Trump Tariffs, Why Now?

 Trump Tariffs, Why Now?

We all know that Trump admires President William McKinley. We know this because one of Trump’s first acts in 2025 was to re-re-name the Alaskan mountain after the 25th president. It didn’t matter that McKinley never set foot in Alaska. The tallest peak in North America was originally called Denali, as Alaskans used the Koyukon Athabascan word meaning, “the high one.” In 1896, a gold prospector named it after McKinley to support McKinley’s run for president. Angry Alaskan’s changed it back in 1975, and President Obama made it official at the federal level in 2015.

An Ice Sculpture

Why the Trump interest in McKinley? Let’s let Trump answer that one with a quote, “President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman.” Trump goes on, “He was a strong believer in tariffs, and we were actually probably wealthiest of any time, relatively speaking, at any point in the history of our country.”

While some Americans have shared this view of the U.S. economy of the 1890s, they, like President Trump, don’t know their history. I know, you’re shocked that a president doesn’t know history. I guess his bone spurs may have been acting up and affected his concentration during history and economics classes.

The 1890s were not a good time for the U.S. economy and we had a major recession in 1893, followed by five years of double-digit inflation. Just a reminder here, this was a period before income taxes when tariffs were the main source of federal income. The McKinley Tariff was sponsored by him while he was an Ohio congressman. The bill raised the rate from 40% to 50%. The 1890 McKinley tariff was debated during the congressional election and the Republican Party later lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.

While manufacturing was strong during this period, tying that strength to the McKinley tariffs, is questionable at best. Even McKinley seems to have had a change of heart in regard to tariffs late in his term, as he shifted toward beneficial trade agreements that could expand trade, not contract it.

Beyond tariffs, Trump also relates to McKinley’s colonial nature as he annexed Hawaii, took Puerto Rico as a colony and expanded our influence in the Philippines, Guam and Cuba. This is perhaps why Trump wants to acquire Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.

But getting back to tariffs, where did this fondness with tariffs come from? Is he just confused about history or is there something else at work here? Enter trade advisor Peter Navarro. Yes, apparently Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, found Navarro on an Amazon book list where he had published, Death by China. In that book and others he authored, Navarro quotes Ron Vara as his source of enlightenment. The problem here is that Ron Vara is a fictional character in this otherwise non-fiction tome. Mr. Vara was described as a doctoral student at Harvard.

Yes, Navarro just made up this person as an anagram of his own name. When caught, Navarro defends the fabricated Ron Vara as a “whimsical device.” The publisher will now place a notification in future copies of the book warning of this fabrication. Another economist, Glenn Hubbard, co-authored another book with Navarro where Ron Vara was quoted and he says he was not privy to the joke and he wasn’t amused.

However, Trump will likely find humor here as he too created the fictional characters, John Barron and John Miller, back in the 1980s. Trump would call into newspapers using these names claiming to be a publicist extolling the virtues of that wonderful billionaire, Donald Trump. Trump later would name his last son, Barron. Perhaps Trump’s third term would just be John Miller with Ron Vara as his new VP. [I hope he doesn’t read this and get any ideas.]

Peter Navarro, in addition to playing fast and loose with facts, is also an outlier in the field of economics. He equates tariffs with tax cuts by ignoring inflation. The wealthy can afford to do this as tariffs shift the tax burden to the “less informed” poor folks who can’t afford tax attorneys. As a percentage of income, inflation resulting from tariffs is easily affordable if you happen to have a few hundred million dollars lying around. For all others, it is just another tax.

What about all those manufacturing jobs that will happen when we put Americans back on the assembly lines? Well, for starters, those manufacturing plants don’t exist, and new plants would likely involve robots and not so many new jobs. You don’t have to go back to the McKinley era to see the direct results of high tariffs, Trump’s first bite at the tariff apple saw a loss of 245,000 jobs [Oxford Economics study].

The fact that the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has also defended the new tariffs while admitting the distinct possibility of a recession, is frightening. Even more so is his claim that a recession will be worth it. I guess if you are a billionaire, like Lutnick, buying a new $2,500 iPhone, or finding that your new $56,000 SUV just added an additional $15,000 to cover the cost of the tariffs, it’s all just pocket lint or spare change you found between the couch cushions.

Yes, Trump and his fellow billionaires long for The Gilded Age of American History. These were the McKinley years of the late 19th century when rapid economic industrial growth was only matched in its grandeur by economic inequality, extreme poverty and labor exploitation. They would bring back the robber barons and rampant political corruption of that bygone era.

We are well on our way. Install the tariffs and use them to replace pesky income taxes. Eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all social programs that provide food, medicine, housing, national parks, and security to all. Get rid of those costly labor unions that force the wealthy to pay living wages. If you are old and can’t afford to live, just do what the Inuit did before the 1930s when senicide was popular, jump on the nearest ice flow before they are all gone.

Historical footnote: President McKinley did not live to serve his full term as he was shot by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, September 6, 1901. Justice was swift back then as Czolgosz was executed by electric chair just 53 days later. McKinley joined James A. Garfield and Abraham Lincoln as the third assassinated president. JFK was our fourth.

Graphic footnote: The accompanying picture of Mt. Denali was taken by me from a plane in 2013. It shows the added ice sculpture of a bust of Donald Trump being carved on the “worlds tallest mountain” [as measured from its nearest land base]. Rest assured, with an annual snowfall of 77”, the bust would be covered in just a few years. If that didn't do it, climate change will eventually turn it into a muddy puddle

Project 2026-Just Citizens

 

As someone who enjoys science fiction, I thought I would ponder a new genre, political fiction. This would be similar to sci-fi in that it would have foundations in the real world of the possible and fantasize a different future. The following would be just an outline of such a story.

You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Trump-Free Zone!

A group of young citizens comes together with a common cause. I say young because youth in this instance is a requirement for motivation. Their future lives depend on the outcome of their efforts. They are just citizens, and while labels are not appropriate here, the term Just Citizens would be acceptable. They are inhabitants of a land now governed by a dictator in the remains of what was once a representative democracy.

In this group, are citizens of both the dominant former political parties and those who never identified themselves with either side. The core group has no defined leadership. They discuss plans, agree on a course of action, and announce that as their plan. The prime directive is that all such actions be legal and covered within the scope of the original Constitution. Toward that end they have among their group, legal scholars. They have also contracted with two large legal firms to assist when matters must go to court.

They have sought out and found financial support from wealthy individuals who have agreed to provide funding but not to be involved in the decision-making process. They have seen what tying financial sources to decisions has done to create the mess they are in.

This is to be a “think tank” that will develop their plan to oppose this dictator while some semblance of the former government still exists. The plan is simple in scope but requires a certain stealth if it is to be successful. With that in mind, this group has enlisted a cyber security team that has adopted a two-tiered communications network using Signal for the most secret directives and WhatsApp for other mass communications. Servers are air-gapped with no access from the outside. Unlike Project 2025, Project 2026 will remain unpublished.

Also within this group of Just Citizens are political analysts and former members of government who have held elected office. This specialty group was established to identify at least 20 Republican senators who would risk their political futures to save the remnants of democracy. The assumption here would be that all Democratic senators along with the two independents who caucus with Democrats would vote as a block. While only 17 Republican senators would be needed if this desired scenario came to be, the three “extras” would provide some insurance for success.

All of this would require the origination of impeachment proceedings with a simple majority in the House. While this is a lower threshold, it too will require planning and execution. Contacting House Republicans and Senate Republicans would be the final step in the process after all of the plan was in place. It would need to be swift and highly organized as the opposition is already positioned to resist with dire consequence if the effort is unsuccessful.

As a prelude to the final political steps, another section of Just Citizens would play a vital role, the communications branch. This section would include members of the media who are already covering the missteps of the current administration. It would also include members of the entertainment industry who would provide a multi-pronged media attack to amplify the existing outrage of those being fired, displaced, made homeless, and who have suffered under the meat axe dismantlement of all manners of government aid and support.

Impeachment, when successful, would also mean the acceptance of the vice president to fulfill the remainder of the term. It is a difficult pill to swallow but not unlike chemotherapy that is required after the removal of a cancer. It would be hoped that the new exile status of his predecessor would act as a moderating force to incentivize him to not continue with his same disregard for the law. With midterms fast approaching, a shift in the political winds would be probable.

As I opened this outline of political fiction with a tribute to The Twilight Zone, I will leave you once again with some poignant remarks from that source.

“Any state, any entity, any ideology which fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete. A case to be filed under "M" for "Mankind" (The Obsolete Man)

"No moral, no message, no prophetic tract, just a simple statement of fact: for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized. Tonight's very small exercise in logic from the Twilight Zone." (The Shelter)

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.” (Monsters Are Due on Maple Street)

“A sickness known as hate. Not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ—but a sickness nonetheless, highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don't look for it in the Twilight Zone—look for it in a mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether.” (Color Me Black)

Constitutional Crisis

In a “sign of the times” posting on Facebook, a friend and Trump supporter stated, “I am confused. Is the President we Elected in Charge of America's Policies or R Unelected Judges really running America?” He is parroting the sentiments of our president which is to say he is espousing a revisionist version of our constitution.

In this “new and improved” version of the US Constitution, the president is now lord and master of us all. The courts may only support the mandates of the president and may never challenge his decisions, even when they violate the laws established by the Constitution. The courts may only see things one way and may only enforce those laws that get approval from the president or risk removal by impeachment. In his alternate reality, the laws are only there to support his decisions as president. All laws that would otherwise conflict with his desires are null and void, unless later needed to support him in another matter.

The most recent flaunting of presidential power unrestrained by a constitutionally established co-equal branch of government, Trump officials disobeyed a direct order of the court. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan said, “I don’t care what the judges think.” He ignored the judge’s ruling and continued deporting migrants without due process. Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that the judge had intruded on the president’s authority.

Since when is an official ruling from a court an “intrusion” of authority? We have a process in this country. The president has the right to appeal that judge’s ruling to the Supreme Court which has the final say. There were no exigent circumstances here that would have demanded urgent action, only a desire to make a political statement with a video of over 200 prisoners in shackles being shaved and then dragged across a prison floor in El Salvador. The president with this action openly defied the legal orders of a federal judge.

All federal judges are nominated by the sitting elected president and then confirmed by the elected members of the Senate as per the US Constitution. Saying that judges have no authority because they are appointed and not elected is saying that the US Constitution got it all wrong. There is no clause in that constitution that states the president has the final say in their interpretation of the law. While the president has great power as the head of the Executive Branch of the government, he is but one of three equal branches of our government. When it comes to interpreting the law, SCOTUS makes that decision.

In the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, The Mikado, they introduce the Grand Poobah (Pooh-Bah). He is the prideful character who holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral ... Archbishop ... Lord Mayor" and "Lord High Everything Else." Trump must think his election as president of the United States also meant that he was its’ Grand Poobah. I would remind him that this title was also held in high regard by the secret society, the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes in the cartoon tv series, The Flintstones.

Trump has surrounded himself with a group of nihilistic extremists who are tearing at the very fabric of our nation. They have rejected all societal norms and moral principles. They believe that all values are baseless and have no purpose. Talks of a Constitutional crisis are not premature, in fact, that ship has already left port and someone forgot to close the bilge plug.

There is Method in the Madness; Polycratic Chaos

 

What appears to be a three ring circus, high on a mixture of ketamine, Adderall, and Xanax, is really a working plan. Project 2025 provides the general framework, and Trump is modifying it with his own personal agenda. The goal is to advance the leadership principle of führerprinzip, where all power and sovereignty is vested in one leader. To that end, the Trump organization is following the time-honored path of authoritarian leaders throughout history.

The attacks on free speech, education, and the free press. The weaponization of the Justice Department, the elimination of watchdog agencies, the hamstringing of the IRS, the politicization of the courts, and the attacks on institutions of higher learning, are all necessary to achieve their goals. Eliminate books that contradict your message, call for violence against those who will not accept your authority, and flood the media with so many alternative theories of the truth that the real truth becomes unattainable. Do these things and you will be well on your way to autocratic rule.

While Hitler and his Schutzstaffel (SS) seemed to have had a well-oiled machine, that was far from the truth. The Nazi state was disorganized and chaotic with numerous leadership positions, departments, and security forces that lacked a constitution or clear structure. Hitler often changed state organization by creating new offices and shifting responsibilities without a clear plan. Ultimately, the government was described as “polycratic chaos.” Power during this chaos was scattered among different agencies but relied entirely on Hitler. Though he held ultimate authority, he often distributed power arbitrarily, and his subordinates constantly strived to satisfy him.

Trump’s version of the SS is a rag-tag assortment of radical organizations with varying agendas who have included many of Trump’s objectives among their own. Nazis, white supremacists, along with various and sundry radical malcontents, have all pledged some form of allegiance or alliance with the Trump agenda. Trump then uses his “bat signal” to summon them with tweets and verbal pronouncements. He promises them legal cover for their actions. When more direct control is needed, he has now placed his stooges in control of the FBI and CIA.

Drawing parallels between the Musk/Trump regime and Hitler, Stalin, or Mao Zedong might seem like radical left-wing rhetoric, but it was Musk who recently tweeted his support for the theory that this infamous trio of genocidal maniacs was not directly responsible for the deaths of millions of citizens. He claimed/retweeted that the real blame lay with “public sector workers.”

Joseph Stalin-Mao Zedong-Adolph Hitler

The blowback was swift, and the tweet was quickly pulled. This tweet and others supporting politicians like Javier Milei of Argentina, Bolsonaro of Brazil, and Modi of India show the true nature of the man. Perhaps attacking “public sector workers” and blaming them for atrocities helps him justify the carnage he has waged on our own American public sector employees. Musk is not an employee of the government and should legally function as an “advisor.” In practice, he is but Trump’s henchman who may end up the scapegoat if it all goes in the crapper.

Hitler did not provide a clear vision of a Nazi government structure during his rise to power. Once in control, he created new departments and positions as needed, causing the Nazi state to grow organically and without a clear hierarchy. This led to a mix of bureaucracies, organizations, and offices with overlapping responsibilities and conflicts over jurisdiction. If you think that this sounds like something that is happening under Agent Orange, join the club.

In the Nazi state, polycratic chaos was seen as a contributing factor to “cumulative radicalization” that resulted in the Holocaust. In the Musk/Trump regime the death toll will probably be nothing more than vague losses where blame can be “assigned” elsewhere. Death by preventable diseases, deaths indirectly caused after the loss of medical coverage, deaths after the elderly are made homeless, and any losses resulting from the elimination of funding for medical research can all be difficult to link to the lack of a cogent central administration.

The motivations may be somewhat varied for those now involved. Just know that the result will be of great financial benefit for the anointed few. I’ll give you three guesses as to who will end up paying for all of this under the pretext that they are saving us money. If two of your answers are me and you, you can go to the head of the class.

While a central goal of the Trump/Project 2025 agenda is to shift us away from the tedium of democracy and toward the confines of authoritarian dictatorship, the underlying objective is wealth concentration. As free speech is constrained, legal hurdles removed, oversight eliminated, and power consolidated, an American oligarchy will arise from the ashes of our former republic like a Phoenix.

In the new American oligarchy, those without enormous wealth will be slaves. Not slaves in the more traditional sense with direct ownership, but the more subtle version known as debt slavery. This is a practice where people are coerced to work under conditions that are exploitative. In the Amazon today, poor laborers are lured to remote areas where they rack up debts to plantation owners who overcharge for subsistence items. In America this situation was prevalent in the coal mines as made famous in the song, Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Earnie Ford.

You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

A chasm is opening between the oligarch class and those who serve them. The financial burden of responsibility is shifting away from the wealthy and being heaped upon the working class. Eliminate Social Security and other forms of financial safety nets. Take away good education for all but those who can afford one. Enact tariffs that hurt wage earners far more than corporations who merely pass on the costs to consumers. As homegrown terrorists go, none are more dangerous than a certain blonde-haired orange-faced billionaire and his henchmen

Shutdown?

I agree with Chuck Schumer’s decision to avoid a government shutdown and approve the spending bill. A government shutdown would play right into the hands of the Musk/Trump maniacal plans. Right now, the Musk/Trump (MT as in empty) group is totally responsible for all the grief befalling our government and our economy. If the government were allowed to shut down MT could point to it as the culprit and not their own lawbreaking.

Additionally, a shutdown would put MT into a better position deciding what are and are not “essential services.” The courts have had the ability to at least push back on the firings at federal agencies but, in a shutdown, all bets are off. The term “essential services” is arbitrary and MT love arbitrary. Vague and arbitrary is like milk and honey to this near-sighted Siamese-twin-headed cyclops. Going in, managing, and coming out of a shutdown would give MT unrestricted decision making ability. They could prioritize which functions of government would survive.

Supporting the avoidance of a shutdown is the lesser of two evils. While it might be nice to turn up the volume on the chaos and destruction, I feel too much would be lost in the resulting cacophony. Democrats hoping to add language to the bill that would stop DOGE from cutting spending already approved by Congress would be an uphill battle. While slower, the courts have been making some headway in this regard, albeit with moderate effect.

For now I say, let Trump be responsible for all the charred ruins of our democracy. Don’t give him an easy out. He will certainly make up some fantastic excuse, the more outrageous the better. “It was Biden’s fault for leaving him with such a good economy that there was nowhere for the economy to go but down.”

When Does the Greatness Start?

 

Many are wondering when they will notice the promised greatness in America. For those who might have slept through Trump’s first 53 days, there are perhaps a few other questions that people might have. WTF comes to mind, followed by, AYI? I had to make that last one up and it means, Are You Insane?

For any who brushed aside some of Trump’s more outrageous utterances as jokes or political bluster, just know that he has not only repeated them, he’s seriously taking action. He is planning his invasion of Panama. Trump asked the US military to come up with options for that to happen. He is serious about annexing Canada, against their will, and declaring Canada our 51st state. He says he plans to use “economic force” to compell annexation. He also wants to annex Greenland as a US territory and possibly start a war with a NATO country, Denmark. He stated he may send, “more US troops to Greenland.”

A few expressions come to mind. Off his rocker. A few sandwiches short of a picnic. Not playing with a full deck. A few bricks short of a load. Lost his marbles. A few fries short of a happy meal. Not the sharpest tool in the shed. His antenna doesn't get many stations. The cheese has slid off the cracker. A village somewhere is missing their idiot. Non compos mentis. Round the bend. Mad as a march hare. Cuckoo for cocoa puffs. The wheel is turning but the hamster's dead. Nutty as a fruitcake. Cray cray. A few clowns short of a circus. A few peas short of a casserole. Away with the fairies. Not the brightest crayon in the box. The elevator doesn't go all the way to the top. The gates are down and the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.

At this point I think we are beyond impeachment. I believe that those who love him should have him “involuntarily committed.” He needs to be detained in a psychiatric hospital for his own good and welfare. I think if such an option were to be put to a ballot today, it would be a resounding YES for commitment.

Commitments normally start with a brief emergency psychiatric evaluation, followed by potential inpatient treatment, and possibly assisted outpatient treatment after discharge, with a 72-hour hold being a common initial step. We need to act fast, when the tariffs kick in, we may not be able to afford the aluminum foil hats.

Have Some Cake

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche, loosely translates from the French as “Let them eat cake.” While questionably attributed to Marie Antoinette, the time-honored meaning is that it is a callous and insensitive response from a wealthy person discussing the plight of the poor. It highlights the disconnect between privilege and poverty. Between King Trump and his peons.

Most recently, the billionaire Trump-appointed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to questions about the financial setbacks and losses in the economy and a possible recession, and he assured the interviewer that, “It is worth it.” This parallels billionaire president Donald Trump’s claim that we are in a “period of transition,… that is very big,” and that some economic pain will be worth the possibility of some long-term future gain.

Professional economists have long decried tariffs as nothing more than a regressive tax that does more harm than good. Tariffs are considered a regressive tax because they disproportionately burden lower-income individuals and households because they represent a larger percentage of their income compared to higher-income earners. Shifting the tax burdon away from the wealthy has long been a goal..., of the wealthy.

So, when it comes to the fine tuning of an economy that was very healthy on January 20, 2025, who better than a man who has overseen six bankruptcies, to kill the goose laying the golden eggs? Our Man Trump. Yes, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy four times. How you bankrupt a casino is a mystery to most, but Trump managed it three times. The wrecking ball has physically taken down all of Trump’s casinos. He has since moved on and set his sights on the greatest gambling venture of all time, America.

Yes, America and its experiment with democracy was always a gamble. With Trump at the helm, can the wrecking ball be far behind?

Postscript: The folk tale “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs” tells of a farmer who finds his goose lays a golden egg daily. This makes him rich, but his greed leads him to kill the goose, hoping for a large hoard of gold that must be inside the goose, only to find nothing and lose his source of income. Our goose is not yet cooked, but Farmer Trump has hired a madman with a chainsaw and the price of eggs is on the rise. Aesop told this tale in the year 6 BCE.