QOTD -- Fossil Fool

 

"Like many U.S. institutions, the European Union has abysmally failed the Trump test. The EU is an economic superpower and could have retaliated effectively against Trump’s illegal tariffs — illegal under both U.S. and international law. Instead, Europe did nothing and even made some apparent concessions.

"But notice my wording: apparent concessions. The optics of the Trump-EU deal were humiliating, and optics matter. If you examine the substance, however, it starts to look as if Europe played Trump for a fool. Specifically, a fossil fool.

"The EU made two sort-of pledges to Trump. First, that it would invest $600 billion in the United States. Second, that it would buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy, mainly oil and gas, over the next three years. The first promise was empty, while the second was nonsense..." -- Paul Krugman, in his Substack, on one of the many times and ways the moron Malignant Fascist got played while making one of his "deals." It's bad enough that American institutions and organizations bow to this buffoonish blob;  it's disheartening when foreign governments and institutions, who have more leverage in most cases, try to appease him. The Europeans at least found a way to make it seem like he was the "winner," playing on both his profound ignorance and narcissism.  Now, they'll simply pass the cost of the tariffs on to American consumers.  A fool's bargain made by a fool.