Goldtent TA Paradise

CNBC now faces lawsuits because legally, the word ‘optimism’ is banned in corporate media headlines

1. Fullgoldcrown says:

   October 30, 2025 - 9:15 am at 9:15 am

   Ahead of schedule, President Trump again defied experts’ predictions that his trade negotiations were hopelessly mired in mutual malaise and would probably conclude in a nasty fistfight. Instead, CNBC’s astonishing headline this morning said, “Xi-Trump meeting sparks optimism in China amid hope for lower tariffs and a ‘honeymoon’ in ties.” CNBC now faces lawsuits because legally, the word ‘optimism’ is banned in corporate media headlines unless used ironically. We begin with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who gifted President Trump with … wait for it … a gold crown.

   President Trump’s new monarchical headpiece is a faithful replica of the largest known crown worn by a famous South Korean king (a real one) from around the 500’s AD, and which “symbolizes the divine connection between the authority of the heavens and sovereignty on earth.” In other words, South Korea just massively trolled all of Trump’s silly “No Kings” critics.

   Trump did not try it on. At least, not in front of cameras.

   Apart from free crowns, the President negotiated South Korea’s one-time payment of $350 billion as consideration for slightly lowering its tariff rate, which is a carefully calculated figure that Trump just made up. In other words, Trump created $350 billion in value for America literally out of thin air. Critics complained bitterly that it was a “mafia-style, protection racket shakedown”— but if gold crowns are any sign, the South Koreans seem pretty happy about it.

   Remember— Trump only set out on this surprise Asian trip on Friday night.

   ? Later yesterday came the trip’s pièce de résistance (a seven-syllable French expression translating to “run away toward the food!”), the moment the media had impatiently been waiting for, drooling in delirious anticipation and hope beyond hope that Trump would finally meet his match and be schooled by the lone World leader who still seems to have some fight left in him and has been standing up to the American President: President Xi of China.

   Welp, the media was disappointed again. (TAW.) The leaders of the two most important countries in the world conferred for 90 minutes with the fierce intensity of a small group of teenage boys outside a convenience store debating who most resembles the fake ID and should therefore buy the beer. In this case, it was President Trump, and he triumphantly emerged with a 12-pack of Natural Lite and a free bottle opener. (I speak metaphorically, of course.)

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   While in South Korea (neutral ground slightly tilted toward the US), Trump and Xi held the long-advertised meeting, prompted by China’s surprise move to cut America off from hard-to-get industrial magnets, which apparently are a much bigger deal than you would probably think. Trump had responded by jacking up China’s already-high tariff rates and launching a withering fusillade of social media commentary, all of which tricked the Democrats into believing that Trump had finally stumbled into a trade disaster.

   Instead, according to this morning’s Times, China not only agreed to delay any changes to its magnet (“rare earths”) policies by a full year (by which point nobody will care), but also committed to yet more fentanyl-reducing policies. More tangibly, China agreed to buy “massive amounts” of American soybeans and other unnamed farm products.

   For America’s part, Trump agreed to lower China’s tariff rate from 57% to 47% and to postpone special fees that he threatened to levy against Chinese ships docking in US ports —again, both were leverage Trump created from literally nothing— and agreed to consider loosening export controls on Nvidia’s AI chips (which he just ‘encouraged’ to move from Taiwan to Arizona).

   In other words, the “looming trade disaster” was quickly resolved, purely using free leverage that President Trump created all by himself.

   Democrats, whose primary characteristic is always finding something that can be improved, were not optimistic. Senator and member of the weasel family Chris Coons (D-Del.) called the deal a tragic mistake: “It would be a tragic mistake for President Trump, in order to get some soybean orders out of China, to sell them these critical cutting-edge A.I. chips.”

   Trump can please the whole world, but he can never please Democrats.

   ? To me, the most fascinating bit of reporting appeared in CNBC’s story. It was right in the lead sentence: “Many people in China cheered the meeting Thursday between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.”

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   In other words —and terrifying Democrats more than anything else— everyday Chinese are also learning to love the American President. CNBC reported that the most-viewed hashtag on China’s social media platform Weibo was about the two leaders’ summit meeting. (The next one down was, ‘Beijing woman saves scalded cat from trying dryer experience.’) User comments about the summit were roundly optimistic, such as “long live China-U.S. friendship” and “China-U.S. mutual success.”

   Economist and frequent social media commentator Song Qinghui, wrote (in Chinese), “Look forward to the early arrival of the China-U.S. honeymoon period.”

   In China, the fastest way to lose your ability to travel, buy groceries, or ride a skateboard is to post something the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t like. Thus, we can infer that, if Chinese people feel free to praise the summit and a partnership with the US, then that is also the official sentiment of the Chinese government.

   Indeed, China’s official readout of Xi’s opening remarks after the meeting said Beijing was ready to work with Washington, and that “China’s development and revitalization goes hand in hand with President Trump’s vision to ‘Make America Great Again.’” The Chinese are not usually generous with details, and almost never suggest they are trying to help make America great, so it’s a big deal that they included Xi’s buoyant comments.

   The bottom line is that between Saturday and this morning, Trump defused the looming trade disaster, secured another $1 trillion in domestic investment, inked four new rare-earth agreements, and persuaded the Chinese to buy more of our agricultural products. All he really conceded for those things was spinning the dials on his tariff dashboard again.

   In short, President Xi just dashed Democrat dreams that China would defy Trump and break his unbroken winning streak. Now all they have is the government shutdown, and you know how that unfortunate blunder is going for them.

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