A Dictator on Day One (Part 4): 30% Tariffs. $400 Million Jets.

King Trump is on a roll. The media falls for his 3-card monty tricks yet again.

In the news today: Trump aides mustered up enough guts to tell the boss that his tariffs with China were hurting his most loyal MAGA voters first and foremost.

First of all, duh. I guess they locked Peter Navarro out of the room so that they could explain tariffs in a way that an 8th grader could understand.

Second of all, this reveals that the reduction of tariffs to 30% for all things imported from China had nothing to do with negotiations with China. Trump went into a room with Stephen Miller and came out later with 145% tariffs against China (really against American consumers who will actually pay the bill.) Then, a few weeks later, Trump went into a room with Stephen Miller, found out he was punishing his MAGA voters and so, he changed the number to 30%. He said the reason was that China agreed to stop sending fentanyl to the USA illegally. We already knew that China, the government, had nothing to do with fentanyl from China intended for big pharma companies getting diverted and smuggled in for illegal purposes.

Third of all, Trumps game of 3-card monty worked yet again. The news media and Wall Street reacted as if 30% tariffs with China was a wonderful outcome. This outcome sucks for the American consumer in the middle and lower income ranges. But, by comparison to 145% (just a number invented out of thin air), 30% seems like a good thing. Trump is smart like that.

Trump is on a roll this week. He is being treated like the King/Strongman/Dictator that he believes he is by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

There is no published agenda for this trip regarding the diplomatic objectives of the president. This is a transactional trip to complete commercial negotiations, some of which are government-to-government deals and some of which are government-to-Trump Organization deals. This is not a secret. It is blatantly obvious that Trump and his sons are very proud of this trip. They are bragging about the worst grifting in the history of nation state leaders in the history of modern nation states. At the same time, Elon Musk’s companies are getting a helluva nice business trip too.

Trump was the first to tell us that Qatar wants to gift him a $400 million jet to be used as Air Force One and then transferred to Trump’s non-profit presidential library after he leaves office.

Trump broke the news at the start of this trip because he knew it would become the bright shiny object that the news media and members of Congress would get all upset about.

Trump accepting a $400 million bribe is outrageous, but by comparison to the damage he is doing to our economy, to our Constitution, and to the rule of law in the USA, this is a trivial matter.

For example: when was the last time you heard outrage over the situation involving Kilmar Ábrego García. He is still sitting in an ungodly El Salvador prison but now he and his family realize that they have been forgotten. Judges, even the Supreme Court, have demanded that the Federal government gets this man back on our soil but nobody has done anything when the Trump’s administration reacted by telling the judicial branch of government to go fuck themselves.

Nope. That last paragraph was just an awkward reminder of what our nation has become under a dictator. Instead, we focus on a stupid jet, that is a stupid idea, that violates the law and common sense but which, at the end of the day, we will do nothing to stop if Trump wants it enough.

Trump can take a Boeing 757 modified to be a King’s palace and Trump can detain any citizen or US resident that he wants to punish using his personal militia called ICE. He can do both with impunity. He is a dictator by definition even if we all cling to some kind of denial about this.

Trump might not understand the difference between a trade deficit and a budget deficit but he sure as hell knows how to play us every damned time.