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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(12,420 posts)
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 05:56 AM Nov 15

Pro-Trump owner shocked as grocery store that thrived for 43 years goes bankrupt under his tariffs and policies



A beloved family-run grocery store in Florida may soon close its doors after more than four decades in business — and the owners say tariffs are to blame.

Wong Kai Imports, founded in 1983 by John Wong and his two brothers after their family immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong, has been a cornerstone for the local community in Manatee County. The shop became a go-to destination for authentic Asian ingredients in an area with few other markets like it.


Wong, who supported Trump in the last election, said he was swayed by campaign promises to reduce grocery costs. But now, as his business struggles to stay afloat, he admits the reality looks very different. Grocery inflation is at a two-year high, and prices continue to climb with no end in sight.Small business consulting


Wong told NPR that virtually all of his products have increased in price since early this year. For instance, a box of mabo tofu sauce — a popular Sichuan dish — has gone from $2.75 last year to $3.95 at the beginning of this year. “We just had this shipment come in yesterday — it’s $5. We cannot catch up. Every shipment coming in, we have to put a new price on it,” Wong said.

https://wtfdetective.blog/pro-trump-owner-grocery-store-bankrupt-under-tariffs/
54 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Pro-Trump owner shocked as grocery store that thrived for 43 years goes bankrupt under his tariffs and policies (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd Nov 15 OP
Oh my UpInArms Nov 15 #1
These people chose poorly..... FarPoint Nov 15 #2
duh poozwah Nov 15 #21
yep...to Wong Foo...with love.... democratsruletheday Nov 15 #44
Trump was supposed to ruin and destroy everyone else. Not them. Irish_Dem Nov 15 #3
Good BeerBarrelPolka Nov 15 #4
How many times did Trump promise TARIFFS during his campaign Martin Eden Nov 15 #5
"How dumb is an owner of an import business who votes for TARIFFS?" Evidently, very dumb. cstanleytech Nov 15 #7
Don't you remember - the tariffs were gonna be paid by foreign companies. n/t Ms. Toad Nov 15 #30
Ah well malaise Nov 15 #6
Rofl Joinfortmill Nov 15 #9
You owe me a new fuckin' keyboard. 3Hotdogs Nov 15 #15
LOL malaise Nov 15 #26
lol CatWoman Nov 16 #50
Good Stacey Grove Nov 15 #8
Failed a single question open book test. yardwork Nov 15 #10
There's this saying MAGA throws out often purr-rat beauty Nov 15 #11
What the hell did he expect? Tarrifs and going after immigrants... mackdaddy Nov 15 #12
Wong was pro-Trump and a listener of NPR? oasis Nov 15 #13
NPR interviewed him, I did not see anything to indicate he was a listener of NPR Celerity Nov 15 #43
Congratulations on getting everything you voted for, Mr. Wong. tanyev Nov 15 #14
Where I grew up Mr. Wong would be called a 'fuckin' dumb ass". twodogsbarking Nov 15 #16
You mean he's not thrilled to have something in common with Trump? Aristus Nov 15 #17
Welcome to the "Finding out" portion of the program . . . SarcasticSatyr Nov 15 #18
Anyone with half a brain should know Trump lies RussBLib Nov 15 #19
So, what's everyone having for breakfast? AllyCat Nov 15 #20
Boo freakin' hoo HarryM Nov 15 #22
Bad Customer Service Roy Rolling Nov 15 #23
How the hell did you think he was going to "reduce grocery prices on day 1", Wong? paleotn Nov 15 #24
Ya Can't Fix Stupid. Here's Yer Sign. I Mean, There Was a 1st Term!.... ColoringFool Nov 15 #25
Well John, dlilafae Nov 15 #27
The feel-good story of the day. dem4decades Nov 15 #28
... jfz9580m Nov 15 #29
Congratulations! You got what you wanted... Trump in the WH. Norrrm Nov 15 #31
Sowing and Reaping.... Faux pas Nov 15 #32
ICE will be after his clan soon msongs Nov 15 #33
Just had that thought, too.. Deuxcents Nov 16 #47
Too many people believe what they want to believe, and don't make the effort to do research. Call it stupidity, Fil1957 Nov 15 #34
Do you miss Biden now? usonian Nov 15 #35
lol live love laugh Nov 15 #36
First you FA, and then you FO. 11 Bravo Nov 15 #37
Like a Chicken voting for colonel sanders kimbutgar Nov 15 #38
Dear gawd I wish BaronChocula Nov 15 #39
So like a bunch of other doofuses, he believed a serial liar and convicted felon. mdbl Nov 15 #40
I'm reminded of a John Lee Hooker song right now BadGimp Nov 15 #41
Mr Wong. That's called fuck round and find out. As a grocer for that long you know Autumn Nov 15 #42
So sad! BigmanPigman Nov 15 #45
tough fucking shit ...hope he starves gopiscrap Nov 15 #46
And I bet he still won't vote Democratic Party in the future. Takket Nov 16 #48
So his business is buying imports and reselling them and he hears the word tariffs GoodRaisin Nov 16 #49
Why is he complaining? LS0999 Nov 16 #51
that left trucker is so right. drove over 30 mi to meet up w/ family. saturday, but i saw a handfull of semis. pansypoo53219 Nov 16 #52
Dumbass. n/t flvegan Nov 16 #53
Trump tells people to shoot themselves in the foot, and after they do, then they wonder why they walk with a limp. DFW Nov 16 #54

FarPoint

(14,419 posts)
2. These people chose poorly.....
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 06:11 AM
Nov 15

They were told to research this fella and make a measured, moral, informed decision.....Now, they learn the lesson the hard way. Just remember, most of America suffered as well for their sloppy vote and tribal thinking.... Glad this lesson has been effective.

poozwah

(388 posts)
21. duh
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:34 AM
Nov 15

gotta be tough if you’re gonna be dumb.

it is not as if we didn’t have any idea about who and what trump is. america has become a shithole nation under trump, but it began long before trump. the republicans have given us one dummy after another since reagan. while mccain may have been an exception, his running mate certainly wasn’t. the donors have chosen dummies to make us dummies and we went along with them. we believed every big lie from trickle down to weapons of mass destruction to democrats being the party of pedophiles to every goddamned lie that trump tells us. WE VOTED FOR THIS BULLSHIT. WE ARE THE DUMMIES. IF WE CONTINUE TO SUUPORT THE PARTY OF LIES, THIS NATION WILL BECOME SOMETHING WORSE THAN A SHITHOLE.

democratsruletheday

(1,807 posts)
44. yep...to Wong Foo...with love....
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 10:04 PM
Nov 15

sincerely,

tOrange Shitgibbon

An immigrant from Hong KONG voting for that dipshit. Hey, his problem if he goes under. Couldn't care less.

Martin Eden

(15,256 posts)
5. How many times did Trump promise TARIFFS during his campaign
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 07:05 AM
Nov 15

How dumb is an owner of an import business who votes for TARIFFS?

yardwork

(68,781 posts)
10. Failed a single question open book test.
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 07:57 AM
Nov 15

Trump made a lot of promises during his campaign. His voters believed them all except the ones they didn't want to believe.

purr-rat beauty

(905 posts)
11. There's this saying MAGA throws out often
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 07:58 AM
Nov 15

"thoughts and prayers"

Oh...and

"go back to where you came from"

Why the fuck do these idiots keep voting against their own interests?!?

So others can be hurt?

Fuck em then

mackdaddy

(1,923 posts)
12. What the hell did he expect? Tarrifs and going after immigrants...
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:08 AM
Nov 15

Not like those would hurt a market that imports most of its products and sells to an immigrant market.

Everything doubling in costs and ICE agents setting up at the door to check immigration status of all of the customers.

Nope, nothing here to hurt business. Did you Make America Great Again?

Aristus

(71,453 posts)
17. You mean he's not thrilled to have something in common with Trump?
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:25 AM
Nov 15

He’s going bankrupt. You could at least thank the man, Mr. Wong…

RussBLib

(10,388 posts)
19. Anyone with half a brain should know Trump lies
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:33 AM
Nov 15

...it is hard to feel sorry for these people. Business people should possess some critical reasoning skills.

Roy Rolling

(7,374 posts)
23. Bad Customer Service
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:46 AM
Nov 15

He went out of business catering to business cults of owners, he didn’t care about his customers.

Now he must pay the price.

It’s just business.

paleotn

(21,329 posts)
24. How the hell did you think he was going to "reduce grocery prices on day 1", Wong?
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:53 AM
Nov 15

Are you are moron or what? Or perhaps a misogynistic racist.

Speaking of racist, Donnie and crew doesn't like you either, Wong. There's a whole history of hate and discrimination in America for people like you. For Donnie's in group, that never changed. So no matter how much you "think" you're part of that in group, your not. And you never, ever, ever, ever will be. Your ancestors are from the wrong side of the globe. Too bad. Kung flu anyone?

ColoringFool

(159 posts)
25. Ya Can't Fix Stupid. Here's Yer Sign. I Mean, There Was a 1st Term!....
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:54 AM
Nov 15

In my region in PA Dutch country, we have a saying when we rue the day:

"Too soon old, too late schmart."

The owner better hope he doesn't also get deported!

dlilafae

(367 posts)
27. Well John,
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 09:41 AM
Nov 15

I feel like you learned your first lesson in politics. Never trust the ramblings of a politician. Most especially when their last name is Liar, I mean, tRump. It would be nice if I could have said 'better luck next time,' but I feel like your previous vote put that option to vote in jeopardy.

jfz9580m

(16,363 posts)
29. ...
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 10:09 AM
Nov 15

I still feel sorry for people like these because our media really is shit.

When I step outside the “left bubble” that people like me are supposedly in, what is said is such rubbish. If you are someone like this and probably barely follow the news, pick up “common wisdom” by osmosis, follow mainstream drivel, I am not surprised that you would see an extremist like Trump as relatively normal.

The centre is so right-shifted you would need a decoder unless you had issues you cared about enough to know. If you really are just “voting your own interests” it is going to be hard to know who is on your side with the way our media is so ..wishy washy.
And it’s going to get so much worse with Bari Weiss etc.

This is why people who have issues they care about (the environment/science/education, poverty/inequality/healthcare, abortion rights, animal rights, women’s rights, racial equality, civil rights, regulation, corruption, democracy broadly, separation of church and state) are savvier about what is better universally and for you. That’s typically the left overall. Or you care about what is worse for most people and the planet, but is something can really milk (religion, deregulation and drivel in general)-that is what contemporary conservatism has become. Hyperlibertarianism for industries sans civil r libertarianism and apocalyptic religiosity.

In the middle are people like these who really have no clue what anyone stands for. After all, if you don’t follow specific issues with zeal to see how people vote etc, it’s then taking politicians at face value. And these are complicated enough issues that apparently people get confused. That must be it..

I don’t get it.. but well..once someone’s face is being eaten, I still feel bad when it’s people like these who are very misinformed rather than the sleazy and vile tech creep barons. Those people don’t deserve any compunction. E.g. Marc Andreessen..that’s a vile human being and with this embrace of Fuentes by the right, he is going to regret having gone full on “IBM and the Nazis”. Fuentes is a proper Nazi and that’s who they and that movement are normalizing.
If you really want to see people in bed with leopards it’s Ellison, Andreessen, Ackman, Weiss etc..Fuentes does not dial back his virulent anti-semitism. And now he is increasingly accepted on the right.

That’s all true of the women of the right as well. Misogyny is generally on the rise, but it is really thriving on the far right.

When you are an oligarch who cares more about deregulation than embrace of Nazis who hate you, wtf is that? That’s truly thinking that “oh yeah they will rough up everyone else and we will be safe in our bunkers” except life doesn’t work that way. No wonder they all invest in doomsday bunkers. Dumbest people on the planet, the oligarchs:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mega-bunkers-tech-billionaires-why-builder-b2814490.html

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/02/the-apocalyptic-delusions-of-the-silicon-valley-elite

Douglas makes the case for viciously mocking tech bros who entertain damaging and delusional beliefs. He shows how what we really need is to care for the planet, care about each other, and not lose ourselves in techno-solutionist fantasies about transcending the material world. The “bunker strategy” for dealing with chaos, he says, won’t work, because human survival depends on the survival of society. “What happens when you need a new heater for the jacuzzi?” he asks. You can live alone in a bunker for a few weeks or months, maybe. But the only realistic long-term path forward is to build a resilient society and planet.


I think the dems and left need to spotlight these extremely unsympathetic oligarchs who are the real force behind the GOP.

Fil1957

(461 posts)
34. Too many people believe what they want to believe, and don't make the effort to do research. Call it stupidity,
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 06:20 PM
Nov 15

intellectual laziness, whatever. I take no pleasure reading this story, but ultimately this man got what he voted for. If he'd spent an hour or less on the internet getting unbiased information about Trump, he probably would have voted differently.

There are, and will be many more like him.

kimbutgar

(26,595 posts)
38. Like a Chicken voting for colonel sanders
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:16 PM
Nov 15

I have no sympathy for him. I’ve known since the 80’s the orange turd is a rsicsf a hole!

mdbl

(7,965 posts)
40. So like a bunch of other doofuses, he believed a serial liar and convicted felon.
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 08:59 PM
Nov 15

It's hard to feel any empathy for him. Since he voted to ruin our country does he deserve to have a thriving business?

Autumn

(48,704 posts)
42. Mr Wong. That's called fuck round and find out. As a grocer for that long you know
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 09:17 PM
Nov 15

how tariffs work. You got what you voted for I hope some nice couple pick your business up for a small amount of money. That would be fair.

BigmanPigman

(54,459 posts)
45. So sad!
Sat Nov 15, 2025, 10:13 PM
Nov 15


You got what you voted for asshole! Too bad the rest of us who are not MAGA morons have to suffer due to your ignorance and stupidity. I did NOT vote for this shit!!!!! You should get karma while I lose my ACA. The world is not fair.

Takket

(23,405 posts)
48. And I bet he still won't vote Democratic Party in the future.
Sun Nov 16, 2025, 12:22 AM
Nov 16

Oh well. Kiss your livelihood goodbye jackass!

GoodRaisin

(10,669 posts)
49. So his business is buying imports and reselling them and he hears the word tariffs
Sun Nov 16, 2025, 12:36 AM
Nov 16

and he didn’t understand what that means? And votes for Trump? Now that does indeed take a special kind of stupid. Wow.

LS0999

(275 posts)
51. Why is he complaining?
Sun Nov 16, 2025, 01:23 AM
Nov 16

He's gotten exactly what he voted for. The Turd was bragging about tariffs the entire campaign. Let me guess he thought Harris was a "communist" even though the only one trying to bring back Stalin-like totalitarianism is the Turd that he voted for.

pansypoo53219

(22,815 posts)
52. that left trucker is so right. drove over 30 mi to meet up w/ family. saturday, but i saw a handfull of semis.
Sun Nov 16, 2025, 02:13 AM
Nov 16

the restaurant was not busy at all. i tried to help by getting desserts. tho, culvers was packed.

DFW

(59,593 posts)
54. Trump tells people to shoot themselves in the foot, and after they do, then they wonder why they walk with a limp.
Sun Nov 16, 2025, 04:34 AM
Nov 16

I'm not sure even Frank Luntz could explain how 70 million American voters actually fall for that, and this is after they are already limping after having shot themselves in the other foot already 8 years ago.

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