Occam’s Razor is such a useful tool. People should use it more often. In the case of Donald Trump, he intends to hand Occam’s Razor to America and hope that we will slash our wrists with it. You have heard endlessly of his *plan* to get the economy roaring (the economy is already roaring, it roared under Obama, but Trump doesn’t want you to remember that part) by imposing stiff tariffs. And we mean *stiff* tariffs. Like 2,000% tariffs on imported cars, is that stiff enough for you?
Why would he do this, you cry out, being a person of normal intelligence or above, and knowing what a tariff actually is, and no, it is not a check from the Chinese government made out to the U.S. treasury. So why is Trump so intent on this crippling tax? Because it’s a protection racket, honey, and he’s a mobster. Ya get it now?
Trump claims that other countries will pay for the tariffs, but consumers paid for nearly all of the tariffs he imposed in his first term through higher prices.
And then we paid billions more to bail out the farmers who were ruined by the tariffs our trading partners imposed in retaliation.
So why is Trump so keen on taxing imports?
Because the Trump tariffs would create the greatest engine of corruption in history, an institutionalized kleptocracy where import-based business lives or dies by Trump’s favor. Elon Musk’s imported parts might be exempted while GM’s are not.
Ya folla? as that mobster said in The Sting.
— The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) October 22, 2024
Congress has given the president sweeping powers to impose tariffs, and critically, to waive those tariffs for a favored few. US imports totaled $3.8 trillion in 2023. The thought of a 34-time convicted felon wielding that kind of power is terrifying. Powerful interests at home and abroad want to save money and gain an edge over their competitors by dodging tariffs. Trump is just the man to make that happen, for a price.
Trump’s business empire creates limitless opportunities for would-be tariff dodgers to convert cash into official acts. In all, Trump’s businesses raked in nearly $2 billion in revenue during his first term, including millions from the governments of China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. If emoluments won’t suffice, there’s always bribery. Trump is credibly accused of taking 200 pounds of cash worth $10 million from Egypt in exchange for a friendlier diplomatic posture towards the autocratic regime.
Trump politicized tariff waivers in his first term.
The Brookings Institution found that “a bewildering array of politically favored importers won tariff relief” during that time. Bibles from China got a waiver because the religious right insisted, but textbooks are still taxed. Now the Trump Bible is made in China, too. Salmon and cod got waivers because powerful Republican senators threw their weight around. Chinese tiki torches got the nod for reasons that remain as murky as a bad fish farm. Governments including China, Russia and Argentina are suspected of granting Trump and his family trademarks worth millions of dollars in the hopes of securing more favorable trade relations.
And don’t think for a minute that Trump isn’t primed and ready to do this. This is what he was ruminating on today at a rally.
Trump: As president, I will have extreme power. It’s called extreme power pic.twitter.com/zEWBlD42cJ
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 22, 2024
You see where his thoughts are? And don’t forget. Trump’s buddies at the Heritage Foundation, home of Project 2025 have been flooding federal agencies with Freedom of Information Requests to find out “which civil servants aren’t Trumpy enough.” This is the textbook of a fascist takeover in the making.
I pray that the Harris/Walz campaign can scream this from the rooftops in the two weeks ahead. I pray that enough people hear. Or I don’t know what world we may wake up to on November 6. One thing I can guarantee you: even if sanity prevails and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win, MAGA and the poisoned GOP will not let it lie at that. There will be an ugly struggle. I don’t even want to think about it. It’s been speculated that January 6, 2021 was only a rehearsal and we may find out the truth of that in January 2025. Forewarned is forearmed.
It’s always about the grift with this guy.
Always.
That is exactly right. And my honest thought is that one of his goons thought this tariff angle through and proposed it to him and that’s what this is, a protection racket.
January 6, 2021 may have been a dress rehearsal, but now we’ve seen that movie. We have a President in office who, I’m pretty sure will be ready for anything and hopefully a congress who doesn’t want a repeat either. Even if they haven’t made advance preparations, they could probably put it together pretty quickly.
The tiki torch exemption was probably because neo nazis love to use them in their little tiki torch marches. trump is nothing if not transactional and making things cheaper or rewarding neo nazis ranks high on his to do list.
The key points are here:
1) Trump likely got a,D in high school history and has no clue what tariffs do, despite having a degree in economics;
2) And neither do his semi-litetate Red Caps.