Justin Wolfers: Why Economics is Like Sex

And why Trump's tariff tactic is like masturbation

Charlie Sykes

Jul 08, 2025

353

Transcript

Catching up:

MAGA is losing its mind over the latest Jeffrey Epstein ~~news~~ coverup. ‘No One Believes This!’ MAGA Heavyweights Flatly Reject Trump DOJ’s Claims That There Was No Epstein Client List
The occupation of LA escalates. “US troops on the ground in LA immigration enforcement operation, DOD says” - ABC News
The Netanyahu suck-up escalates. “Netanyahu Releases Letter Nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize” - The New York Times
The Trump suck-up to Putin escalates. “The U.S. Is Switching Sides: Donald Trump is giving Vladimir Putin every incentive to keep killing Ukrainians.” — Anne Applebaum
Marjorie Taylor Greene is still bat-shit crazy. After the Texas flooding tragedy, MTG introduced a bill to end “weather modification and geoengineering” by “prohibiting the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity. It will be a felony offense."

Tariffs, Trade, and the Price of Incoherence

This. is. So. Good.

Economist Justin Wolfers joins me to discuss Trump’s trade war revival, incoherent economic policymaking, and the human cost of political decisions. From tariffs on allies to Medicaid cuts in the latest budget, Wolfers breaks down the real-world impact, offering a crash course in economics—and a warning about what happens when the rules of the game no longer apply.

In this highlight, the professor offers this analogy: Trump “Deals” vs. Real Deals = Masturbation vs. Sex.

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… For making “To the Contrary” one of the top 10 fastest growing political Substack (at least for a couple of days).

Nota bene

Ed Luce: Trump’s ominous ICE security state

The court is also evaluating challenges to Trump’s declared right to impose tariffs at will, usurp Congress’s power of the purse, deem anyone he sees fit as “anti-national” and use emergency powers to put troops on the streets. It is a fair bet that Trump will either get his way or exploit the court’s silence. On almost every petition to date, the Supreme Court has ceded to his lawyers.
But the most fateful challenge concerns Trump’s power to decide who is a US citizen.
Should he win that case, America could no longer be counted as a democracy. It took years for Viktor Orbán to consolidate strongman rule in Hungary. Trump is trying to pull off an equivalent system-change within months. Perhaps speed will be his undoing.
In the meantime, how would the US military react in clashes with protesters? Would the Supreme Court turn a blind eye to blood on the streets? Is there any category of person whom Trump could not put in a cage? That we do not know the answers to any of these questions is alarming.

What Comes Next with Charlie Sykes

Charlie Sykes and Reed Galen

Jul 8

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Ron Johnson's Descent - by James Wigderson

What? You believed Sen. Ron Johnson R-WI when he said he wouldn't support the “Big Beautiful Bill”? You didn't expect his resolve to melt like frozen custard in the July sun?
Oh, for shame. This is the same senator who claimed to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and then actively participated in the effort to have the election overturned. If Johnson’s conscience didn't bother him then, why would President Donald Trump’s demands worry the senator now?
The evolution (devolution) of the headlines was amusing to watch.
Sen. Ron Johnson says Trump's megabill 'doesn't have a chance of passing' Senate
- NPR, June 4, 2025
NPR interviewed Johnson when the bill would have added $2.4 trillion to the annual budget deficits over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, just a month ago.
GOP Senator Ron Johnson says he's 'trying to force reality' on DC
- Fox News interview, June 13, 2025
The national debt has ballooned to the eye-watering sum of more than $36 trillion, with lawmakers and presidents from both parties presiding over the deficit spending that has led the nation to this point. I'm
Johnson said he's "trying to force reality" upon everyone in the nation's capital, regardless of whether they want to face that reality.
The reality-loving senator also said that the Covid vaccine is not really a vaccine and should come with a “black box” warning. Oh, and he said he would prefer to retire rather than run again. Riiiiight.