There is perhaps a no greater example of the idiotic and unstable Malignant Fascist's habit of shooting himself in both feet than his obsession with tariffs. Those tariffs, as any economist or business dealing with imported goods or materials, add to the prices consumers pay for everything from clothing to car parts. The MF has always misunderstood who pays the tariff, consistently saying that it's the foreign country exporting to us, when it's paid by the importer and ultimately the consumer. Emeritus Professor of Economics at Babson College Kent Jones writes in Salon.com:
"President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements no longer cause the market gyrations that they did in 2025. But their sticker shock for American consumers is becoming increasingly clear – just as economic sentiment is souring ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections.
Many business groups had hoped that the tariff wars would end in February, when the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s emergency tariffs. They got a rude awakening five months later, however, when Trump announced a raft of new import taxes to replace the levies that were struck down. [snip]
On one level, Trump’s tariff fixation is a mystery. Tariffs continue to be unpopular, and it’s unclear why Trump would double down on them before midterm elections when his approval ratings, including on the economy, are so low.
But on another level, Trump’s embrace of tariffs can be understood as an instrument of personal power. He has long viewed them as tools for negotiating leverage, and he recently declared that U.S. tariffs 'aren’t high enough.' The president also has deflected criticism of their impact on consumer prices by claiming erroneously that foreigners pay for them. [snip]
And now that tariffs have had time to work through the economy, researchers have found an impact on prices. The Dallas Federal Reserve recently estimated that the Fed’s preferred inflation measure would have risen without tariffs at an annual rate of 2.3% in March, instead of its actual 3.2%. Meanwhile, an analysis by the Yale Budget Lab concluded that consumers are paying anywhere from half to the entire cost of the levies through higher prices, depending on the goods." (our emphasis)
If it weren't hurting families' budgets, we'd be all for his mindless use of tariffs to show his power and for retribution for imagined slights by foreign countries because it'll cost him and his slavish cult in the mid-term elections. The MF foolishly says affordability is a "hoax," something voters will show him is very real in November.
I've shouted at the clouds till I'm blue in the face" it's not about a lack of understanding. It understands perfectly well what it is doing: destroying America. Stop giving it the benefit of the doubt by calling it stupid. Yes, it's stupid, bit a certain cunning feral stupid. That's not the point. The point is it knows exactly what it is doing, and everyone from left to right is letting it pass
ReplyDeleteYes, it. It isn't human. It is less than human ...
Anon -- maybe on the other hand, you're giving Trump ("it") too much credit for knowing what he's doing. "It" is an unlettered sub-moron who can barely offer a complete thought much less have a comprehensive plan for destroying America. That's not to say the MAGAt organizing principle (as seen in "Project 2024") isn't accomplishing that goal, but it's because they fundamentally don't believe in the same country as we do and are proceeding accordingly to wreck it and create a fascist, Christian white nationalist state. But "It's" embrace of tariffs goes well with the description offered in the linked quote - a personal stupidity whose exercise gives hime a sense of personal power. That's the "cause" and destroying America is the "effect."
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