The Trump administration has flipped between a half dozen distinct narratives telling us what these tariffs are really about.
Why? Because they needed to wrap the truth in a better story. Time to go Narrative Shopping.

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
The cure for the cancer of gun culture and police culture is not to be found in reform laws around guns and police, but in reform ideas around culture, ideas that create a new dimension of American society that rejects LARPing and LARPers alike.
Inflation
What made Bitcoin special is nearly lost, and what remains is a false and constructed narrative that exists in service to Wall Street and Washington rather than in resistance.
The Bitcoin narrative must be renewed. And that will change everything.
This Time Last Year
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Crypto
Recent Notes
Being Human in a LARPing World
The cure for the cancer of gun culture and police culture is not to be found in reform laws around guns and police, but in reform ideas around culture, ideas that create a new dimension of American society that rejects LARPing and LARPers alike.
The MacGuffin, Part 1: The Corrupt Crypto ‘Revolution’
If you don’t see that the crypto “industry” has become just as blindingly corrupt, just as oozingly fatuous, just as profoundly captured by the Nudging Oligarchy as the traditional financial services industry it was supposed to replace … well, you’re just not paying attention.
The Most Important Trading Decision
Trading is hard. Your odds of success are heavily influenced by the seat you choose. Retail trader or bank trader or PM, here are metrics to evaluate that seat.
Cursed Knowledge #10: This Podcast Never Happened
We’ve all fallen victim to a bad retcon at some point in our lives. It’s Sherlock Holmes coming back from the dead. It’s the reveal that an entire season of Dallas was only a dream. It’s the author changing their mind and trying to convince you that it’s all part of the plan. I don’t buy it. And neither should you.
NGMI
The Fed’s rate hikes to curb inflation?
Not gonna make it.
Money Can Buy Happiness (in variable and diminishing quantities)
What does your money/happiness curve look like? Is it curved or linear? Does it flatline somewhere? If so, where?
There’s the game of trading and the metagame of life. To win the latter, you have to Know Thyself.
Winner’s Tilt
The most damaging stories and narratives are not those that others tell us, but those that we tell ourselves.
Waiting for the Dog to Bark
In the days leading up to their invasion of Ukraine, Russia successfully mounted a largescale cyberattack on Ukrainian banks, utilities and government agencies. Since then … crickets.
What are the vulnerabilities of Western financial systems to a new and wider attack?
They’re Not Sending Their Best
The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act is an abomination. It won’t lower gas prices, it will raise them. And the sponsors of the bill know it.
This bill was not written to become a good law. It was written to tell a good story.
Cursed Knowledge #9: Cat Eyes, Full Ass, Can’t Smile
We’ve all felt insecure about our looks at one point or another. Especially in our chronically online world where how you look can be your whole brand. So with plastic surgery rates on the rise, let’s peel back the layers of this industry and see how information (and lies) about procedures spread and examine the real price of beauty.
Tough Guys
Using NATO to escalate a shooting war with Russia – either directly through a no-fly zone or indirectly through a Polish cut-out and NATO “backfill” – is exactly what Putin wants. It’s the only thing that can save him. It’s how we ALL lose.
ChaChaCha!
Tired: Pump and Dump
Wired: ChaChaCha!
The Reckless Driver! TM Narrative
Reckless Drivers! is the dominant narrative for increased traffic deaths in the US. It’s dominant not because it’s true (it’s not), but because it serves the interests of the Nudging State to blame and the Nudging Oligarchy to spend.
Quitters
in the spirit of the question we are always asking ourselves at Epsilon Theory – WHY AM I READING THIS NOW? – Brent asks a slightly different question about announcements of senior management departures. DOES WHAT I’M READING NOW MATTER?
Cursed Knowledge #8: Bad Publicity
Someone once said there’s no such thing as bad publicity. With all due respect, this person is an idiot. Publicity, both good and bad, can have major ramifications. Even if you don’t play a part in creating it.
Getting to War
The international “negotiations” over Ukraine are 100% designed for domestic Russian consumption. They are as necessary a part of successfully invading Ukraine as mobilizing troops and tanks.
That Funny Feeling
The AI censors at YouTube banned a video by ET contributor Brent Donnelly for all the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, the AI censors at Twitter won’t ban an impersonator for any reason.
Kinda gives you that funny feeling that we’re being played. Again.

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.