Such a shame Freya doesn't seem to post regularly anywhere these days. I miss her tweets.

Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. This is stressful for others and they make political concessions to please him in exchange for a period of stability.

EU for example bulged for exactly this reason and accepted 15% one-way tariff for access to US market. Before the deal the uncertainty about the level of coming tariffs was deemed worse for European companies trading to US than the negotiated tariff itself.

European political leaders including the head of NATO have also practically turned to giving rimjobs to Trump's ass wishing he would not throw tantrums at them in important meetings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17wejpw79qo

Ultimately this all just strengthens US hegemony and makes other countries weaker, which is the explicitly stated goal he keeps repeating..

Things to commit just before leaving your job if you don’t intend on working in a position of trust again.

I'm guessing the flags are from people who get mad at xkcd comics and drink percolator coffee as a preference.

It isn't mysterious. It just doesn't match the vibes of HN. I don't come on HN to see silly jokes. And as you can see by the number of flags this post has received to kill it, it looks like most HN readers agree with me.