For No Reason Other Than to Make Everyone Talk About Him…
Trump decides to tank the economy and for tens of millions of Americans to make ends meet.
25 percent of all fruits and vegetables Americans consume daily come from Mexico. The inputs for the average car made in the U.S. crosses the border eight times before it has been completely assembled. This means that each input will be hit with a 25 percent tariff. Let’s ask the question that has quickly become rhetorical: Who will pay for these tariffs? Whose Super Bowl guacamole will suddenly increase by 25 percent?
Finally, who is causing this inflation, and to what end? There is nothing in Trump’s utterly ridiculous declaration of a trade war against two of our closest economic allies that will make the lives of middle and working-class Americans better — zero. Please don’t get smart here and comment that 12 people somewhere in Indiana will receive a pay increase thanks to Trump’s lunacy. Some people will definitely be better off thanks to these tariffs, but the overwhelming majority of Americans will suffer. Trump’s tariffs will be inflationary and job-killing. He has decided to introduce tariffs to get the world talking about how disruptive and “powerful” he is. He loves playing this role, keeping people off balance.
The most amazing thing about this is how the Americans who will suffer the most are still so gung-ho about what he is doing. M’gidiots are bending over backward to explain why the rise in egg prices since Trump became president is acceptable. “Well, there is the bird flu, which a president can’t control, and then the economy is destroyed by Bidenand immigrants, so, of course, egg prices are going up.”
This insane rationalization that nothing is Trump’s fault was also applied to the collision of the Black Hawk helicopter and the American Airlines flight over the Potomac last week. Nothing can ever be Trump’s fault, regardless of what he has done or hasn’t done.
The import taxes could result in higher prices for a wide range of products, including fruits and vegetables, flat screen TVs, and auto parts. The targeted countries are expected to respond with retaliatory tariffs of the own on U.S. exports.
Business groups started to react immediately after the announcement. A trade group representing the liquor industry said the tariffs would hurt jobs.
“Since the 1990s, trade in spirits in North America has been largely tariff-free, resulting in significant growth. U.S.-Canada trade in spirits increased by 147%, while U.S.-Mexico trade surged by 4,080%,” according to a joint statement by the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., the Chamber of the Tequila Industry, and Spirits Canada (Trump Imposes New Tariffs on Imports).
China issued a statement saying it would retaliate in kind.
After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that Canada would retaliate against America’s “red states,” dummy M’gdiots across the internet started posting Clint Eastwood-esque posts saying stuff like, “go ahead, bring it on…make my day.” Their ignorance is so complex and multilayered that sometimes, it almost makes me feel stupid. I begin to question myself: Maybe I am missing something here? This is what happens when dictators act rashly, even absurdly. Because their decisions sometimes so push the boundaries of what is expected, sane people find it hard to fight back because they don’t know how. I am sure Canada and Mexico are struggling to make sense of Trump’s decision, and because of that, their position to fight back is weaker.
Hitler did the same thing in the run-up to World War II. His demands were so off-the-wall that statesmen like Neville Chamberlain struggled to offer alternative courses of action, and so they settled on something like appeasement — and we know where that got the world.
Trump’s muddled thinking on the matter is, actually, quite clear and not hard to understand.
The US President has acknowledged that his move to slap tariffs on some of the country’s biggest trading partners may have negative effects on US citizens.
“Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)” Trump wrote this morning in all-caps on his Truth Social platform.
“But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he added (US Says ‘Pain’ Worth It).
Aw, geez, why didn’t he say so to begin with? These tariffs are going to make America great again. Well, I am all for that — who wouldn’t be?
There is only one thing I don’t understand: How does making “groceries,” the word Trump discovered while campaigning last fall, more expensive for Main Street make America great?
In the meantime, while the world — meaning our allies except China — are worried about aggressive actions and bluster coming from Washington, DC — and while airplanes are falling from the sky after the firing of so many at the FAA — Russia continues to bomb Ukraine indiscriminately. Yesterday, missiles were fired at apartment buildings, resulting in the deaths of innocent children.