It turns out that the city on the hill is shining because it is on fire. I’m having a hard time with the folks who still refuse to tune in. I know folks who get upset when I bring up what is being done to the country and our allies. The denial is fathoms deeper than even I imagined. It’s one thing to throw one’s weight behind a party, but to refuse to acknowledge the fact of our country is *at best* ‘going through some things’ is unforgivable. Does anyone else know people like this? What is it about?!?
Is there any way of determining whether Trump & Family shorted the market before his announcement? Certainly wouldn’t put that (or anything else involving grifting) past them. And, oh - as for “liberation day”, I guess we have to thank Donald for liberating a good portion of Americans’ 401Ks and IRAs.
Thanks Charlie, yes, this is the move Donald’s Id demanded, so that is what he did. There is no sense in looking for rational explanation. There is none but the character of this broken man. His cult will react in a similar manner. They expect and crave the daily and transgressive thrill of hurting the people they hate. They will like this policy right up until they lose a job, can’t make their payments, can’t buy what they expect to, and then they will blame it on whatever the popular conspiracy of the day is. They are creatures of their own impulses just like he is. To convince them of their own self interest is a task , like trying to explain a standard 1040 tax form to a house cat.
Another thank you to mitch, THE conservative wing of SCOTUS, the self-castrated maga Congressional caucus and the dangerously stupid maga voters. Damn every one of them.
I have been thinking about this all day. From Dr. Richardson's Letters this morning
"Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) noted tonight that the tariffs make no economic sense because “[t]hey aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.” Murphy suggests they are a way to make private industry dependent on the president the same way he has tried to make law firms and universities dependent on him. Industries and companies “will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.”
Murphy warns that “[t]he tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship…[s]o that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry. As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.”
Is this all just to cement his authoritarian hold?
Apparently not America elected t***p, he ran on tariffs. And up until last night I bet only a small percentage of Americans even knew what Smoot-Hawley was.
While Trump and his buffoon lieutenants are popping champagne over the announcement of his harebrained, asinine tariffs, the rest of the world is guzzling Pepto Bismol, watching the stock market plunge, and their 401k's take a nosedive.
The other shoe has not yet dropped. Trump will follow this tariff policy with a plan to abolish the federal income tax (aka "internal revenue") or transform it to a low flat tax.
Trump will use tariff revenue (aka "external revenue") as the fig leaf for his proposal to drastically cut income taxes. This was the highly regressive US federal tax structure of the Gilded Age prior to 1913 (16th Amendment).
Billionaires and multi-millionaires are spoiled rotten in this country, paying far fewer taxes than the average American. Yet, they can never get enough of a good thing. Greedy SOBs.
So let me get this straight—Russia pays a 0% tariff to the U.S., while our NATO allies in the EU, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—the very nations staring down Russian tanks and cyberattacks—get hit with a 20% tariff? We’re punishing the frontline defenders of democracy while giving Putin a free pass? Brilliant strategy—if you're rooting for Moscow.
A Classified Letter from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump
I don't hafta google Smoot-Hawley. I lived in the school district where Ferris Buehler's Day Off was filmed. Who remembers that? Class? Any one?
I'm with Auggie!!!
It turns out that the city on the hill is shining because it is on fire. I’m having a hard time with the folks who still refuse to tune in. I know folks who get upset when I bring up what is being done to the country and our allies. The denial is fathoms deeper than even I imagined. It’s one thing to throw one’s weight behind a party, but to refuse to acknowledge the fact of our country is *at best* ‘going through some things’ is unforgivable. Does anyone else know people like this? What is it about?!?
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt?
Is there any way of determining whether Trump & Family shorted the market before his announcement? Certainly wouldn’t put that (or anything else involving grifting) past them. And, oh - as for “liberation day”, I guess we have to thank Donald for liberating a good portion of Americans’ 401Ks and IRAs.
I’m with Auggie!
Thanks Charlie, yes, this is the move Donald’s Id demanded, so that is what he did. There is no sense in looking for rational explanation. There is none but the character of this broken man. His cult will react in a similar manner. They expect and crave the daily and transgressive thrill of hurting the people they hate. They will like this policy right up until they lose a job, can’t make their payments, can’t buy what they expect to, and then they will blame it on whatever the popular conspiracy of the day is. They are creatures of their own impulses just like he is. To convince them of their own self interest is a task , like trying to explain a standard 1040 tax form to a house cat.
Another thank you to mitch, THE conservative wing of SCOTUS, the self-castrated maga Congressional caucus and the dangerously stupid maga voters. Damn every one of them.
Great column, Charlie! Great conversation with Josh Kraushaar too.
I have been thinking about this all day. From Dr. Richardson's Letters this morning
"Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) noted tonight that the tariffs make no economic sense because “[t]hey aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.” Murphy suggests they are a way to make private industry dependent on the president the same way he has tried to make law firms and universities dependent on him. Industries and companies “will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.”
Murphy warns that “[t]he tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship…[s]o that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry. As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.”
Is this all just to cement his authoritarian hold?
The worst self-inflicted wound in the history of our country. How appropriate it should come from the worst President in the history of our country.
Smoot-Hawley was almost 100 years ago. Never mind they were total morons. We know better now!
Apparently not America elected t***p, he ran on tariffs. And up until last night I bet only a small percentage of Americans even knew what Smoot-Hawley was.
I'm with Augie, wake me up when this is over.
Someone please Photoshop the faces of Trump's economic team on to the kids in the class in that Ferris Bueller clip 😂
While Trump and his buffoon lieutenants are popping champagne over the announcement of his harebrained, asinine tariffs, the rest of the world is guzzling Pepto Bismol, watching the stock market plunge, and their 401k's take a nosedive.
The other shoe has not yet dropped. Trump will follow this tariff policy with a plan to abolish the federal income tax (aka "internal revenue") or transform it to a low flat tax.
Trump will use tariff revenue (aka "external revenue") as the fig leaf for his proposal to drastically cut income taxes. This was the highly regressive US federal tax structure of the Gilded Age prior to 1913 (16th Amendment).
He has already decreed an "External Revenue Service" in an Executive Order (https://apnews.com/article/irs-trump-tax-revenues-tariffs-eef2ab6930a8672a418af27f61efaed8) and is gutting the Internal Revenue Service.
In a nutshell, the plan is that foreigners will magically pay US taxes, while Americans will not. It's much like "Mexico will pay for the wall."
Billionaires and multi-millionaires are spoiled rotten in this country, paying far fewer taxes than the average American. Yet, they can never get enough of a good thing. Greedy SOBs.
[paying "relatively" fewer taxes, based on income]
So let me get this straight—Russia pays a 0% tariff to the U.S., while our NATO allies in the EU, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—the very nations staring down Russian tanks and cyberattacks—get hit with a 20% tariff? We’re punishing the frontline defenders of democracy while giving Putin a free pass? Brilliant strategy—if you're rooting for Moscow.
A Classified Letter from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump
https://patricemersault.substack.com/p/classified-an-open-letter-from-vladimir?r=4d7sow