WDDDDT? #47 AKA ERROR #2: UNCERTAINTY
April 3, 2025: DAY 74 of 100
As we await the 4 PM (4/2/25) Presidential Press conference announcing the proposed tariffs one must remember that DONALD J. TRUMP was a graduate of the prestigious WHARTON SCHOOL of BUSINESS @ PENN STATE. After graduating, he learned his lessons from ROY COHN who instructed a youthful DAFFY DON on THE GOLDEN RULE “always attack, never apologize, and lie until everyone believes you.” Later in life, The Former Real Estate Agent wrote (1987) a book, “The Art Of The Deal”. So, here it (the tariffs) comes as promised and most expected. We, The US, will slam other countries (maximum effect), await their response, and then ,”The Art of The Deal” kicks in, as the US renegotiates their tariffs to our tariffs aka “you lower yours, we lower ours”.
It is 4 PM, the Dow held its own, the 10 Yr T rose a tad, NASDAQ/ S&P all good…hmmm. Let’s hear what “da man” has to say…
Starts at 4:08 PM on time: It’s Liberation Day- “make America wealthy again”, from friend and foe alike we offer reciprocal tariffs, “at our expense” others got rich( I loved that one, truth be told), non- monetary barriers to be removed (unfair rules), foreign trade barrier, a
“2.5% tariffs on cars/ motorcycles” where others charge us more, a 25% on foreign autos at midnight, concerns about farm/dairy from Canada, subsidize $200 B to Canada and 300 B to Mexico must go do. A minimal 10% tariff on all. Hmmmm…but he said egg prices are down???, NAFTA is bad (he signed it originally or am I mistaken)…
So, now after a great start to a speech, a few missteps, I feel a fact check (WaPo 4/3/25) is in order and we know how “The boss of everyone and everything” feels about fact checking. Keep in mind of Daffy Don’s mentor the criminal known as ROY COHN’s GOLDEN RULE “always attack, never apologize, and lie until everyone believes you.”
1….”but now it’s our turn to prosper and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt.”
FALSE: Not only will tariffs be unlikely to reduce the budget deficit — especially if the economy sinks — but it’s a fantasy to suggest the national debt can be paid with tariffs.
2. “The United States charges other countries only a 2.4 percent tariff on motorcycles. Meanwhile, Thailand and others are charging much higher prices, like 60 percent, India charges 70 percent…
SUSPECT: Harley-Davidson already got around that duty by assembling in India most of the motorcycles sold in the country.
For more than 50 years the U.S. has imposed a 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks. That’s much higher than the European tariff on cars.
The European Union is the largest export market for the U.S., and if the Europeans retaliate, that will be a big loss for American manufacturers.
3.“Toyota sells 1 million foreign made automobiles into the United States, and General Motors sells almost none. Ford sells very little. None of our companies are allowed to go into other countries.”
MISLEADING: American cars have fared poorly in Japan because the Japanese prefer smaller, more fuel-efficient models. Chinese like American cars, which are allowed to be sold there.General Motors sold more cars in China (2023) than in the U.S., but sales have fallen because China has developed a preference for electric cars — where GM has lagged.
4.“Canada, by the way, imposes a 250 to 300 percent tariff on many of our dairy products…”
BRAIN FREEZE: The high dairy tariff was largely eliminated in Trump’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement during his first term.
5. “And with countries like Canada, you know, we subsidize a lot of countries and keep them going and keep them in business. In the case of Mexico, it’s $300 billion a year. In the case of Canada, it’s close to $200 billion a year.”
POOR MATH SKILLS: Including NATO subsidiaries the 2024 deficit in trade in goods and services with Canada was about $45 billion. The trade deficit with Mexico was about $172 billion in 2024.
6. (My favorite)“Then in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government. Then in 1929, it all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression, and it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy, it would have been a much different story.”
TOTAL HORSESHIT: The income tax was intended to shift the burden to wealthier Americans as the cost of tariffs fall mainly on lower-income people. Tax revenue was also considered a more stable source of funds.
7.“Apple is going to spend $500 billion. They never spent money like that here.”
TAKING THE CREDIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE: This was Biden’s deal. APPLE pledged $430 billion over five years, cost adjusted to $525 billion for this year. THE FABRICATOR AT LARGE takes the credit as many of his MAGA MORONS never check the facts.
8. “If you look at China, I took in hundreds of billions of dollars in my term.”
GIMME AN “F” for Math: First term, The ORANGE GUY’s (he did have a different tone those years) records indicate his reign brought in $75 billion raised on Chinese goods by the end of his first regime. MINUS, $28 billion to bail out US farmers harmed by the loss of business to other countries when China retaliated…equals 47 Billion, a slight difference from his “hundreds of billions”.
and lastly…
9.“They [China] never paid 10 cents to any other president, and yet they paid hundreds of billions.”
HE FAILS HISTORY ALSO: Tariffs have been collected on Chinese goods since the early days of the Republic. President George Washington signed the Tariff Act of 1789, when trade between China and the U.S. was already established. Tariffs on China generated at least $8 billion every year since 2009.
So, What’s happening?
The Market is taking a shitter, reds across the board, down more than 3% (I freak at anything over 1%)… eggs (he lied )are still too high, a new record at $5.90 a dozen… and his idiot son (VP) with three names JD Whatever (aka James DONALD Bowman- James DAVID Hamel, now for the time being, James Davis Vance/JD) claims patience on Thursday morning as it will take time for Americans to see benefits from this sweeping new tariff plan. Meanwhile, THE GOLFER AT LARGE is heading to travel to his golf club in the Miami area, which is hosting a LIV golf event. And we know how much that costs the taxpayer each weekend.
Aaron Levenstein said it best and paraphrased by many: “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”
GOLDEN RULE “always attack, never apologize, and lie until everyone believes you.”
Me, fact check, fact check and fact check one more time…
Oh, Ye, gentle mistresses and most distinguished gentlemen, and others… The opinions and observations are solely my own views, and I take full responsibility for any errors of fact, not to mention any predictions that prove to be wildly inaccurate.
