Friends, pretty soon the Supreme Court will be in a position to rule on the constitutionality of President Trump's sweeping (and sometimes rather fickle) tariffs on a host of countries. If SCOTUS pulls the rug out from under Trump, a vast, and lucrative, architecture of tariffs will come crashing down. Probably Trump could reconstruct parts of it by other means, but billions in revenue would have to be refunded, and, more importantly, Trump himself would be humbled and other countries would take his threats much less seriously. I don't know anything about the legality and constitutionality of tariffs, but I would hate to see DJT emasculated at this critical hour!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4jyk9jyv3o
In other news, something is happening in the polls: Trump's popularity/favorability is flagging. Why now, though? The MSM despises him, sure, but nothing new there. Is it shutdown related? Maybe. Are economic and employment worries coming home to roost? Possibly. Has the anti-Trump hate machine simply dialed up its intensity, because it's election season? Could be. Whatever the cause, unfortunately these trends mean that Republicans are less likely to win big on Tuesday, and they may not win anywhere. Brace yourself for some progressive smugness, therefore!
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/approval-rating
Dr. Waddy from Jack: But, but wait: Trump is a dictator is he not and since when do dictators submit their decrees to a forum of berobed legal academics?! Why any dictator (say like Hillary) would have made of such a body a rubber stamp for his policies even if he had tolerated its very presence in HIS country. So there.
ReplyDeleteI think President Trump's main purpose in the very effective use of tariffs is to correct imbalances in our trade relations countenanced in the past by apologists for U.S. economic and productive prowess. He has also used them to exert "friendly persuasion". He knows that when we refrain from such use, other, far less benevolent countries ,will be pleased to do so. Power truly does "abhor a vacuum" in this less than ideal world.
The "American" far left, devoted as it is to the "fundamental transformation "of an "erring and evil America" , holds American economic power, the engine of the blessedly highest standard of living ever known on this old earth, to be , by definition, condemned by its failure to relent in the face of Marx's irrefutable vision of a scientifically guaranteed "just" future and Lenin's murderous urging of " well why wait for the inevitable , let's force it now!" Of course that view got a thorough trial in the 20th century and was more than proven catastrophically wrongheaded . Its advocacy today in those who choose to do so, is indicative of , at best, smoky dorm room baloney and at worst of knowingly totalitarian intent.
Those national decision makers who have already acceded to President Trump's proposals for more "equitable" trade relations, have affirmed in their cooperativeness the wisdom of our President, who is tempered by his life with a visceral understanding of the ways of this often unforgiving world and of the inevitable dynamics of power. What good fortune for the world (and many of these leaders know it) that such strength accrues to the proven most benevolent big power in world history.
I do not at all mean to suggest that businesses negatively effected by President Trump's tariff policies are foot soldiers for the America hating far left. Far from it: they affirm the maxim "the business of America is business". I would suggest that for a limited time those businesses caught off guard and undeservedly disadvantaged by the President's tariff policies be indemnified by the U. S.
I'm confident that should Scotus disable the President's tariff policy(s) he will find other ways to alleviate the trade imbalances so very long and cynically worked upon our overgenerous country. And he will identify other means of applying persuasive U.S. power to situations inviting or requiring our intervention. "America first" is his maxim and that is a principle which has often worked to the benefit of the world.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Smugness is the right word, especially if the dem marionettes for the far left win some executive positions, say like Mayor of NYC or some Governorships. But smugness is also one of their major weaknesses. "Ahh see! Normality is returning. Maga is resoundingly discredited and obviously headed for mucho trouble in the coming year. We have a MANDATE to intensify the resistance in order to prepare for our restoration and the marginalization of Trumpian insanity!"
ReplyDeletePresident Trump has the advantage of not being eligible for reelection and he has a very clear vision of what he aims to accomplish yet in his remaining three years in office. He wouldn't have sacrificed a luxurious and relatively carefree retirement without being grimly determined to make a big difference. He fully recognizes the existential threat to all that America cherishes posed by an ever increasingly openly marxist coterie which has cuckooed one of two major parties. He is determined to decisively repel it, for good.
He'll step on alot of toes doing it with the Happy Warrior verve he brings to the fray. His incidental oververbosity conveys a very misleading impression of recklessness and thoughtlessness which costs him among many of good will. And of course his reflexive castigators make haste to emphasize this in order to mask their own expressive demagoguery("Kavanaugh, you are going to reap the whirlwind! . . . ") and the childish pouting tantrums they display in Congress.
Yes, there are the midterms and '28 to consider but Donald Trump is a take charge guy who, I think, wants to take full advantage of the power he has and the perhaps one time only opportunity it provides to defeat the America hating far left's resolve to subject our country to Marxist totalitarianism.
Well, I agree with Trump's tariffs, in the main, and I think a recalibration of our trading relations with many countries was long overdue. Having said all that, Trump's use of tariffs has been messy at times, and he has leveled them for various reasons...sometimes merely because he's offended by something said or done. That leaves him open to a charge of presidential frivolity. Possibly, though, SCOTUS's views may not matter much, because the President can find a variety of means to justify tariffs, and this president surely will.
ReplyDeleteIndemnify businesses "undeservedly disadvantaged" by tariffs? I don't know how you would decide who "deserves" what, and I don't know where you'd find the money, except by Congressional action. No, I'm afraid that dog won't hunt.
Jack, I hope you are right that DJT will keep his foot on the accelerator and make America as great as humanly possibly, as quickly as possible. I see nothing whatsoever to be gained from any sort of tactical retreat.