Trump Policies Screw US Trade

Posted on August 9, 2025 by Dave Bradley

11 minutes

Disruptive. That is what MAGAs like to think of themselves as. Their goal is to disrupt things that are the normal way things are done so they can create opportunities for themselves and their buddies to make some grift when that normalized routine is disrupted. But the people and countries who have built lives around playing by the rules are not going to just sit by and let a tinpot strongman have his way without a fight.

Thus we have what were once two of the United States’ biggest trading partners and allies bonding over a new common enemy – the US. Countries have own stability and consistency to deal with. Reliability and dependability are the price of admittance.

I heard on the radio while on an errand that as of July 31st that the US had no grain contracts for the year. Usually at this time we have 1/2 of the year’s contracts in force, but no one trusts us to deliver at a stated price so they are looking elsewhere. Sadly, I have been unable to find that story. But the following video is in the same vein (21 minutes):

As noted in this video, the midwest will be hurt big time. Will farmers once more be looking to DC and the Trump administration for a huge, huge bailout as they did during the first Felon in The White House Administration (FIWH)? 

We must also note that once we have lost the trust of our customers it will be hard to re-establish our reputations. Would you shop at a store where prices, policies and reliability were at the whim of the company leader? I suspect most of us would raise a finger in their direction and drive on down the road.

Corn is certainly not the only commodity the FIWH’s policy is hurting. As note above Canada and Mexico are working together to drop the US from their trade as much as possible. And of course Canada and Mexico are hardly the only countries seeking alternatives. China is very actively combing all alternatives.

If you haven’t heard, Brazil President Lula de Silva has essentially refused to be shaken down by the FIWH. While it may be impossible for countries to totally cut off trade with the US, they can certainly cut back. When they find new customers and suppliers that are reliable, those countries will be hard pressed to re-establish previous trade ties. 

Therefore after the FIWH has trashed our former systems, it will be very hard to build them again. Who would trust us? After the FIWH is finally removed what’s to say a carbon copy of him won’t be elected in two or three elections? Now that we have breached the line in the sand we will not be trustworthy again for a long time. Not when another countries safety and security depends on us.

Paul Krugman had a great quick analysis of the FIWH’s trade positioning at the current moment in his substack email Thursday:

The Emperor’s New Trade Deal

Tariffs are bad. A deluded president is worse.

On Tuesday Donald Trump went on CNBC to explain why the European Union is facing a tariff of “only” 15 percent. But what he said was simply delusional — and the delusion should be even more concerning than the tariffs.

The Europeans, Trump asserted, had agreed to cough up $600 billion, which he described as a “gift,” not a loan. And he emphasized that this is “$600 billion to invest in anything I want. Anything. I can do anything I want with it.”

So Trump apparently believes that the European Union has agreed to provide him with a personal $600 billion slush fund. (note: my bolding – ed.)

In fact, as I pointed out after the “deal” was announced, the EU agreed to no such thing. In fact, it literally couldn’t have made such an agreement. European nations aren’t command economies in which government can tell the private sector where to invest, and in any case the European Commission, which negotiated with Trump, can’t tell the governments of member states what to do.

So think of it as the emperor’s new trade deal: Trump is strutting around, feeling very impressed with himself, but in substantive terms he’s stark naked.

Does it matter? I’ve seen some commentary to the effect that it doesn’t. Hey, it’s just another Trumpian self-aggrandizing fantasy, like his belief that we have zero inflation, he has a 71 percent approval rating and “people love the tariffs.”

But I don’t think we should feel reassured about Trump’s trade delusions because he’s lost touch with reality across the board.

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Main Street Over Monopolies: U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Scholten Releases “Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us”

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Trish Nelson

Democrat Emphasizes Farm Recession and Need to Revitalize Rural Communities by Prioritizing Main Street Over Monopolies

Ankeny, IA – U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Scholten today rolled out his bold vision to help Iowa’s family farmers confronting a farm recession and consumers facing skyrocketing grocery costs.

Scholten said,

“I’m proud to be the first Senate candidate in the country to lay out my plan on how we fight for a farm and food system that serves the interests of consumers and farmers, not the profits of corporate monopolies. It’s outrageous that while farmers confront dire consolidation on both the input and output side, the Senate has yet to pass a Farm Bill that is desperately needed. Joni Ernst does not see the urgency, but I do. We need to get back to a farm system that values competition and conservation above all else.”

Scholten also noted the Trump Administration’s poor record fighting for farmers, stating, “During the first Trump term, he got rid of USDA’s antitrust agency for ranchers and farmers. He approved the Bayer-Monsanto merger. Now, after corrupt Brazilian meatpacker JBS donated $5 million to his inaugural, he lets them access Wall Street money and says he will no longer prosecute bribery from foreign countries. Previously, JBS was fined $256 million for their bribery crimes in taking over several U.S. companies.”

Scholten noted that the last and only time a Republican Senator in Iowa history has lost his re-election was in 1984 when Tom Harkin defeated Roger Jepsen when the farm economy was also facing a crisis. “I believe rural Iowa has been ignored for far too long by both parties and Iowans everywhere are fed up with being gouged at the grocery store,” he said. “Conditions are now ripe once again for change.”

Scholten’s “Fair Game Plan for Farmers and Us: Main Street over Monopolies” calls for the following:

  • Bust up the Agriculture, Railroad and Food Monopolies and Implement a Strategic Fertilizer Reserve

  • Allow for Right to Repair

  • Reform Commodity Payments so It’s Not Just the Top .01% Benefitting

  • Keep Farmland in Iowa Hands! Ban Foreign Ownership and Reduce Wall Street Buying up Farmland

  • Label Made in USA Food with Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling

  • Invest in Conservation, not “Get Big or Get Out” Policies

  • Allow Easier Entry into Trucking

  • Decentralize the Supply Chain: Invest In Local and Regional Food Systems

  • Reform Checkoff System that Taxes Farmers Unfairly

  • Invest in Homegrown Iowa Energy

  • Stop Overregulation and Eminent Domain Abuses

  • Immigration Reform that Treats Workers Fairly

READ THE FULL PLAN HERE

Watch J.D.’s “You’re Probably Getting Screwed” on the disastrous proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern Railroads HERE

Iowa farmers show support for J.D. plan:

Tony Thompson of New Family Farm said, “As the 4th generation on our family’s farm, I can tell you that the small, diversified operations that built the ag economy in Iowa are nearly extinct. The policies that J.D. is fighting for are what it will take to rebuild our rural economy.”

John Gilbert of Gibraltar Farms noted, “As an athlete, J.D. learned early the importance of fair play, and the critical importance of referees and umpires. He understands that our current economic system is anything but fair for consumers, small businesses, but especially for farmers and rural Iowans. That’s why J.D.’s approach to strengthening farmers’ bargaining position in the marketplace  —  as both buyers and sellers — is the right one for farmers, their neighbors, and all consumers.”

LaVon Griffieon of Griffieon Family Farm, “We haven’t had a Farm Bill pass since 2018 and Washington doesn’t seem to care. Since then, we had the COVID crisis that exposed how fragile our consolidated food system is. One meatpacking plant going down can affect a whole industry’s ability to provide food for consumers! That’s why I believe in J.D.’s call for decentralized supply chains and ways to better connect consumers to farmers with regional food systems.”

David Rosmann of Rosmann Family Farms said, “In the last fifty years, the tight connection of livestock and land was severed. Then in the late 90s, the independent pork industry was all but destroyed. And now, the independent beef industry would be next thanks to four meatpackers controlling the market. This is all thanks to monopolies being allowed to operate as if antitrust laws never existed in this nation. J.D.’s plan is sorely needed for us independent farmers to survive and thrive.”

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Driftless Water Defenders Call For Iowa State Fair Volunteers

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Trish Nelson
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Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Paul Deaton
Hiroshima, Japan after U.S. Nuclear Attack. Photo Credit: The Telegraph

The anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9), found me without useful things to say. Enter President Trump on July 25, “(New START is) not an agreement you want expiring. We’re starting to work on that.” He added, “It’s a problem for the world when you take off nuclear restrictions, that’s a big problem.” This from the president who dismissed the New START arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia as too favorable to Russia during his first term in office.

Talk is cheap. Despite Trump’s statement, no plan or policy to reduce nuclear arms has emerged, according to Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association. The president spoke with Russian President Putin at least six times this year. According to call readouts, the topic of nuclear arms control was not broached. Meanwhile, the recently passed budget reconciliation calls for almost $1 Trillion in nuclear complex spending.

Without clear and sustained efforts by world leaders to prevent nuclear war, our luck in avoiding one may run out.

My worries about nuclear attacks began as a child. Gathered with family in the backyard, we watched the Soviet satellite Sputnik fly over. If they could launch Sputnik, could they send a nuclear bomb to Iowa? In school we performed drills on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Today we pray the president will stop talking about nuclear arms control and do something. It is an open question whether he will.

~First published by the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Aug. 3, 2025.

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“The Vote Is Precious”

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Trish Nelson

Photo courtesy of Emmett Till’s mother Mamie Till Mobley

August 6th is the 60th anniversary of The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

by Molly Regan

I originally wrote this article in 2020 the week US Representative John Lewis passed.

Emmett Till was born July 25, 1941 at Cook County Hospital in Illinois. He was raised in nearby Argo (aka Summit) by his mother Mamie (Carthan) and father Louis Till.  Mamie graduated with honors from Argo High School and met Emmett’s father who came from New Madrid, Missouri.  Mamie suffered abuse, nearly dying from it, at the hands of Louis.  One night after awakening from being choked unconscious and later thankfully waking up, she threw boiling water on him.  Emmett was only a few months old at the time.  A judge gave Till the choice of jail or the Army.  In July 1942, he was inducted into the Army.

Emmett had few visits with his father during the latter’s time in the Army, and his parents later divorced.

When he was six, Emmett was struck with a minor case of polio, resulting in a slight limp and a minor stutter. His mother taught him how to whistle to help him speak better.

Emmett loved to play baseball, ride his bicycle and be with his cousins, aunts and uncles. He listened to the family radio and especially favored watching ‘Lonesome’ George Gobel on their television. His family nicknamed him Bobo, or Bo for short. He loved making others laugh. According to author Elliott J. Gorn in his 2018 book “LET THE PEOPLE SEE”, the young Till is also described as  “ … a bit of a clotheshorse, a passion his mother indulged…”

Emmett Till had dreams.  He spoke of aspiring to be a baseball player in the Major Leagues or possibly a firefighter. The month after young Emmett turned 14, he begged his mother to let him visit relatives in Money, Mississippi.  According to author Gorn:

“Finally Mamie said yes. She and Emmett got to the Englewood Station at Sixty-Third and Woodlawn just in the nick of time.  He almost missed his train, trying to hug his mother and kiss her goodbye.  But he made it, found his uncle and cousin who had boarded at the Twelfth Street Station, and the three of them, Emmett Till, Wheeler Parker, and Moses Wright, rode the Illinois Central — on the train they called the City of New Orleans — through downstate Illinois, past Memphis and into the Mississippi Delta.”

Most of us know, or should know, what happened to young, Black Emmett Till next. Emmett Till never returned to his mother except in a coffin after being beaten, lynched, shot, executed, murdered with barbed wire wrapped around his neck to hold a cotton gin to his body, to weigh him down at the bottom of the Tallahatchie River.

Emmitt Till never got to see the Space Shuttle take off, never heard “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” by the Four Tops, never joyously heard Barack Obama say “Fired Up, Ready To Go!”   His killers were acquitted by a jury of 12 white people in September 1955, less than a month after his murder.

Our beloved community (as U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia called us)  lost another hero July 17, 2020 when Representative Lewis passed at age 80. We will miss his passion, dedication, and clarity of purpose. He became involved in the Civil Rights Movement because of atrocities inflicted upon Black citizens, especially what happened to Emmett Till.

A comet sailed by the Earth that week when Representative John Lewis passed.  The comet was at its closest to us July 23rd in 2020. This small ball of ice and rock was a portal from our past to the future. It links the life of Emmett Till to that of John Lewis, with all of our lives in between. So the next clear evening after dusk look up and view the wondrous heavens.  Feel history pass.  Jump aboard your portal of imagination, and join the battle for justice. That battle continues.

You should now take action in their honor. Shut off the tv. Get off social network for a while.  You don’t have to respond to every comment out there.  When the time comes, request an Absentee Ballot Request (ABR) from your auditor for your county’s local primaries and elections.

.  Help register Democrats to vote and to request their ABR. Find a progressive candidate’s campaign on which to work.  Donate money to them if you can. Speak out about racial injustice, demand voting rights for everyone, write letters to the editors.  Keep going until you cannot go any more. Then take a short rest and a deep breath, think of Emmett Till and Representative John Lewis, and go on some more.

As Representative Lewis said, “ The vote is precious. It’s almost sacred. It’s the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a Democratic society. To preserve it we must get out there, get in the way, get in good trouble. Get in necessary trouble … PUSH!”

You can do it. Our lives and the future of our country depend on you.  Together we will be an unstoppable force.  See: elections.scottcountyiowa.gov/vote for upcoming primaries and elections in Scott County, Iowa, USA.

Updated In Solidarity, Molly Regan, July 2025 Retired CWA Union Steward

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Join A Virtual Discussion Of Environmental Solutions For Iowa

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Trish Nelson


From our inbox: CCI invites you to register for their virtual farm tours via Zoom with special guests you can find out more about by clicking the links below.

Get ready for our third and final stop on the Virtual Farm Tour!

This summer CCI is heading to the farm! Well, kind of. We’re hosting a virtual farm tour series, and we want you to join us!

The future of Iowa does not need to be one of CO2 pipelines and water pollution. Solutions to the problem we face are all around us, including on our farms!

We’re hosting this virtual farm tour to uplift real people who are implementing real solutions on their farms.

Join us on Thursday, August 14 at 6:00pm on Zoom!

Thus far we’ve learned about restoring native grasslands and cover crops as solutions to soil health, water quality and climate change.

Whether or not you were able to join our first stops on the tour, I hope you’ll join us for our final stop this summer to learn about pasture management!

Thursday August 14 from 6-7:30pm – Episode 3: Rotational Grazing and combating climate change!

Featuring: John Hogeland

John Hogeland moved back to Lovilia, Iowa, from California with his wife, Beth Hoffman, to take over as the fifth generation on the family farm. With a background as a butcher and chef, John has transitioned 570 acres of the farm to a grass-fed cattle and goat operation. They use rotational grazing practices and are continuing to add native forages to their system.

It’s going to take all of us to create a better food and farm system – one that works for farmers, workers, eaters, and the environment.

RSVP for the 2025 Virtual Farm Tour today!

For a solution-filled future,
Caitlin Golle
Community Organizer

P.S. You can watch the recording of Episode 1: Prairies over pipelines! here and Episode 2: Soil health, water quality and cover crops – oh my! here.

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Sunday Funday: Lughnasadh And The State Fair Starts Edition

Posted on August 3, 2025 by Dave Bradley

Finally – A MAGA holds a town hall (8 minutes):

You can tell by his shrug to the audience at the beginning of his answer on immigration he really doesn’t care what they think. Like all elected MAGAs his only concern is what one orange man cares. That is who he is playing to. I don’t know if MAGAs have minders like CBS now has, but when they cower in fear to the orange man do they need a minder?

It is August and a time of change. The state fair starts Thursday. This is always the topping to summer in Iowa. When it winds up it is back to school time and all that that entails. August usually brings changes in the weather as humidities and temperatures lower a bit as crops are readied for harvest.

Friday was the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh – the beginning of the harvest season. We will see days get markedly shorter and the air gets crisper and drier. This holiday is celebrated by Celtic folks. The changes in the weather patterns definitely applies here in Iowa.

Yet again, what a week. It feels like the wheels are starting to fall off the wagon.

A) Friday was jobs report day for July. Was it a good report or a bad report?

B) Besides the jobs report for July, job numbers were also revised for May and June. Were those revisions good or bad?

C) Also Friday was the first day of near universal what imposed by the US?

D) Some state fair questions you say? Do you know where and when Iowa’s first state fair was held?

E) This has been a rough summer for old celebrity deaths. What former college mathematics professor and writer and performer of great satirical songs passed last weekend at 97?

F) A self professed compass of moral turpitude what Oklahoma elected official was caught watching pornography on is office TV during an official meeting?

G) What state’s legislature is currently in a special session to ever further gerrymander its congressional districts?

H) Bowing to the authoritarian: What museum revised its exhibition on impeachment to remove reference to the current Felon in the White House?

I) State Fair – Name three other cities where the fair was held before finally landing in Des Moines in 1878?

J) Let’s buy some votes! A recent MAGA scheme involves sending ‘rebate’ checks to Americans from money raised from what?

K) Thanks to a memo from the Office Personnel Management last week, federal workers can now promote their what at work?

L) Critics around the world are charging Israelis are using what inhumane practice as a weapon in their war in Gaza?

M) The largest state fair based on daily attendance is the state fair for what state?

N) A man who killed four people in a midtown Manhattan (NYC) building Monday was targeting what organization?

O) An 8.8 magnitude earthquake – believed to be the biggest ever recorded – took place in what country last week?

P) A man at a Walmart in what Michigan resort city was charged with stabbing 11 customers last week?

Q) The Felon In the White House is trying to repeal the legal basis undergirding what cabinet agency?

R) The latest university to bow to the Felon In the White House is what?

S) July 30, 1975 – fifty years ago last Wednesday – was the last known sighting of what notorious labor leader?

T) What is the percentage of people who attend Iowa’s state fair compared to Iowa’s population approximately?

BONUS) Cecile Dionne died this week at age 91. Her claim to fame was for being a member of what unlikely group?

In another shocking finding, Kamala Harris never met Jeffrey Epstein. – Andy Borowitz

This just simply makes me laugh every time I see it:

Answers:

A) a bad report. Only 73,000 jobs created about 25% below the expected 100,000

B) really bad – June was revised down from 147,000 to 14,000 and May revised down from 144,000 to 19,000

C) Tariffs

D) The first state fair was in Fairfield in 1854

E) Tom Lehrer. “Vatican Rag” anybody?

F) Ryan Walters – Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction

G) Texas 

H) The Smithsonian. Do you remember the George Orwell quote on controlling the past?

I) Muscatine, Oskaloosa, Iowa City, Dubuque, Burlington, Clinton, Keokuk and Cedar Rapids.

J) Tariffs. But tariffs were also supposed to replace the huge tax cuts for the rich. Remember tariffs are a type of sales tax

K) religion – that should make for great workplace camaraderie

L) Starvation

M) Minnesota – I believe Iowa is second

N) the NFL – he claimed he had CTE from playing football as a youth

O) Russia on the Kamchatka peninsula 

P) Traverse City

Q) the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency

R) Brown University

S) Jimmy Hoffa

T) about 36% 

BONUS) Cecile was one of the Dionne quintuplets (all girls) born in Canada in May of 1934.  At the time they were the only known surviving quints. One sister still survives. I was unable to post a picture of the quints. You can see a picture of them at the link.

That “OBAMA TREASON” story melted away faster than ice cubes in an oven. –Alex Cole

Tip of the hat to democraticunderground.com

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | 1 Comment

Authoritarian Control By The Current Administration

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Dave Bradley

Robert Reich discusses the Trump control techniques (1 minute):

Robert Reich’s Thursday substack email focuses on how the Felon In the White House (FIWH) has concentrated his power over our society by using the power of his office to squeeze (I would say extort) various sectors of our society and extracting concessions. Please read the whole post here:

I will extract some portions to illustrate the points that Reich makes. 

In what had to be one of the most widely followed public extortions was the caving of Paramount – parent of CBS tv – to the FIWH in return for the approval of Paramount’s merger with Sky Dance. Paramount paid what is basically bribes and then made concessions that seem unreal in what is supposed to be a democratic society with free speech:

Start with CBS. It’s now owned by Skydance Media. Under its Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission insisted, as a condition of allowing Paramount to sell CBS to Skydance, that the new owner install an “ombudsman.”

What will that ombudsman do? According to Skydance Media’s agreement with the FCC, the ombudsman will “receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS” for at least two years.

Yep, you read that right – CBS news gets a ‘minder’ or babysitter – from the government. Reich then discusses what this means:

If the ombudsman then decides that any complaint of bias or other concern is justified, CBS will have to remedy it. If the ombudsman decides that CBS has not remedied it, Skydance Media’s new president, David Ellison, must do so.

If Ellison does not remedy it — or if Trump believes the problem continues, regardless of what the ombudsman decides — the Trump regime can claim that CBS has reneged on its agreement, in which case Skydance’s ownership of CBS could be contested by the FCC. Its stock price would plummet.

Reich then goes on to show how the FIWH has used the power of his office to extract similar concessions for other sectors of our society. Perhaps most of you join me in shuddering as we watch universities cower in humiliation when the likes of Columbia and just this week Brown University. Brown agreed to a $50 million extortion from the current administration.

In his substack Reich makes this analysis of the Columbia cave to the administration:

Just like the CBS agreement, the Columbia agreement gives final power to the Trump regime. It allows the regime to maintain control over Columbia by holding a cudgel over the university. As Linda McMahon, Trump’s secretary of education, told Fox Business, “This is a monumental victory for conservatives who wanted to do things on these elite campuses for a long time because we had such far-left-leaning professors.”

You see the pattern? Veto power over strategic decisions. Ombudsmen. Monitors.

Reich concluded with this very powerful observation:

I’m old enough to remember when conservative Republicans stood for limited government and accused Democrats of wanting too much government. No longer.

We’re now at a point in American history when a so-called Republican regime in Washington is extending its control far beyond the wildest dreams of the most left-wing of Democrats — or even socialists.

But this control is not exercised publicly. It’s behind the scenes. It’s found in the fine print. And it is personal. It depends on Trump’s whims.

This is what fascist control looks like, people.

I thought I was seeing a bit of groveling by NPR, but I just heard a great report from them on the FIWH’s breaking of norms. Hopefully, they are just tuning up for a fight.

I do know that while I probably cannot totally rule Paramount/ CBS out of my life it will be a very cold day in hell when I turn them on.

I also know that I will not trust any news source that has kowtowed to the FIWH. Americans  simply can not trust CBS or ABC for something as precious as their news, knowing that those companies are fearful of the FIWH and have shown they are by paying him bribes.

Remember that the truth has a liberal bias. Thus the truth will not be welcome on companies that bow to the authoritarian.

Democracies must have unvarnished news in order to function. We have seen this kind of control creep in to once solid democracies such as Hungary. This is stage one of autocracies.

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Hey MAGAs! Trump Raises Your Taxes By 15%+

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Dave Bradley

And MAGA Republicans Cheer!

Neal Katyal explains why what Trump (aka “the Felon In the White House or FIWH) has done is illegal (10 minutes):

HEY MAGAs! Your taxes just went up. As best as I can understand the FIWH just raised all of our taxes by essentially imposing what is a sales tax on purchases of items that come into our country from foreign sources. The FIWH has imagined OUR country is in some kind of an emergency and taxing the populous through imposing tariffs is his answer.

How does that fit into your world views, MAGAs? Aren’t you all in favor of ‘free’ trade and low taxes. Now through some sleight of hand you have been trickeried into paying higher taxes by your current deity, the FIWH.

Who saw that one coming? Even though we are caught by the same rules I have to laugh at the MAGAs who voted for this. Killing free trade and raising taxes! Way to go! 

This is hardly the only time the FIWH has tricked his followers. Just a couple weeks ago the congressional MAGAs drastically inflated the national debt (that he promised not to do) while raising taxes and dramatically cutting services for the poor and middle class – that he also promised not to do. Boy is this guy ever a liar. Boy does he ever make fools of his followers!

BTW – I am writing a day before the August first deadline for tariffs to go into effect from damn near every country in the world. If the FIWH pulls his TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) routine in the next two days this column still goes up because the FIWH is really screwing with every citizens economics by playing games with his tariff threats.

And do not forget that what he is doing is highly illegal – highly illegal! As noted in the video above what congress is the only branch of government that has the power to deal with tariffs. But our totally gutless MAGA congress ran away rather than standing up to deal with real problems. How can these MAGA congress critters stand without a spine.

I had a Republican congress member long ago that we are a country of laws. Now his party mocks the law at every turn and the followers cheer them on. Even when they get royally screwed.

Up to this point the effects of tariffs have been somewhat minimal as the FIWH has chickened out on most of his threats on tariffs or businesses have absorbed the cost. But led by P&G last week it looks like businesses will no longer absorb the tariffs. Bing! Here comes the inflation!

Sounds like yet another FIWH delusion about to be shattered. Do you feel it Iowa MAGAs? And you can’t complain to your congress members because:

A) you voted for it and 

B) They are worthless and much more scared of one man (FIWH) than they are scared of half a million of you.

So belly up and pay those higher taxes. By the way remember that a billion taxpayer dollars will be going to upgrade the plane that the FIWH got as a bribe from Saudi Arabia for his birthday. Doesn’t that make you feel good?

And remember that some 150,000 government employees are being paid for not working. That should make you feel good about the FIWH too. 

Update – looks like the TACO man has already backed down to Mexico. Of course that does not mean businesses won’t be raising their prices. Getting jerked around like an abused child has costs also.

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Following The Money: Epstein’s Crimes

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Trish Nelson

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