Trump is basically a used car salesman with ego and anger management issues; he habitually pretends that everything is great and under control when it isn’t. As a result, he continues to tell us that only foreigners pay his tariffs and that they are making us rich. In keeping with the party line, an NYT column written by Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, says almost nothing about price increases and assures us they will be minimal and transitory.
Right. If Trump could be honest about his tariffs for just a few seconds and tell us that the short-term pain will be more than justified by the long-term gain, the American public might be more understanding. As it is, an electorate that has become more sensitive to inflation over the last few years and remembers Trump’s promises to bring prices down during the campaign will be more inclined to believe its eyes than the president’s sales patter.