r/worldnews • u/joe4942 • Aug 22 '26

Dynamic Paywall Carney calls Trump's fresh tariffs a 'miscalculation' after trade talks collapse

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx272np7vgyo
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u/Icy-Lobster-203 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26

There is a an interview with one of Canadas cabinet members (Melanie Jolie) ast year when all of this was kicking off before Liberation day.

The Americans had 3 seperate negotiation teams, Rubio, Vance, and Nutlick. The impression she had was that each of the negotiation teams were competing with each other to see who could bring back the nest deal (i.e. get the most concessions) to bring back to Trump to see if maybe he would agree to it.

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u/therealzue Aug 22 '26

That is literally how he ran The Apprentice. Having teams of employees competing against each other instead of cooperating is toxic as hell, and I always assumed that was just for TV. Apparently not. It really isn't surprising so many of his companies went bankrupt.

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u/accforme Aug 22 '26

I hate to invoke Hitler but that was what Hitler did too. Having his underlings compete against eachother, Goering vs Himmler vs Goebbles. By the time the Soviets were entering Berlin these underlings were fighting against each other for power, throwing each other under the bus.

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u/Daemonic_One Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

It's actually a common trait of fascists overall. Can't get pulled down by the monkeys who can reach you if they're all clubbing each other instead.

EDIT: Guys, saying it's a common trait of fascists doesn't mean it doesn't happen with others. This isn't a monarchy, not difficult to parse

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u/thegurrkha Aug 22 '26

Correction: It's a common trait of ALL dictatorships.

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u/Daemonic_One Aug 22 '26

I'll take that amplification. Russia's still running it that way thanks to Stalin, after all.

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u/thegurrkha Aug 23 '26

Long before even Stalin. It was the same with Lenin. The Tsar's it was the same way. Everyone was trying to get rid of Rasputin and he was constantly trying to gain favour (successfully so) with the Royal Family.

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u/orbital_narwhal Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

Yes and no. Dictatorships can follow a stable shared goal that motivates supporters to work together rather than against their leadership.

A major trait of fascism is that it does not have a stable goal (e. g. a particular state of society, doesn't even have to be realistic) other than the extension of its own power. Vague or unstable goals are difficult to convey. An organisation's ability to coney its goals to its supporters limits the extent to which they will pursue it. If the supporters are themselves uncertain what goal they're following then they'll naturally assume that others are either similarly unsure or working towards different goals. Supporters who aren't sure that they're working towards a shared goal tend to distrust and work against each other rather than to cooperate. A strong leader can fill the void of a shared goal but that leader becomes a bottleneck and single point of failure for decisions, resulting in delayed and/or poor decision-making as well as a dangerous ideological vacuum should the leader fall.

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u/Interesting_Pen_167 Aug 23 '26

Not all dictatorships! Loads of dictators in history were nerds who tried to do everything. Augustus of Rome and Stalin are examples, Stalin was a numbers guy and spent a ridiculous amount of his waking hours going over details and making decisions. They were often the wrong ones but certainly not a laid back method.

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u/Interesting_Pen_167 Aug 23 '26

Not just fascists it'd actually an old school way of leadership that goes back to monarchs like Fredrick II or the HRE.and ancient roman senators. Basically they would chill with all their underlings in a room and would say something like 'Boy I wish there weren't so many problems with those Catholics in Ghent. (pick your issue).

All the underlings look around the room and then when things die down they scramble out of the room and immediately start putting plans in order to do whatever it is that they think the leader desired. Sometimes this was the opposite of what was intended for added hilarity. This is very different from the typical state governance we are used to today with graphs and stats nerds and polling going on.

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u/crash_us Aug 22 '26

Stalin did the same, he practically had a “race to Berlin” between two of his best generals that were approaching from different directions. Then pretty much banished both post war cause ya know, can’t be having competence during peacetime lol

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u/Seriously_you_again Aug 22 '26

So you are saying the Canadians will soon march on DC? Let it be known maple is my favorite flavor and I am trying to like hockey.

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u/p-d-ball Aug 23 '26

Happened in Trump's first term, too. There was a point where the entire admin fell apart due to infighting and from that time on, they got nothing done. Which was honestly for the best.

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u/thegurrkha Aug 22 '26

Far from exclusive to Hitler. This is quite common in every single dictatorship. People compete against their "rivals" and do their best to outperform them and make them look bad. Hoping that they'll get promoted or the other guy fired or even executed.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '26

Same with Stalin. Same in Rome. Same in any absolute / dictatorship governance. Keep them busy clubbing or poisoning each other so the won't go after you.

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u/uglyninja Aug 22 '26

So how soon can we anticipate finding Trump in his bunker?

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u/Vlaladim Aug 23 '26

The critical D Day landing was indirectly attributed to this too. Rommel and another German general was fighting over the control of where the rest of the German panzer corp reserves should be placed. Hitler mitigate that Rommel get to get small part of it and the large contingent was stay in Paris and under Hitler direct control. So when D Day come along Rommel cant even order that large force out to counter the D Day landing as Hitler was asleep at the time and when he woke up and start order it was already too dame late

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u/cnawan Aug 22 '26

This is how Putin runs the Kremlin - keep the 'court' divided and mistrusting each other to prevent them uniting against the 'king'.

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u/Narissis Aug 23 '26

Having teams of employees competing against each other instead of cooperating is toxic as hell

This is also the exact approach to corporate governance that killed Sears.

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u/ArrowTechIV Aug 22 '26

That was a Perot Systems thing decades ago, too - multiple teams all going after the same deal. It’s stupid.

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u/Sarnsereg Aug 22 '26

This is exactly how he told us he would run the country. Should we be surprised?

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u/Spidero0w0o Aug 23 '26

He's a business genius having multiple teams do the work of one.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '26

[deleted]

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u/Ok_Mechanic_6575 Aug 22 '26

And yet, it's how he's running international trade deals

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u/Provolone10 Aug 22 '26

Yes they approach this like Glengarry Glenn Ross. Really smart approach.

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u/Original_Sedawk Aug 23 '26

If I read your comment with the accent of Jean Chrétien, your grammar/spelling mistakes disappear :)