"Me, Me, Me" Politics is Dooming our Future - Trump Tariffs Edition

Everyone wants major change until it hits them in the portfolio, but without short-term pain, there is no long-term gain, or perhaps no future at all for American posterity.

Many on the “right side” of the American political equation are fond of mocking the left’s constant manufactured meltdowns, but I fear they have little ground to stand on when it comes to how they themselves react to short term setbacks or transition points. Countless thousands of Trump-supporting Americans cheered Liberation Day as President Trump dished out tariffs, nation after nation. Within 36 hours, social media is flooded with people damning Trump to hell, crying about their investments, and responding like cats chasing laser pointers to short-term headlines.

Before I proceed into my main thoughts about the “Me, Me, Me” mindset, let me remind everyone – the stock market is not the economy. Sure, the stock market may contain some information about the state of the economy over the long run, but daily volatility is nothing more than noise caused by investors shifting money around, taking money out, or waiting to see when they should reinvest (buy the dip). The most successful companies, if you read Good to Great, are those that increase their stock values over the long run by practicing consistently great ways of running their businesses. Likewise, the best investors identify sound companies with great services or product, invest in them, and ride the waves, rather than wielding money like madmen and day trading themselves into ruin.

I had a front row seat to market manipulation in early November 2024, when Ann Selzer released a phony poll showing Trump losing Iowa to Kamala Harris by three points. You know, the same state Trump won by at least 8.2% in each of his first two runs, right before all 99 counties went off on a Republican registration surge heading into 2024. I discussed my hypothesis immediately, and knew it was a play to tank the betting markets, especially on Trump’s odds of taking Iowa’s political cousin Wisconsin, and open up a narrative window to cover for election manipulation there (“well, we had polling showing Trump losing ground in the Upper Midwest right before Election Day!”).

I posted my opinion about Trump’s tariffs on Truth Social yesterday, and received the following response (my response also included):

The same person responded to my post, telling me I’m being insensitive and that they voted for Trump, registered voters for him, and were his biggest supporters - and they didn’t deserve their portfolio tanking in exchange for their support of him. This prompted a blanket post about the big picture, which I posted on Telegram and Truth Social.

The above post is hard truth. First off, if you’re reading this and upset about your portfolio today, my point isn’t to tell you to suck it up, nor is it to rip on seniors. The point comes down to the same thing it always has – that the cause for freedom wasn’t eroded in a day, and it won’t be righted in a day. There are setbacks along the journey, and we got here because we took too many shortcuts and absorbed too many unfair retaliatory measures in our affluence to sustain future generations in prosperity.

I’ve seen Reagan’s 1987 address on trade, which condemns tariffs, making the rounds. Classical “conservatives,” the ones who failed to lead the GOP for 30 years when given the chance, are polishing off their “at least the GOP will be cleansed of Trump” doom quips, celebrating a downturn in the market over the imposition of tariffs. One doesn’t need to trash Reagan to support Trump – Reagan was a great president for his time and one who should be fondly remembered for his role in revitalizing the economy and practically ending the Cold War.

What I will say is that the Ronald Reagan of the 1980s would have had no idea about the consequences of globalism. China was on its knees, Russia was locked behind the iron curtain, and many European nations were continuously dividing themselves into smaller states. Mexico was a backwater, and America was soaring atop the world at a point exactly halfway between the end of World War II and the present day. In short, the 1980s were a long damn time ago politically speaking. I was not long out of diapers when Reagan made his address.

Times have changed, and America’s “leaders” have sold our country out to foreign interests. Yesterday, my 18-year-old stepdaughter received a lesson in exactly what tariffs are supposed to do and as a bonus, learned what the “Rust Belt” is and why it got that name after awful modern trade arrangements have destroyed and impoverished entire regions of our country. Classical conservatism be damned, most of the founding fathers supported the use of tariffs as a means of generating revenue for the federal government, which didn’t confiscate the wealth of citizens until 1913.

A number of countries or entities jacked up tariffs on the U.S. in recent years, especially to adjust to the arrival of Trumpism. Here are a few shining examples of tariffs levied against us: