Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

President Trump signing Oval Office February 12, 2025
White House Photo

Big Bizarre Letters

What fresh Hell is this?

Steven L. Taylor
51
President Trump signing Oval Office February 12, 2025
White House Photo

So, here is one of the letters that went out detailing our tariff policies. Trump has been posting them to Truth Social.

Part of me thinks that this all has to be a big practical joke, because it is all so very, very absurd. And yet, here we are, weird Random Capitalization (even some ALL CAPS and exclamation marks!) and utterly child-like economic policy.

Truth is absolutely stranger than fiction.

And here’s a graph, you know, for fun! Liberation Day II: The Wrath of Tariffs, I guess.

Thank you for your attention in this matter!

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51 responses to “Big Bizarre Letters”

  1. Tony W Avatar
    Tony W

    He clearly doesn’t understand what a trade deficit is, and clearly nobody can explain it to him.

    I’m still shocked this is the best guy the Republicans could come up with. And even more shocked that we couldn’t beat him in the election.

    10
  2. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    Dear Albertsons:
    Despite having a SEVERE trade Deficit with you I have continued to buy your Groceries. But now I am imposing a 25% tariff on all Groceries (who even knows what Groceries are?) which means that as of August 1st the EGGS I get from you for $10.88* will cost me $13.60. I will continue overpaying for eggs until you Agree to raise Chickens in my condo**.

    *The eggs I buy are from happy organic Chickens who only work three days a week and have free yoga classes.
    ** Not sure if the DOGS are on-board with this.

    ETA: Edited to properly capitalize Chickens.

    19
  3. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    I am as Loose as it gets with regard to writing. If the writing is CLEAR, I am willing to OverLook many non-Standard elements.

    I except professional and official documents. Those should be drafted according to standard rules.

    However, even in pieces that fall outside those DOMAINS, non-standard elements should be used Deliberately. If a writer feels the need to emphasize a word, phrase, or sentence via visual cue, then revision is almost always the best choice.

    “Great Honor”? Does the capitalization do a damn thing for that phrase?

    7
  4. steve Avatar
    steve

    Wonder if this is a reaction to the TACO meme? The stock market doesnt believe he is going to carry this out and will cave again but maybe he and his core of sycophants are actually true believers?

    Steve

    5
  5. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    Taco Tuesday?

    6
  6. Jay L Gischer Avatar
    Jay L Gischer

    @steve: My gut reaction is that it’s all completely focused on domestic politics. It’s a big “I’m Doing Something!” and “Look at Me acting Tough with Foreigners, who are just wimps compared to USA!”

    Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have a credible primary threat, or an army of thousands who can send death threats to foreign leaders. So they aren’t as easy to bully as Republican Senators and Representatives.

    7
  7. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Tony W:

    I’m still shocked this is the best guy the Republicans could come up with. And even more shocked that we couldn’t beat him in the election.

    Maybe in 2016. But 2024? Nah.

    The last chance for the GOP to return to the status of a normal party was the Senate vote on the 1/7 impeachment.

    Even then, there is a chance the damage already inflicted was critical.

    Now, the only potential candidates left do not know how to Be Best. They are either craven and cynical or pure MAGA.

    7
  8. Fortune Avatar
    Fortune

    I assumed the article was about the Biden debate memo. I was happy you were able to criticize Biden weirdness.

  9. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Fortune:
    Is this one of those things where you believe you’ve made us all think?

    Because at first glance it just looks like desperate Trump toady yelling, ‘Squirrel!’

    17
  10. DK Avatar
    DK

    Haha. There are fourth graders who can legit compose more coherent letters than this.

    6
  11. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    The student appears to be demonstrating that they did not read the question, and perhaps not even the assigned text. The response is nonsensical in context.

    Worse, it is a deployment of the whataboutism logical fallacy.

    Score: 0/10

    Fortune says:
    Tuesday, 8 July 2025 at 10:12 • Edit
    I assumed the article was about the Biden debate memo. I was happy you were able to criticize Biden weirdness.

    25
  12. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    Lawrence O’Donnell made a point last night that this is the same as the letters sent to other leaders. It’s a form letter, FFS.

    5
  13. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Fortune:
    Biden, Biden, Biden!

    BTW, you would expect someone who repeatedly beats the drum about who was running the government under Biden to at least be a little concerned about the fact that current President Trump doesn’t seem to be responsible for little things like deciding to pause weapon shipments to Ukraine.
    https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-have-to-send-weapons-ukraine-trump-says-days-after-pentagon-pause

    But we know, you don’t support Trump. But man you also seem to not be comfortable with anyone critizing him.

    14
  14. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    @Fortune:
    To quote Bugs Bunny, What a maroon!!!
    https://youtu.be/hxGgnI6kCrs

    3
  15. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Kurtz:

    Maybe in 2016. But 2024? Nah.

    Sexism is a helluva drug.

    Also, this country did elect Dubya twice, after a very subpar first term. This is a country that struggles to keep its population housed, and struggles to provide adequate healthcare, that is the only advanced Western nation without paid leave, that allows climate science denialists prominent roles in public life, that is unique among peers in letting its children be slaughtered by guns and bankrupted seeking education.

    So Trump — an Epstein-bestie rapist who writes like toddler — is perhaps also a natural endpoint to Americans allowing our deficits to fester and overwhelm our strengths, positives, and potential.

    8
  16. Bobert Avatar
    Bobert

    these trade relationships (us vs other country) tend to be mired in complexity. To avoid that complex discussion I’ve been focused on US/Madagascar ever since “liberation day”, where the so-called reciprocal tariff imposed by Trump in April is 47%.
    The simple fact is that US consumers buy significant amounts of Vanilla from Madagascar but Madagascar consumers do not buy US cars, corn, soybeans (as examples) in an equal value. Ergo a trade deficit.
    So, it’s not clear at all what Trump’s motivations are.
    Not only does Trump and his advisors refuse to understand the impact of tariffs on US consumers, but they also don’t want to understand why the average Madagascar consumer who earns 65.00/month (US) doesn’t purchase as much as the US consumer who earns 5,200/mo.

    12
  17. Mimai Avatar
    Mimai

    This Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!

    This statement is a searing indictment of the US economy and national security.

    If you wish to [do a bunch of things], we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter.

    Even if one leaves aside Trump’s history of honoring agreements, this statement is quite the something. “perhaps” + “consider” + “adjustment” = ?

    5
  18. Fortune Avatar
    Fortune

    @Michael Reynolds: If you hadn’t even seen the Biden debate memo story, I guess I did inform you of it.

  19. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Fortune:

    I assumed the article was about the Biden debate memo.

    So you can feel like you “won” today, this did lead me to look up the memo as I expected a bombshell. The full text of it is here:
    https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000197-e2e2-de82-a7d7-f7f666d20000

    I might post on it. My quick take is it’s pretty much a nothing burger. It outlines a grounded strategy that didn’t work out. I don’t see what the big deal is about it. I think Politico’s reporter put it best:

    Final thought bubble: There’s been an awful lot written about a “cover-up” inside Biden’s White House over the president’s mental acuity. And as lots of excellent, scoopy reporting has shown, Biden’s closest aides were far from open about the extent of his decline. But … it does also seem an odd kind of “cover-up” to recommend the president get out on national TV as soon as possible for a 90-minute debate with his opponent, in front of millions of viewers. One to ponder, as further details emerge.
    https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2025/07/07/revealed-why-biden-wanted-the-cnn-debate-00441081

    Or are you the type who makes a big deal out of the capitalized and bolded “you’s” and “your’s” in the memo. Because if so, I have REALLY REALLY bad news about the current occupant of the White House and the steps his staff are taking to get him to pay attention to occasional briefings:
    https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/2025/06/trumps-intelligence-briefings-could-get-video-game-makeover-because-he-doesnt-read-report.html

    Oh wait, I know, you don’t support Trump… But you also don’t support people not supporting Trump.

    It’s so tough being you. But at least you got a “win” today.

    Of course, Steven also got a win by writing a post that made you so uncomfortable you had to derail the thread with a “PAY ATTENTION TO BIDEN” comment.

    So I guess it’s a draw in the end.

    Man, trying to “win” online is a pretty empty objective isn’t it.

    15
  20. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Matt Bernius:

    So you can feel like you “won” today

    They are getting attention (even from me), so they won.

    Of course, Steven also got a win by writing a post that made you so uncomfortable you had to derail the thread with a “PAY ATTENTION TO BIDEN” comment.

    You have cracked the code of my daily goals!!

    13
  21. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    You have cracked the code of my daily goals!!

    HA! You’ve fallen into my trap and revealed your nefarious plan: you’re all about triggering the real heterodox thinkers out there like Fortune and DrewConnerJack-off into posting derailing truth bombs in order to drive up our page views for James to pay you more. Or wait… Soros is paying for all of this right*?

    Either way you are just here to feel like you won by serving up Trump-derangement content to all the sheeple… I mean ever day commenters of the site. Who always agree with you because we, as authors at this site, never attempt to get our reader’s to question their priors because all part of the anti-anti-Trump hive mind.

    * – BTW, are you getting any checks from Soros… because I haven’t been and I feel like I’m owed overtime for getting the backend stable… Of course, I created more than a few of the stability issues, so that might be why that sweet sweet socialism moolah hasn’t been flowing in for me.

    9
  22. Fortune Avatar
    Fortune

    @Steven L. Taylor: I consider people paying attention to reality a win. I don’t usually read or comment on your material because I don’t think you’re open to it. Why would I consider a response from you a win?

    An article with this name today though, I had hope for a second.

  23. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

    It is a Great Honor for me to send you this letter in that it demonstrates the strength and commitment of our Trading Relationship.

    Big bizarre doublespeak — like the b.s. self congratulatory Social Security emails sent out.

    And the opening line is a mess. Is the Trump Camp suggesting it is a “Great Honor ” to be sending this letter or receiving this letter?

    As in perhaps: YOU are LUCKY that I’m even talking to you about this tariff matter.

    I suspect from the tenor, Trump had much input from his minders, perhaps “Baby Goebbels” Miller who is given to couching his public ejaculations with forceful condescension.

    Aside from all that might be gleaned from the letter itself, these America First mentalities have lost the plot of human civilization’s interdependencies and the less obvious but critical benefits derived from benevolent cooperative relations.

    The current 14 nations receiving the letters include Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. All countries that struggle with internal stability, and for which economic viability is a significant factor to sustainability.

    Perceived “imbalance of trade” conditions may exist for American Firsters to whine about and gin up animus for their use as “political capital,” but what we receive is greater global stability and diplomatic influence.

    When will we learn that destabilized societies and regional violent conflicts are costly to us all, demanding expenditures in terms of time, money, manpower, and material resources that detract from our ability to address serious threats to our shared existence —- like water, clean air, food security, global warming, wasted human intellectual capacity, pandemics, etc.

    Imbalance of trade (as perceived) and international remittances of the sort “undocumented workers” sent to their home countries, serve as a sort of foreign aid. Holy smoke! Foreign aid that people work for and produce commensurate output! What a concept!

    We buy $10 soccer balls and $15 shirts made in sweat shops often with child labor, from countries like Bangladesh. American Firsters want to being those jobs back to America? At what cost to the working class American consumer who is dependent on discount retailers like Walmart to maintain a lifestyle ingrained into their thinking (and “political calculus”) by Madison Avenue?

    This entire scenario of offshoring was engineered decades ago to keep the party going — the great American post-war (WWII) consumer tailgate party! —- a consumer “party” that had come under the inevitable inflationary pressure arising from expanding demographics and resulting impact on supply/demand.

    America and the West combined are a great economic engine of innovation that powers the world to a large extent. The myriad of interdependencies are overwhelming to comprehend. The connections are precarious and involve extensive downstream impact. Simplistic politicized gestures do not cut it. But, we humans may have exceeded the envelope of our ability to allow ourselves to understand our predicament, for lack of restraint upon our ego. Not that maybe we could, if we wanted to.

    3
  24. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Fortune:
    Thank you for that excellent response. It’s been a stressful day for me and I really needed that unexpected laugh.

    5
  25. Moosebreath Avatar
    Moosebreath

    @Fortune:

    “I consider people paying attention to reality a win.”

    So, under your standards, why do your comments make this year’s Colorado Rockies look like a success?

    5
  26. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    The student

    Ha!

    @Matt Bernius:

    This is like the Peterman Reality Tour without the miniature 3 Musketeers for dessert or the motion sickness.

    4
  27. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Tony W:

    I’m still shocked this is the best guy the Republicans could come up with.

    To recall a long-passed friend of Luddite’s on this matter: “An endless parade of doofuses, each one more hapless than the one before.”

    Rest in peace, Bill. Your work here is done.

    4
  28. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Michael Reynolds: And I don’t even think it counts as yelling “squirrel,” only as yelling “mzggtpwfl.”

    2
  29. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    Holy crap!

    Fortune dashes off a one line half-baked trolling falsehood, and OTBers spend volume of words and posts (and time) in response. With nary an impact.

    Do you not recognize asymmetrical warfare?

    Put that troll on extinction.

    Fortune should have been given the boot a month ago for their abusive underhanded attack on Beth.

    9
  30. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Fortune:

    Why would I consider a response from you a win?

    Because the only clear thing about your “commentary” is that you want attention.

    8
  31. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Fortune:

    I don’t usually read or comment on your material

    Actually, you achieved the goal of not commenting on my material in this very comment thread!

    Kudos.

    10
  32. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Rob1:

    Fortune should have been given the boot a month ago for their abusive underhanded attack on Beth.

    I will confess I missed that.

    And yes, I am violating my own assessment of this situation.

    But the clicks! Think of the glorious clicks!!

    9
  33. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Steven L. Taylor: Aside: given that you are currently the primary contributor to this site, and I am sure my and Kingdaddy’s limited contributions also fall into the “not open to other views so I don’t read/comment” claim, one wonders why this site is so clearly part of his daily routine.

    I mean other than to get publicly offended on essentially a daily basis by people being “wrong” in open comment threads.

    I mean James’s writing is always worth reading. But still if you think most of the writers are not worth reading and most of the commenters are wrong, why bother keep showing up. Even if your goal is to do the Lord’s work, there seem like there are much more rewarding uses of ones time–especially on weekends.

    2
  34. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Matt Bernius:
    You can tell @Fortune is super smart by this comment:

    I assumed the article was about the Biden debate memo. I was happy you were able to criticize Biden weirdness.

    In which @Fortune admits to being either an idiot or a liar, since only an idiot could fail to understand the subject of the post, and only a liar would pretend to. But that is the eternal puzzle presented by MAGAs: are they morons, liars or both?

    8
  35. Slugger Avatar
    Slugger

    Honorable Mr. President,
    I have been receiving spam letters from someone claiming to be the President of the United States. They contain bizarre alterations from standard English grammar with haphazard capitalization as the main giveaway. I just want you to be informed of this; today’s climate allows a great many trolls, phishing attacks, and other scams. One just can’t be too careful.
    As always, I look forward to communicating with you. We consider the United States to be our friend, ally, and partner.
    Thank you for your attention to this matter.
    Shigeru Ishiba,
    Prime Minister to the Emperor

    14
  36. Mr. Prosser Avatar
    Mr. Prosser

    @Rob1: Fortune dashes off a one line half-baked trolling falsehood, and OTBers spend volume of words and posts (and time) in response. With nary an impact. Amen. I don’t comment much any more because much is beyond my ability to add to the conversations but I do read them. Quit ruining the flow with answering these jagoffs!

    11
  37. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Michael Reynolds: I don’t want to make any judgement about his intelligence or intentions.

    However, the idea that he saw that title and the picture of Donald Trump that went along side it and thought “I should publicly comment that I thought this was about the Biden memo” really doesn’t speak well about his powers of observation or evaluation.

    Or his understanding of sarcastic comedy.

    7
  38. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Mr. Prosser: Fair. I have done my best to ignore any of his comments in the open threads. I definitely got swept up in the audacity of this one.

    And honestly, his responses made me laugh. But I will tap out… At least until Connor or Jack or Drew or etc shows up to explain Trump’s brilliant tariff strategy.

    6
  39. Jc Avatar
    Jc

    I don’t usually read or comment on your material because I don’t think you’re open to it.

    FACO. Fortune always chickens out.

    8
  40. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    What fresh Hell is this?

    Tuesday.

    5
  41. Kingdaddy Avatar
    Kingdaddy

    People responding to trolls, no matter how witty the bon mots, is very low on my list of reasons to read the comment section.

    5
  42. Fortune Avatar
    Fortune

    @Rob1: I missed it too. I didn’t think I’ve corresponded with Beth in months.

  43. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Kingdaddy:

    People responding to trolls, no matter how witty the bon mots, is very low on my list of reasons to read the comment section.

    I will make this a sticky note on my monitor. 🙂

    5
  44. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Matt Bernius: Agreed.

    2
  45. Modulo Myself Avatar
    Modulo Myself

    This seems like a throwback to a nobody writing a letter to a somebody and expecting results. Trump gets a mileage from this old American unconscious: flushing toilets, McDonalds, a crank writing to the CEO of an airline discussing the lack of consistency in peanut packaging. His people find it reassuring.

    3
  46. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    Frankly, who, at this point, gives a flying feather about former President Biden’s “debate memo”, whatever the hell it might be, when it the current President Trump who seems intent on recapitulating the trade policies of the 1930’s?

    It’s notable that in this, as in the recent “entry bans”, the administration is making a habit of particularly picking on poor, weak, countries eg Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Sierra Leone which are neither major locales of crime and terrorism, nor significant factors in any “unfair trading”.
    Or much trading whatsoever, in most cases.

    I suspect quite few Laotians are wondering “What the hell did WE do?”

    The answer, it would seem, is just to be punching-bags for the benefit of MAGA who probably don’t have the faintest idea about them.

    In the end though, they are small potatoes in terms of the global economy.
    It’s pointless and mean-spirited, but of significance only to those poor sods.

    If Trump persists in picking a fight with the bigger players, like Japan, the EU, and China, the possible downsides are massive. Possibly catastrophic.

    I’d be willing to bet Prime Minister Shigeru’s private reaction to that “polite letter” was rather less than polite.

    4
  47. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Matt Bernius: Wait …
    You don’t read WorldNet, Conservative Treehouse, Jezebel, and the others????

    😉

    2
  48. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Kingdaddy: I’ll agree, but the witty ones are high enough on the pecking order that they still warrant some attention. That said, the total number of comments I skip over increases day by day.

    2
  49. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @JohnSF:

    Frankly, who, at this point, gives a flying feather about former President Biden’s “debate memo”, whatever the hell it might be, …

    Best I can make out, the bombshell consists of the twin facts that 1) Biden’s advisors wrote memos, and 2) they sometimes got things wrong.

    Of course these are astonishing facts (she said deadpan). the most astonishingiest and most factiest of all time (she added deadpan).

    6
  50. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Matt Bernius: It is an odd position to take, to be sure.

    1
  51. Gavin Avatar
    Gavin

    Pretty sure Trump’s tariff analysis is as accurate as the VA secretary’s constant assertion since January that he MUST end 80k jobs….. only to yesterday announce that no RIF was forthcoming. As the kids say, whoopsie. I’m shocked that the conservative media has avoided discussing that story.

    Still the best response to everything Fortune will ever post. Is Fortune a bot sent by Grok / Elon Musk to troll this forum? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

    If anyone read to the end of the letter… “You will never be disappointed in the US”.. Except for the everything, of course.

    2

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