Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! The World Got Trumped Again!
Yesterday, Trump told Iran it has until the end of Monday to free the Strait of Hormuz, or he will destroy all of Iran’s power plants, starting with the biggest one. Iran replied (paraphrased), “Not interested, but we’ll certainly start destroying everyone else’s power plants if you do that, including Israel’s nuclear plants. The war must go on.”
It would appear Iran’s counter-threat hit Trump in the rump like a Shahab-3 missile suppository. As soon as Trump saw that his big threat fell on deaf ears, he found a way to chicken out of his bluff today by telling the nation the US and Iran had held “productive” talks; therefore, he is going to delay destruction of Iran’s power plants for five days to see where the talks go. The stock market, which reliably trades on Trump’s usually vain words, leaped 900 points (settling to 600 by day’s end) with many rushing in to buy as soon as Trump delivered his message.
Iran didn’t let him get away with that face-saving move and called his claim of “productive” talks “fake news.” That didn’t matter, though, because Trump’s assurances had already achieved their purpose. This was a TACO Trade that worked to perfection. You see, only fifteen minutes before Trump’s announcement, the volume of shares bought in what had been thin market trade shot up in a straight, quick spike! Someone (or someones) bought a sudden bunch of stocks only minutes before the president let the world know what he was backing down on his megathreat of blowing up all of Iran’s power plants.
It makes one wonder if Mar-a-Lago members got the advance presidential tip. Maybe that is a benefit for paying those high membership fees. Or was this strictly a family trade or a White-House elite trade as staffers knew what their president was about to do. Just ordinary insider trading in that case, not market rigging, as the other cases would be. After all, the market rush of greed whenever the president says something it wants to hear is as predictable as the president getting the largest serving of dessert when entertaining dignitaries just to show them who is boss. Ah well, all is fair in love and war.
After the trade was complete and Iran called “fake” on the news, Trump toughened back up and warned Iran that “total decimation” was coming if they went past his five-day grace period. The market ignored this entirely because it doesn’t look that far forward anymore. Trades are short-term, made in nanoseconds, and often switched back mere seconds after a trade triggers other algorithms to all buy in or sell. So “total decimation” five days from now is news for another day and another trade.
Trump didn't realize that “total decimation” is impossible because “decimate” means to kill one-in-ten, and 10% destruction, by definition, can never be total. That’s a common mistake about the meaning of a word used by the Romans to speak of punishment they doled out after they captured a city where they grouped the citizens by tens and then randomly killed one in every group to teach the city a hard lesson. A little Roman roulette.
Nevertheless, most people use the word to mean large-scale destruction. So, I’m not faulting Trump for not knowing that, since I didn’t know it myself until a year or two ago; but I thought it was a fitting symbol of how Trump, on a nearly daily basis (and often multiple times a day) makes claims or promises that sound way bigger what he apparently means, based on the outcome.
We shouldn’t be surprised when one day TheRump says he is applying huge tariffs; then, when the market bombs, says the next day the tariffs won’t need to be that huge because he heard a good word from some unnamed individual (so no one can deny the word). If he does get carried away and names the party, they almost always do deny it. We shouldn’t be surprised when one day TheRump says the war will end soon, and the next day he says he is expanding the war with troops moving in. We shouldn’t be surprised when one day farts out of his mouth that he will blow up all the power plants in Iran and the next he says he won’t. And we should not be surprised that he or others in the know capitalize on his daily vacillations with some hugely profitable stock trades. All in a day’s work.
Today’s Trump Trade worked well for jawboning down oil prices, too, which slid 11% today. There should be a big party at Mar-a-Lago tonight for the billionaires who will be dancing the flipflop as they wait for their new ballroom to built at the White House. Anyone living over there in Miami, check and see if the lights are all on and if you can hear the music, and report back.
I can tell you already that the lights aren’t on over in Cuba where all the nation is in the black, except financially where everything is in the red … like the drainage in Iran’s streets, flowing out of its schools. However, Cuba is an acquisition waiting for another day. Trump stated in the last twenty-four hours that he is looking forward to building a new Havana cabana of some magnificent sort—the best and brightest in Cuba once the lights go back on.
I guess with all the benefits of membership, he’s looking to expand to a land where he can get abundant cheap immigrant help because the ones he usually hires in Miami won’t be immigrants over there. Just good business, and the power of war helps secure the deals, just as Trump assured the world it will do in the new soon-to-be gambling strip, known as the Gaza Strip. The world is going to the billionaires everywhere.
I am surprised Trump hasn’t already bought Epstein Island. Many fond memories there. This we know, as of today’s news, because a member of congress removed just one half page of Blondi redactions to reveal to the world how many times Trump flew on Epstein’s plane, which Trump has repeatedly claimed he never did.
Of course, the whole White House claimed the Epstein files contained no damaging information about Trump and that he was only mentioned in the documents five times. Now we know he was mentioned thousands of times and accused of forcing a teenage girl to give him oral sex, but she bit him right in the missile before launch, so he knocked her silly. Still, we shouldn’t be surprised at that either.
Of course, the guy whom we now know lied about what the Epstein Files said about him accused the now-grown girl of lying. We shouldn’t be surprised by that. That’s standard legal political procedure, just ask former Trump-Epstein party pal Bill Clinton or his wife Pillory (who never saw a war she wouldn’t vote for). They all know to stand together to bring the victims down.
Besides, Trump told all voters before they elected him that women are fine with that sort of thing when you’re a big celebrity like he is. You can pretty much do anything you want with them sexually, even without their permission, and it’s OK. They’re glad for the attention. Voters knew what they were getting. That’s why they elected him. He knows the Art of the Steal, whether he’s taking a nation or copping a feel.
It’s all in the stories highlighted below, and today all stories are available to everyone. Wait until we see what the next tranche of documents reveals! The people at Club Trump do seem to be saving the best for last, and Trump does like to surprise people.
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Economania (national & global economic collapse plus market news)
Dow jumps 600 points after Trump says U.S. and Iran have held ‘productive’ talks
Volume in stock and oil futures surged minutes before Trump’s market-turning post
Money Matters (monetary policy, metals, cryptos, currency wars & going cashless)
This past week in gold and Silver: Trends are Down
Wars & Rumors of War (including cyberwar, civil unrest and revolts)
Trump issues ultimatum to Iran on Strait of Hormuz, warns of power plant strikes
After Strait of Hormuz threat, Trump warns Iran ‘total decimation’ is coming
TACO: ‘Trump Backed Down’: Iran Media Denies Direct Talks After US Holds Off Energy Strikes
Iran Says Talks With US Are ‘Fake News’ After Trump Threatens To ‘Just Keep Bombing’
Gulf States that Opposed Iran War Now Want US to Continue
US deploys thousands more troops to the war as Iran threatens world tourism sites
More than 40 Middle East energy assets ‘severely damaged,’ IEA chief says: Equivalent to the two major oil crises of the 1970s and the 2022 gas crisis “put together.”
Israel is gripped by messianic fervour for a biblical war
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Emerging from latest blackout, Cuba says ready for any potential US attack
Digital Dominance (AI threats, transhumanism, hacks & cyberattacks, etc.)
Palantir to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data
Ads Are Popping Up on the Fridge and It Isn’t Going Over Well!
Political Pandemonium & Social Senescence (socio-political issues & events)
Prison guard who last saw Jeffrey Epstein alive made ‘suspicious’ cash deposits before his death
Banks are paying vast sums to Epstein’s victims. Why?
ICE officers will begin assisting TSA as shutdown frustrates travelers and screeners
TSA absences soar at some US airports as ICE agents prepare to screen travelers
Inside the Turmoil at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s C.D.C
Off-the-Beat News & Just Plain Offbeat News
The veteran podcasters hanging up their headphones
Doomer Humor
Trump says he’s had “constructive conversations” with Iran, and Iran says they have had no contact with Trump or his intermediaries. How is this different than Biden shaking hands with the air?
Auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) are the hallmark of psychosis. Trump should seek professional help before he has a psychotic break and starts killing people. Oh, wait… too late.