Trump just folded on tariffs. That’s not just a policy retreat—it’s a major turning point, and almost nobody is acknowledging what it means.

He spent weeks ramping up a trade war with China, threatening 60–140% tariffs, rattling markets, and making it the center of his “America First” revival.

Then?

He folded. No win. No deal. Just a quiet walkback and a return to the status quo.

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The Death Star Analogy (for the Normies):

Imagine if Emperor Palpatine spent 20 years building the Death Star—his ultimate tool of domination— …only to quietly cancel it a month after launch because of ballooning construction costs and pushback from his biggest donors.

No rebels. No trench run. Just internal panic and a loss of political support from the galaxy’s investment class.

That’s what just happened.

Trump’s signature economic weapon—the tariffs—collapsed not because Democrats stopped him, but because he pissed off the business class, the markets wobbled, and he blinked.

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He’s Also Failing at Tax Cuts—With a GOP Trifecta

Trump has full control of Congress. Yet he can’t pass a single clean tax cut. Not even the easiest slam dunk imaginable: Repealing the tax on tips. • No sweeping tax reform • No new corporate giveaways • Not even a symbolic win for working people

This is the guy who promised to bring “common sense deals” to Washington. And he can’t even get servers a tax break on $6 tips.

The “deal maker” brand is disintegrating.

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Why This Is a Bigger Deal Than It Looks • He burned goodwill with elites over tariffs—and got nothing. • He can’t deliver for the donor class or the working class. • His one economic weapon just collapsed under its own weight. • His enemies didn’t beat him—he beat himself.

And now he’s stuck in power with no real agenda, no leverage, and no momentum.

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We’re Not on the Civil War 2.0 Timeline Anymore

What we’re watching now is a presidency limp into irrelevance. The strongman blinked. The myth cracked. The “Death Star” got shut down by accountants.

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Progressives Need to Frame This Correctly:

Trump isn’t the final boss. He’s a washed-up Caesar playing golf and rage-posting while the world moves on.

We should stop pretending he’s unstoppable and start treating him like what he is now:

A failed emperor who lost his nerve the moment the markets dipped.

Note: written with the assistance of ChatGPT for clarity, grammar and spelling.

Originally Posted By u/stevendogood At 2025-05-12 02:09:13 PM | Source