ok, i know it sounds stupid to look for logic or reason in anything he does, but i have an honest question.
he wants to do a bunch of terrible shit, we get it. he did terrible shit during his first term, or at least tried to. but the only thing he seemed to care about was the economy. now to him, the economy is mostly the stock market with a splash of black employment numbers, but whatever. it's all he fucking talks about.
so if you're trump, and you can do most of your terrible shit without it affecting the economy (disabling govt agencies, pursuing your perceived political enemies, tax cuts for billionaire friends in exchange for whatever the fuck), then why would you do something like this that directly impacts (a) the actual economy and (b) how americans react to the economy (lower wages, layoffs, higher prices, gas, groceries).
i mean, the economy/stock market was in good shape. and even if biden did most of the heavy lifting post-covid, trump would've taken credit for it anyway, so why not just keep it humming and brag about it? that's what he did for 3 years after obama. all trump cares about is people thinking he's great and thinking he's smart and the best at everything. if the economy was good, he could've played golf 4x a week and spent the other days truthing about the dow.
so the question, and i'm not looking for answers like "because he's a dipshit moron", why do this?
is it to say we're not dependent on any other nations and he thinks that makes him a hero? is it because he (and those around him) genuinely don't understand how it works? and even if they don't, he's outwardly saying it's going to be bad for a while and people will understand. or is he just going full putin and trying to build a moat and fuck everybody over except him? i know the last one seems like the obvious answer, but he's way more fragile snowflake who seeks approval than he is putin strongman who rules with an iron fist.
i'll hang up and listen.