conservative men, many of whom proudly call themselves Christian nationalists, believe women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, and idolize authoritarian leaders like Francisco Franco.  

Quoting from the Mother Jones article below.

Last year, writing for the New Republic, journalist Gil Duran chronicled a rambling, four-hour interview that Srinivasan gave on the podcast “Moment of Zen.” In it, Srinivasan described his vision for a new San Francisco, one in which citizens would show their loyalty to tech companies by donning gray shirts. The ultimate goal is for the Grays to drive out the “Blues,” Srinivasan’s word for progressives:

So you put up some kind of, I don’t know, like a sign which says Y Combinator on it, or a Bitcoin sign, or something like that. It should look cool, but it’s also meant to lose because someone’s going to come, some crazy guy, addict will come and smash it, or a Blue will come and spray paint it, or they’ll try and the city official will come and tell you to take it down because it’s unlicensed, or something like that…Syringes on the street. Greta Thunberg on the wall. Those are blue symbols that signal that Blues control a territory. So it’s like a dog pissing and marking its territory. After you’ve got a building, you need to start figuring out how to control the streets.

The “Grays” would have access to exclusive zones of the city, and they would also enjoy protection through a special arrangement with the police, whom they would win over with lavish banquets.

Christian “TheoBros” are building a tech utopia in Appalachia

What could go wrong?

Mother JonesKiera Butler

Building burbs for 'people like us' with crypto as currency, Christian Nationalism / tech utopianism on steroids, and private police forces to train the uppity out of any progressive elements.

These are all people who rely on layers and layers of social infrastructure and government funded subsidies, pretending that the basics of life will be magically and stably sustained by free speech, absolutist property rights, surveillance, selective policing, and lots of money.

Sharing this historical utopian effort for some perspective. Playing on a much overused theme: "I didn't think the bears would eat my face" Said the leader of the bear baiting party.

The Town That Went Feral

When a group of libertarians set about scrapping their local government, chaos descended. And then the bears moved in.

The New RepublicPatrick Blanchfield

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling wrote a whole very good book about it entitled 'A Libertarian Walks into Bear'. Well worth a read if you have the stomach for it.

How a New Hampshire libertarian utopia was foiled by bears

Seriously, this happened. You should absolutely read about it.

VoxSean Illing

Will the techvangelicals and #MeFirst crews be good for the world and the economy? Welcome to the giant FAFO.