Trump Makes a Big Bet on America

Trump's "Liberation Day" Arrives

Every event now feels like a wag the dog in every direction. On Trump’s side, he attempts to wrestle the media narrative away from the bloated, corporate oligarchy that now controls our so-called “free press.” Here is his own aspirational view of today’s announcement on how tariffs will revive the economy:

I like Trump’s big bet on America. I have always felt this way, even as a Democrat back when my party cared about building back our emptied out manufacturing industry.

Meanwhile, the press is ready to make it all seem like imminent doom on Wall Street. Narrative shaping is how people win elections in this country, maybe every country, but it still drives me nuts. You hate Trump, we get it.

Tariffs are complicated and have a long history in our young country. They divided us in the run-up to the Civil War, as a depression a few decades earlier put tariffs front and center: do they help or hurt a depressed economy. For the history of that, here are two unbiased takes on YouTube:

Bill Clinton was credited, I do believe, with that “giant sucking sound,” per Ross Perot, that essentially sold out this country to revive the economy. We, as Democrats, took the win. Here was Ross Perot telling it like it is.

Even if Trump’s critics are right and it will hurt the economy, I appreciate Trump’s big bet on America. It is exactly the kind of big change we need. The only question is whether it will succeed or fail for Trump and MAGA.

The Democrats have NO PLAN. Nothing. They have no way of digging us out except bigger government. They want both open borders and Medicare for All. They want to do this by taxing their favorite enemy, “billionaires.” At least those that don’t support their pet causes and candidates. They like them just fine.

I also think that the alliance with Elon Musk, no matter how aspirational it has been for both of them, gives the Democrats an easy enemy to sell to the people. It’s so ugly and cynical to watch them cosplay populism with nothing to offer us in return but that is what they are now. Elon is taking the hit, which is deflecting from Trump, but it also makes it harder for Trump to sell his populist message.

I know I spend a lot of time complaining about the Democrats. Much of that is due, quite frankly, to what they’ve done to our culture — not them specifically, but the massive alignment of power that defines their movement. They are not the party of the working class anymore. They don’t have any kind of big, bold vision for America except to turn it into the Woketopia it already was before Trump kicked down the wall to the castle.

Either way, I think Trump has the best intentions here and has always been supportive of bringing America’s manufacturing base back. However, those videos of what happened last time, in the run-up to the Civil War do contain within them a warning. If the tariffs make the economy worse, that gives the Democrats everything they need to make a Bill Clinton-like pitch to the public to say, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Here is Trump’s architect on tafiffs, Bob Lighthizer, explaining it to Tucker Carlson.

Here is Kevin O’Leary’s take:

Here is what I know for sure: however it works out, the corporate press will paint it as a failure. They are doing now what they did all through Trump’s first term - shaping public opinion to take him out of power and put themselves back in power.

I wish I did not see it this way. I wish we could find a way to bet on the future of America as one country. But we are at war. It’s not a hot Civil War this time, although it kind of is if you count the Tesla protests and the inreasing violence on the Left, but it’s a war all the same.

The event can be seen live here:

What are your thoughts on Tariffs?