Trump is now openly feuding with his party as tariffs trigger ruptures within Republican ranks

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06 June 2019

Donald Trump is the man who knew more about ISIS than the generals, more about renewable energy than any human being on earth, and more about technology than simply anybody. So it only makes sense that he understands trade better than everyone else put together. In fact, he’s already said that too.

So when Republican senators let him know that they don’t agree with the idea of slapping a tariff on everything coming from Mexico, Trump initially called them “foolish” and has now moved on to explaining that those who have been dealing with this issue for decades, and who happen to belong to a party—his party—in which opposition to tariffs is a long-standing principle, just “have no idea that they’re talking about.”

TPM reported that Trump not-so-surprisingly used the 75th anniversary of D-Day as an opportunity to insult everyone who disagreed with his plan to shove a massive consumer tax onto the American public because … no particular reason. “We’ve told Mexico the tariffs go on,” said Trump. “And I mean it, too. And I’m very happy with it. And lot of people, senators included, they have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to tariffs. They have no, absolutely no idea.”

And then Trump conducted a session on basic economics. Pay close attention. Trump University is in session. “When you have the money,” explained Trump, “when you have the product, when you have the thing that everybody wants, you’re in a position to do very well with tariffs, and that’s where we are,” he continued. “We’re the piggybank. The United States is the piggybank. It has all the money that others want to take from us, but they’re not taking it so easy anymore. It’s a lot different.”

Well, actually, it would be Mexico that has the products. If both the money and the products were in the United States, then tariffs would not be an issue. And that business of “others wanting to take from us” our money would be called buying things.

These are tough ideas from someone whose standard deal process is make deal, get product, refuse to pay, go to court. But for most people and companies, most of the time, when they get something, they have to pay for it. Now they’ll simply be paying more for those things. Thanks to Trump.

Trump followed up with a pair of tweets in which he blamed Mexico and Democrats for the immigration crisis he has instigated. How Trump will launch tariffs against Democrats, other than by promoting policies that suppress votes and encourage gerrymandering, isn’t clear. But don’t worry: He’ll figure it out. He’s the smartest at everything.

For a refresher, a Washington Post article from back in January listed a few of the things that Trump claimed to understand better than anyone else in the world, including agriculture, Osama bin Laden, the court system, the monetary system, guns, visas, infrastructure, law, solar power, nuclear war, drones, steelworkers, shale oil, and wedges. Yes, wedges.

“I know more about wedges than any human being that’s ever lived,” said Trump.

But it did leave out a few. Such as TV ratings, infrastructure, campaign finance, andSenator Cory Booker. And you have to hand it to Trump: That’s an amazing amount of knowledge for an idiot.