It seems like US conservatives and American media have misunderstood the pause on tariffs, believing that Trudeau "bent" to Trumps demands by announcing a $1.3b Border Plan to control cross-border immigration and the flow of fentanyl from the US.

But this plan was set in motion back in December under the Biden Administration before Trump's inauguration. I know Canada is rarely on the American people's mind, but its embarrassing that too many believe Trump actually did anything. I don't understand where this thinking is originating from.

Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/12/the-government-of-canadas-border-plan-significant-investments-to-strengthen-border-security-and-our-immigration-system.html

"Elon Musk’s DOGE commission has seized control of Treasury payment systems and gained unauthorized access to classified USAID materials, while security officials who followed protocols were removed. Career civil servants across agencies are being systematically purged for having followed legal requirements during previous administrations. The president openly declares he won’t enforce laws he dislikes, while Congress watches in complicit silence." source
How can this happen with what feels next to no reaction of the public at all? If this happened here in Germany or France there would be huge protest all over the country...

"Elon Musk’s DOGE commission has seized control of Treasury payment systems and gained unauthorized access to classified USAID materials, while security officials who followed protocols were removed. Career civil servants across agencies are being systematically purged for having followed legal requirements during previous administrations. The president openly declares he won’t enforce laws he dislikes, while Congress watches in complicit silence." source
How can this happen with what feels next to no reaction of the public at all? If this happened here in Germany or France there would be huge protest all over the country...

https://imgur.com/a/dhembyF

I keep hearing people mention how they are being banned on Reddit for interacting with the Etsy sub reddit or having Etsy accounts without even adverting on Reddit, what's up with that? Was there some big reddit protest?

Edit I myself tested this as well and found myself banned from other subreddits.

Why has it been banned? What exactly did they do?

https://imgur.com/a/iU06wdF

So the tariffs Trump has threatened against Mexico and Canada have been delayed once again after reaching a deal for those countries to monitor their borders more closely. But both sides are arguing as to who “caved” first, whether it was Trump for how unpopular of a decision this way, or the other two countries’ leaders for how badly it would impact their economies. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/03/us/trump-tariffs

I'm not the most political person - at some point I opted out of being invested politically as it felt like my interests were never going to be a primary factor. I have trouble breaking out of the mindset that none of it matters because, as someone who 'doesn't matter', it will never end up impacting me in a meaningful fashion.

Can someone explain to me why this time, whether it's the presidency or exterior involvement, is different from any other time a leader has made controversial decisions?

I swear I just was made to feel like the sky was falling because of these tariffs, now they're already 'handled'? I don't mean to come off one way or the other, I just genuinely want to understand.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-tariffs-presidency-news-02-03-25/index.html

Everyone in my friend group is talking about Barron Trump being the Lisan al Gaib. They straight up just call him "the Lisan al Gaib" now instead of using his real name. I assumed it was just my friends being idiots but yesterday my dad started talking about it in the family group chat. I googled it and apparently it's a character from Dune but I never saw the movie so I'm not entirely sure what it means. Could someone help me understand why exactly he has this name?

It's all over the web, here's an example that I found after googling it:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kagan_dunlap/video/7462096304697658667

This video: https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no?feature=share Is skyrocking in viewership. I'm not up to date with tech-bros and ask myself how accurate the video is.

Just as the title says- it seems all news outlets and talking heads are only talking about the new China tariffs without addressing the fact this is in addition to an existing 25% tariff imposed by Trump during his previous term and continued by Biden?

I’ve tried to look at multiple news sources and I can’t find anyone talking about the existing tariffs on China.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-americans-may-feel-pain-trade-war-with-mexico-canada-china-2025-02-03/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/03/us/trump-tariffs?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-signs-tariffs-imports-canada-mexico-china-national-emergency

I've been working all day and my group chat suddenly blew up saying Elon Musk is carrying out a coup.

My brain is tired and I'm freaked out. Can someone explain what is happening?

Some videos on the topic:

https://youtu.be/UBmFx5rUglA?si=7Crj4Fj1NLw6uq_d

https://youtu.be/dbwGhrosGmg?si=9KqJiWic_Vp_SG1h

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4zgx808g7o.amp

There has been like 2 airplane crash, one in Philly and the other in DC in these last 4 four days. Today a United Airlines flight from houston to nyc was evacuated as the engine had caught fire.

https://x.com/PopBase/status/1886121911807365450

I referred to this news link, but it didn't really give me any more clarity on what these companies are doing wrong, or how he can compel them to pay penalties or force them to advertise with him against their will? Perhaps I'm missing something.

Reference https://gazette.com/news/wex/pro-illegal-immigrant-protesters-block-highway-in-los-angeles/article_f409fd29-4ee2-55c0-abaa-ae3ad82d623a.html

What happened to him? A few months ago he was all over the news - now the man has practically disappeared from the lime light. Does anyone know what happened?

Google search trends seems to have dropped as well: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now 1-d&q=%2Fg%2F11c5rmmqp3&hl=en

Why does she look like she’s being held against her will with Kanye? Has anyone actually checked on her? Is she able to have autonomous thoughts or is she totally controlled?

For context, the whole Grammy debacle today: https://images.app.goo.gl/XmLpS3fE6cqr9koWA

Typing "Impeach..." on google will suggest most presidents, but not Trump.

I'm talking about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/1ig8xph/so_is_this_the_start_of_something_big/

The comments aren't helpful in trying to understand what's happening. I'd rather have an educated and rational explanation rather than jumping to easy conclusions.

Can anyone explain what's going on here?

Edit: everyone seems to be jumping to the conclusion that it's some orwellian censorship... but I don't see anything to back it up in the nearly 300 comments so far.

Let's try to crack this down with an analytical approach instead of upvoting whatever unproven conspiracy theory might fit your beliefs.

There was one interesting comment from u/ZealousidealPark1898 at the bottom of the thread:

I don't think it's quite obvious to me that there's something aside from a bug. If you try "trump" it gives "trump impeachment 2025" which seems contrary to the all the conspiracies here. If you try "impeachment t" it autocompletes "trump". There's a more general ban on political topics or sensitive topics in autocomplete but I'm also unsure how that can be tripped.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalHumor/comments/1igc6bp/i_wish_this_was_all_a_joke_but_here_we_are/

And what did they do? Something fucked involving the most fucked person on Earth to be sure (Leon), but what, exactly? Are there NEWS sources reporting stuff?

I just came across this post (here is a screenshot) from r/somethingimade on my homefeed. OP posted a picture of some wooden stairs they had torn out and remade.

The most upvoted comment at the time said among other things “Sorry it’s close to a deck so I have to complain no matter how nice it looks finished.”. Later, in a response to a response the same person mentioned decks again, saying “You missed the irony of posting a deck like item on Reddit. I said no matter how nice it looks.”.

I assumed this was an established joke on here, à la poop knife. Probably not as infamous but it did sound like a meme I simply missed so I tried to look it up but… nothing. The thread was already locked before I got into it. Otherwise I’d just have asked there but that probably just added to the mystery. Now these comments got me in a chokehold and I‘m asking you all: What’s the deal with decks? Is criticising them a meme on reddit I simply missed? Or is there something else I am not getting?

This sub is basically r/news at this point. Just with posts in the form of "What's the deal with [insert top news story of the day that anyone could find out about from like 10000 articles from 1000 different sources]"?

Seems like just engagement farming by bots or people who may as well be bots.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/s/cH9iGZg8re

What is happening with this site to allow an open gooning femcel meme sub to hit /r/popular, and how are people not concerned with the type of content that is being posted?

For instance, check out this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/LetGirlsHaveFun/s/ZUxgbLh86l

As if the meme itself isn't bad enough, the comments all build on one another as if it's a big grooming sexual predator circle jerk in the guise of transfem and alt women safe spaces.

I can't for the life of me rationalize the existence of this sub on the front page without some kind of dead internet theory to back it up. There are other meme subs who are equally on the fringe and also making a fight for the front page, but I think the question with this sub in general needs to be answered first before understanding what is going on as a whole.

I'm starting to just report this content any time I see it, but unfortunately it doesn't actually violate the rules I suppose. This is worrying because I feel like deep within this community and others similar is far more sexual abuse than the old subs like jailbreak.

This stuff leaves a real bad taste in my mouth. How is no one talking about it? This surely can't be who we are, is it? I've been assuming these places are being artificially boosted, especially when it's a mod post which rockets to the front.

Want to add another post that is the only other thing I can find with people discussing it: https://www.reddit.com/r/JustUnsubbed/s/xXu4SDqnIg

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/8lX1YpyOIE

The mavs traded Luka for AD, but why would they do this? isnt luka like one of the best players currently? Sure AD is good but he is 6 years older than luka. someone explain to me why the reason for this trade

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43659380/sources-mavericks-trading-doncic-lakers-anthony-davis

Please see screenshot here: https://imgur.com/a/YUR12o1

I'm neither an American nor a Canadian, so I'm kind of out of the loop here. Previously I thought this is just Trump bluffing and trying to gain an advantage before trade negotiations with Canada, until I just saw the news that both countries have decided to impose general tariff on each other.

I know that a bunch of people here dislike Trump and will probably dismiss Trump's decision as either stupid, vengeful, or both, which is understandable. But if we give Trump the absolute maximum benefit of doubt and assume that there is a somewhat coherent reason behind such decision, what could the reason be?

Some of my uneducated speculations as follows (and none of them seems particularly satisifying to me):

1. Motivating Canada to deal with its domestic fentanyl problem, as fentanyl manufactured in Canada is likely to be imported into US: I believe this is the official statement on White House's website. Does this statement hold any weight?
2. Motivating Canada to import more from US and thus decreasing US' trade deficit: Such rationale can also be found on the same website. Is trade deficit such a bad thing that US must correct it promptly? Even at the cost of the alliance with Canada, the neighboring country with the longest shared border? Trade deficit doesn't seem necessarily detrimental at first glance (my uneducated glance, ofc).
3. Motivating Canada to deal with illegal immigrants moving from Canada to US: This one's really puzzling to me. Its well known that lots of immigrants move from Mexico into US, but I've never heard of similar phenomenon between Canada and US before. Has a new illegal immigration route recently emerged, causing a significant increase in illegal crossings from Canada into US?
4. To gain a better position prior to USMCA negotiation upcoming in the next year: It seems that Trump admin already denied this as the reason of implementing tariff. Moreover, is it really worth antagonizing Canada as a whole and incurring billions of tariff costs only to gain a more favorable position?

Hopefully someone more informed here can provide insights into what's the possible benefits such tariff can create for the US in short term or long term. Even a shortsighted justification would be appreciated as I'm struggling to find one right now.

---

Edit: I appreciate all the responses to the question! It shocks me that there are so many possible explanations to such an impactful and far-reaching policy though, not to mention that most of them are not aligned with the US' best interest. To me, this represents a severe failure of communication and transparency on the part of the administration. Below is a list of the various possible explanations provided in the comments (aside from the speculations I already raised in the post) for everyone's easy reference:

• Trump is being a bully and/or fascist;
• Trump is carrying out the promises he made during his election campaign, despite those promises being unreasonable;
• Trump is trying to artificially crash the US stock market (and possibly the US economy in general) so that he and his close allies (families, oligarchs, supporters, etc) can buy the dip, carry out extensive privatization similar to what happened in USSR, and make a profit; in other words, Trump's tariffs will hurt both the rich and the poor in the short term, but the rich will profit simply by surviving the fallout;
• Trump believes Canada has been taking advantage of the US for too long and that doing business with the US should be considered a privilege;
• Trump is trying to create an environment that encourages bribery - as tariff exemption will be highly sought after by businesses - and profit from it;
• Trump wants to implement tax cuts but doesn't want to ask for money from the Congress or increase budget deficit, thus he imposes tariff to compensate the future tax cuts; he wants to implement tax cuts because tax cuts disproportionately benefit the rich people (his major supporters);
• Trump believes this makes him look tough and is good for the future negotiations with Canada;
• Trump actually believes Canadian businesses will pay for the majority of - if not the entirety of - the imposed tariffs;
• Trump is trying to artificially create problems that can be later solved (e.g. by lifiting the tariffs) and claim as achievements;
• Trump is trying to pressure bussiness to bring manufacturing facilities and jobs back from Canada to the US;
• There has been legitimate disputes (OP: lumber dispute? details unclear to me) between Canada and the US for years, and Biden administration also imposed certain tariffs on Canada; Trump is doubling down the tariff to force Canada to compromise;
• Trump is secretly allied with Russia and undermining the US' traditional alliance e.g. Canada;
• Trump is targeting Canada's liberal party so that Canada's conservative party (which may be more cooperative with the US than the liberal party) may have a better chance winning in the next Canada election;
• Trump is trying to distract people from other even more controversial decisions he is about to make.

Edit 2: If I see any new possible explanations added in the comments, I will include them in the post.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html?smid=url-share

I don't really watch sports. But I grew up on the campus of an SEC football school so I always heard about what's going on from people or social media feeds. I moved away as an adult, so now a days college sports is out of my life completely. I noticed today from looking up something that almost every single school that used to be part of the PAC-12 left in 2024. Can anyone explain to me why?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-12_Conference

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/01/g-s1-45994/trump-hegseth-isis-somalia-airstrikes

I know about the wildfires and the destruction that it caused. Will this help in the future? How do Californians feel about this?

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-31/trump-california-dams-opened-up