AI industry says Trump plans to tax chips in the “single dumbest way imaginable”
I mean, in what other way would he do it, than the single dumbest way imaginable?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/ai-industry-says-trump-plans-to-tax-chips-in-the-single-dumbest-way-imaginable/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
76 replies
I don't care.
They funded his campaign. Serves them right.
Right! It seems like a half ass attempt at improving PR too
Aww, did a wittle wepard eat your pwecious wittle face off?
Yay I finally get to make a "both sides are awful" argument and be right
Everything trump does is done in the single dumbest way imaginable.
Not necessarily - he isn't bright enough to be that consistent. Sometimes he does something okay like a blind man playing darts will occasionally hit the dartboard.
I actually take that back. Everything trump does is done in the single most evil way imaginable. It's just that evil to these extremes is also really really dumb.
Name one example?
Closing the strait of Hormuz has done a lot to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
I don't think it having some upside makes it a good/okay thing… Still seems pretty stupid and net negative.
He hasn't name the Earth into Planet America. Yet...
"All it takes is a pen."
There’s a TV show on the ABC in Australia called Planet America that analyses presidential elections for Australians. Since Demented Don’s ascension it hasn’t stopped yet. Just too much to discuss.
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/planet-america
Exactly, what did they expect?
Like I usually say: a dog would be a better president than the lout in chief: half of the decisions at random would be good and everyone would still think it is a good boy.
Trump shitting on the AI industry has a certain poetry about it
Would be great if it was just the AI industry, but it's simply expanding what tech is subject to tariffs, so its the people that pay the price. Couldn't afford that RAM already, so I guess it doesn't matter right?
It would be so fucking funny if Trump crashed the AI “industry”
Has the AI industry tried bribing him more? That usually does the trick.
My bet is on exactly that being the plan. Stocks go down, tech companies pay to bribe him, next Tuesday a reversal of tariff plans, stocks go up, rich people make more money. Rinse, repeat
While I'm sure the end result will be worse for us in a lot of other ways, one thing i found oddly positive is how his stupid decisions are going to fuck things up:
Trump is literally demented but the ghouls around him are not.
The plan is plainly obvious.
The big guys will bribe him and get exceptions which means their competition who can't pay are at a detriment.
Trump gets bribes.
They both juice the market knowing the above.
That's a good point. Those 20% of data centers getting cancelled were probably planned by the smaller companies i suppose...
Or the bigger ones plan on buying their supplies
He simply cannot do anything but in the dumbest way.
Don't worry, TACO.
That would be the funniest outcome, the entire bubble pops because the idiots in charge still have not figured out how a supply chain works, or what the effects of tariffs are.
Trump accidentally does the right thing for the worst reasons possible.
A broken clock is usually right twice a day... I'm just impressed because I thought this specific clock didn't have any hands left, so covered in shit that it didn't look like a clock anymore, as well as being on fire.
That would be soooo good to watch
"Guys, stock market is not going up much anymore and we aren't making money."
"OK fine, short the tech stocks and I will scare the markets with some random threat that may or may not happen some time in the future."
Starts talking about tax on data centers. Market starts to go down.
"Thanks, appreciate it"
Epstein class when they're raking it in:
"This is amazing".
Epstein class when you try and take a small portion of their wealth away:
"This is terrible and I hate it."
(PS. I hate Trump but this is essentially what's happening here)
I'm not sure how higher tech prices for you and I are a good thing, but sure. Because that's what is going to happen here, it's simply expanding tariffs on more items.
Where did they suggest that they thought that it was a good thing? Mind the quotation marks
Have you read the comments in the thread, everyone is suggesting this is a great thing.
That's... Not what replies are for..
Not for me. You know some of us don't live in US, right?
And I wasn't passing comment on whether or not it was a good thing. I merely pointed out that the reason the tech bros were upset was the fact they were being taxed.
Not sure if you haven't noticed, but go try to by tech right now. Ask Apple how much they are raising prices regardless of where it's being sold at. Tariffs in the US absolutely will and do harm global prices, and you'd be completely out of touch to not think that. But thanks for the 'hurr hurr I am not from the US' excuse.
Its not an excuse, I'm not American. I live nowhere near US, thankfully. I'm not even adjacent. Why would I be subject to tarrifs applied to goods imported to the US?
And FYI the current (global) price of tech is because of the rapid expansion of datacenter compute. Fuck all to do with tarrifs.
It’s not at all what’s happening here.
Hes seen a lot of money and he wants it.
He must be lying awake at night furiously trying to figure out how to get a cut of anthropics $30T they definitely have.
Would ya look at the time, it's almost find out a-clock.
Dementia Don strikes again!
Good, let them sleep in the bed they've made for once
He means potato chips.
Trump is finally waking up to the deep, bipartisan unpopularity of AI and AI datacentres. Aside: the "single dumbest way imaginable" is the GOP brand.
Donald might accidentally do something good. I don't think it will happen though.
I mean he's destroying US influence abroad, including some of the most critical military bases. That's a net positive :)
I read about a guy whos dad believes Trump was sent by god to bring death to America.
I think about that a lot, it seems its happening
I just wonder how the US will balkanise in the after times.
Could always be a cash grab. Announce stupid thing, get paid to stop stupid thing.
It's not relevant, but you can calculate the area of its face using the square formula.
It's image makes me shudder. What a stupid big pile of pedophilia shit. DMF DMF,D.
I read Die motherfucker die, but decided to search the web. DDG top site (ai) thinks: "5. Slang: In informal contexts, DMF can be an acronym for "Damn Girl, Yes," which is used to express enthusiastic approval or admiration." oof.
DMF can't be an acronym for "Damn girl, yes" that doesn't even make any fucking sense.
Heartwarming: the worst industry possible has a correct take on something for once.
Nothing that can't be solved with bribes.
AI industry is the enemy, they own (they have a priority rier on the joint leasins of our politicians,) and don't believe for a minute the prez isn't going to do everything they want before it's over.
Prez is the LLM model companies' bitch.
Large Language Model Model
To be fair, he probably asked AI what to do, so yeah.
He thinks this is a quick way to reduce the US's $40T debt. It won't.
He doesn't give a shit about that.
This is a way to squeeze the tech oligarchs for something. If they play ball, the tariff gets an exception for data centers, and they continue their plan to take technology away from the people of the United States and hoard it all and rent it back to us and monitor everything said and done on it
If they don’t play ball he crushes America’s position in the AI race, for which he doesn’t care because his goal is the destruction of America as revenge for making him kill Epstein to keep the whole thing quiet
He doesn't give one shit about the US debt and neither do the Republicans backing him.
If the Dems ever get back in they will start screaming about it sure but why would they care about some made up number.
The Epstein class can just go hang out on their yacht they are not patriots.
True., but he is an emotionally delicate diva and I think he realizes that his approval is at the lowest level ever. He wants people to think he's great. Why else would he constantly post on social media and post cringe videos on Tiktok unironically?
Why do you think he gives a fucking shit of a fuck about that? He doesn’t give a fuck. What action in the last 10 years makes you think he gives a single flying fuck about that? No don’t use his words. I can lie too. What action has he taken That makes you think for even a fucking iota of a fucking split second that he gives a fuck about that?
Why is this 10 years in and we’re still having to tell people he lies? This is absurd at this point.
Because he's a diva and WANTS to be liked. And he knows his approval ratings are at their lowest.
I'm not saying this is absolutely what's happening. It's just my theory.
And about the lying thing. I don't think he's lying most of the time, because I think he genuinely believes the things he says. TO BE CLEAR! I'm not saying he isn't a liar (he is), just that he truly believes the things he says.
Fuck all of them.
Fucken do it
He'll tax potato chips?
I look forward to my private sector job being pretty much directly eliminated by stupid executive policy.
That's right, single dumbest thing is taxing chips...... Not starting wars, sending people to die, killing people, breaking the average American, screwing over every person on the planet. No lets call it a list e at taxing chips.
The article doesn't say this is the dumbest thing he ever did. It just says this is the dumbest way he could have done this particular thing.
If we're being technical, the article is saying someone told the writer that its the dumbest way to do this particular thing.
Technically correct, best kind of correct.
I'm here for the spirit, but your reading comprehension could use some work. The title doesn't say it's the dumbest thing he has done. It says he is doing this particular thing in the dumbest way.