A Weak, Truculent Bully, Trump Wants To Drag The U.S. Into A Trade War Against Half The World

This Is What Happens When Idiots Elect An Insecure Sociopath President

Trump’s tariff bluff against Mexico and Canada, our two biggest trading partners (China is #3), may be diffusing after some personal diplomacy— a phone call with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and a Justin Trudeau visit to Mar-a-Lago, where Trump serenaded him with “YMCA” and “Hallelujah.” 

Yesterday, Josh Wingrove reported that the two claim they “committed to working to address the border and fentanyl smuggling,” issues that Trump claims are why he’s threatening a massive tariffs that would be disastrous for both countries. “Trump, in a Truth Social post on Saturday, called their dinner Friday night at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida a ‘very productive meeting’ and made no mention of his earlier 25% tariff threat. ‘I made it very clear that the United States will no longer sit idly by as our citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic, caused mainly by the Drug Cartels, and Fentanyl pouring in from China,’ he said. ‘Prime Minister Trudeau has made a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation of US Families.’… Trump gave no specific indication at the dinner of whether he’d proceed with his tariff plans, one official said. At one point, Trump began choosing a playlist, offering two versions of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah— a nod to the Canadian delegation— and playing other songs that were common at his rallies. Trump and Trudeau ate steak and mashed potatoes, while other menu options included meatloaf from a recipe by Mary Trump, the president-elect’s late mother.”

Fentanyl seized by U.S. customers agent last year:

• Mexican border- 21,100 pounds

• Canadian border- 43 pounds

Border patrol arrests:

• Mexican border- 56,530 individuals

• Canadian border- 23,721 individuals

Meanwhile. Sheinbaum denied proposing to Trump that Mexico will close its border, a lie he posted on his social media site. “Everyone has their own way of communicating, but I can assure you, I give you the certainty that we would never— and we would be incapable of it— propose that we would close the border,” she said at a press conference on Thursday. “It has never been our approach and of course we don’t agree with that.”

He sounds almost sane; he isn’t. On Saturday— aside from announcing he’s making Kash Patel head of the FBI— he threatened to slap 100% tariffs on all products from the 9 BRICs countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members). The value of the trade between the U.S. and the 9 current BRICs countries is estimated to be as high as $1.3 trillion. 

Reporting for the Associated Press, Fatima Hussein wrote that “While the U.S. dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed up with America’s dominance of the global financial system. The dollar represents roughly 58% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves, according to the IMF and major commodities like oil are still primarily bought and sold using dollars. The dollar’s dominance is threatened, however, with BRICS’ growing share of GDP and the alliance’s intent to trade in non-dollar currencies— a process known as de-dollarization.”