There was a lot of noise made yesterday by Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for reasons of fentanyl and blah blah blah (not an exact quote).
So there are a number of possibilities:
- A fucking liar does something that he says he’s going to do, exactly how he’s going to do it. That would be a first, prices go way up, and people go apeshit about $6 avocados and $3 tomatoes.
- Like a kid touching a stove, he tries a tariff or two, his donors/advisors go apeshit, and he backs off immediately.
- He doesn’t do it at all, but picks on some minor concessions from Canada and Mexico and says “look how my primo negotiation skills got us something for nothing”.
My vote is for 3, but are any of the above really horrible? Mass deportations with concentration camps is horrible. Women bleeding out in parking lots because doctors are afraid to provide life saving care is horrible. Violence against trans people sparked by the climate of hate is horrible. Higher prices suck but they don’t (directly) make people bleed or die.
Part of my reason that I think (3) will happen is that a little information about the problem with tariffs has apparently penetrated the low-information ecosystem and 2/3 of those surveyed in a recent poll think that tariffs will raise prices.
Anyway, it might be the media I consume (which is probably similar to what all of you consume), but I had forgotten how good Trump is at working the media dials by just shitting out some new outrageous claim every day, even though most of what he says will never happen. People immediately dive in on the illegality of Trump doing this (since it violates USMCA (the new NAFTA), that he’ll have to declare a state of emergency, etc. And here I am contributing to it, I guess, though my actual feeling is more like Wonka’s attitude in the image above. I’m still searching for a way to be less reactive to his bullshit but also noting it. Any recommendations that aren’t just tuning out/giving up would be welcome.
