'Negotiating with Donald Trump is like playing chess with a pigeon'
'Negotiating with Donald Trump is like playing chess with a pigeon'
COLUMN. By torpedoing the fledgling 15% international corporate tax, the president of the United States has shattered hopes for a fairer world by only benefitting American multinationals, writes Le Monde columnist Pascal Riché.
The joke was already making the rounds among diplomats during his first term: Negotiating with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is like playing chess with a pigeon. The bird furiously flaps its wings, knocks over all the pieces while cooing with delight, then defecates on the board and says, "I won!" In reality, Trump has lost a lot at this game.
When facing down China, which Trump threatened with a tariff apocalypse, or the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, whom he tried to destabilize, Trump merely flapped his wings wildly, but it made no difference. And when he "wins" – which does happen – it is at the cost of indescribable chaos that affects everyone. That is how, at the end of June, Trump shattered a jewel of multilateralism: the global minimum tax on multinational profits, the result of the broadest international tax agreement ever reached.
In October 2021, for the first time, this agreement put a stop to the global race to the bottom in corporate taxation, which for decades had undermined state revenues and exacerbated inequality. More than 130 countries agreed to a minimum tax of 15% on large corporate profits. Admittedly, the rate remained modest; admittedly, exemptions weakened the measure. But at least, under the leadership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20, an agreement finally made it possible to stand up to large corporations.
A pigeon that can send B-2s ...
This wasn’t invented for Trump. It’s been used to describe debating creationists for the past 20 years, but (edit: I suspect) has its origins in a Seseme Street skit.
Notes -
Not to be be confused with "Playing Checkers With Pigeons" appearing in a Sesame Street sketch from 1978.[1]
I mean the article doesn't claim it was. I thought this was a pretty common saying.
I dunno man, pigeons can be pretty damn intelligent.
Its really hard to come up with an insult for Trump that isnt disparaging to what's being compared to.
This right here, is the insult you were looking for.
The answers for this kind of fucked up lay in paradoxes.
For example:
If Trump was just 10% better, he would seem far worse.
What do I mean? Every single day is some new shit we need to digest, yet we hadn't even spent the time to fully digest the last ridiculous shit he said. If we actually had time to process everything then he would appear far worse.
I recently saw a pigeon doing its mating ritual trying to attract another pigeon in my yard. That other pigeon had been dead for over a week! That didn't stop the mating attempt. This is also how I picture trump.
I'm pretty sure you could drop a phone-less trump less than even 100m from his home without him being able to find his way back
He's acting like Trump bumbled into making a mistake, but Trump 100% supports the global race to the bottom on corporate taxes. By shattering the goal of a minimum tax he accomplished his goal. He won. You lost to a pigeon.
TACO drumpf
That’s an insult to pigeons.
You can train a pigeon to shit in the toilet, and they will panic when its inaccessible before giving up and pooping as close as possible
Is this a tariff?
Is that tariff in this room with us?
Always disrespecting the pigeons smh
If Europe backs down every time, Trump will never stop turning the chessboard upside down.
One would think these world leaders had already learned this from their mothers and fathers about bullies. I guess not. When the money is threatened, what little backbone they have just slides right down out of their buttholes.
Yeah, pull a China and say, we're immediately on putting a 1000% tariffs on any American products. This will functionally stop any trade between our nations. Trump can retailiate with a higher one, but it would just be pointless dick waving. We're fine with waiting until an intelligent and capable person is able to negotiate a trade deal with the EU on behalf of the USA.
No, just put a large import tax on their services, and watch European ones proliferate. If ads are 50% more expensive on google and Facebook, the ROI is terrible and nobody used them. Advertisers will choose European alternatives instead, channelling money back to journalism and European search alternatives. Now is the ideal time as Google is becoming worse for search.
A pigeon is strictly better than Trump because they don't destroy the environment, societal and scientific progress, or other people. Now that I've thought about it 1 second more, it's not even a fair comparison. Because Trump existing means active harm and destruction in many areas.
I wonder how a stone could work.