Trusting Trump on tariffs and ‘hanging tough’ with him are as ridiculous as taxing penguins

It’s just so hard to believe that there are still people who trust Donald Trump. In a recent poll, 36 percent said they strongly approve of what he’s doing. Who are these people? We’ll find out when this country becomes mired in a recession.

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Only a fool, blinded by those off-putting red hats, the overpriced gold sneakers, and the ghostwritten Art of the Deal book would trust Trump, most especially on his horrific tariff plan. Who died and made Trump the world’s expert on tariffs? Trump is about as far from being an economist as the United States is from the taxed penguins on the remote Heard and McDonald islands.

If you haven’t heard, there are no people on those islands, just penguins, and they were bizarrely slapped with new trade tariffs under Trump’s suicidal — and that’s the only word that seems to fit — tariff plan, which he calls “a beautiful thing to behold.”

And there you go, proof that you can’t trust him, because no one in the world thinks it’s “beautiful” seeing those charts, graphs, and numbers of the stock market spiraling downward. If Trump thinks that’s “beautiful,” then can the reverse — a thriving market — be ugly to him?

This is a man who has launched a trade war with China like a bloated and out-of-shape man picking a fight with a 6' 7” muscle-bound brawler in a bar. China is no pushover, and it doesn’t take a “very stable genius” to figure that out. Monday, Trump threatened to tack on an additional 50 percent tariff if China retaliates against his tariffs. This is stupidity bordering on insanity bordering on lunacy.

Does Trump think the bar brawler that is China is going to just roll over and do what he wants? The same goes for a majority of other countries. Does Trump not consider the political ramifications if the leader of a country on his target list caves to Trump and the U.S.?

Trump is arguably the most hated man on Earth right now, and what he’s doing with these tariffs is considered barbaric. If anyone has any questions about the fallout of these tariffs, they should direct them to the new prime minister of Canada, who said over the weekend that the country’s friendship with the United States is “over.”

Now, remember the fools who still trust him? Well, if Trump’s tariffs backfire, which they’re very, very likely to do according to every economist with a brain, then those fools will be the ones most adversely affected, and I imagine, not very likely to “hang tough” for a long period of time.

Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple. Trump sold them to fools who believe they are some genius strategy, but in reality, they are a middle finger to working families. Trump’s policies aren’t punishing foreign governments. Their cost will be passed on to consumers, punishing American wallets. Trump doesn’t understand trade any better than a chicken with bird flu..

If, and that is a really BIG if, the tariffs work, it will take American manufacturing years to come roaring back. Instead, retaliatory tariffs really crush exporters, and the supposed "wins" are as hollow as a diploma from Trump University.

The ramification of this “genius” tariff plan is a gut punch to every family trying to afford groceries, clothes, cars, or literally anything made in the modern global economy. Trump wants voters to trust him. That’s why foolish might be too kind a word for anyone who fell for this. It's economic masochism, and Trump’s counting on your pain to fuel his con.

In response to the mounting economic turmoil and people waking up to the idea that what Trump promised is not coming to fruition, he took to Truth Social over the weekend President urging Americans to "hang tough” while he golfed.

However, this call for resilience appears increasingly disconnected from the reality faced by everyday citizens who will not have the patience of enduring economic hardship for too long. When your back account starts caving in like the stock market, you’re not going to “hang tough” for Trump. So today’s fools are tomorrow’s retaliators.

I wrote after the election, by electing Trump, Americans proved they are inherently selfish. And in electing Trump, Americans also proved they are inherently impatient. They only think short-term, which leads to hasty decisions with long-term ramifications.

Just as the Biden administration was making strides in curbing inflation, voters, driven by immediate frustrations and swayed by Trump's false promises to rapidly reduce prices, opted for a change in leadership.

This decision was rooted in a desire for quick fixes, and it has now precipitated an economic crisis that could have been avoided with a more measured, forward-thinking approach.

The notion that Americans are inherently impatient is not merely anecdotal. Studies have shown that American consumers exhibit a strong preference for immediate gratification, often at the expense of long-term benefits. This cultural trait should be a surprise to no one, particularly anyone who can’t get Siri to listen correctly.

When the going gets tough and the negative economic implications start to rise, so will the anger of farmers, small business owners, assembly line workers at automobile manufacturers, and on and on and on. Blue-collar workers, some of whom went for Trump on a lie, will now find out the real truth.

Trump must be smoking something if he thinks for a minute that working-class families would go into debt for him, lose their jobs for him, lose their health care for him, be kicked to the curb for him.

It’s cyclical really. The impatient and selfish threw away deliberation based on a lie, and the chickens, infected with bird flu, are coming home to roost based on those who are impatient realizing that it all was a lie.

Our nation most assuredly stands on the precipice of economic hardship, with devastating consequences. The upcoming midterm elections present an opportunity for course correction, but the question remains if the cost of current economic turmoil is a price worth paying for a lesson in patience and foresight.

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