Trump Proves Again That America Is Being Run by a Halfwit [View all]

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/dean-baker/116007/trump-proves-again-that-america-is-being-run-by-a-halfwit

Trump Proves Again That America Is Being Run by a Halfwit
by Dean Baker | January 20, 2026 - 6:45am

— from Alternet

snip//

This is not a debatable point; the data are very clear. Well over 90 percent of the cost of a Trump tariff is borne by consumers or importers in the United States, not by the exporting countries. When Trump starts yelling “tariff, tariff, tariff,” he is yelling “tax, tax, tax,” and we’re the ones paying it. And $75 billion is not trivial. It’s one percent of the budget, more than twice the cost of the enhanced premiums for Obamacare policies that Trump says we can’t afford.

Let’s be clear, Trump wants Greenland because it is big. And he almost certainly thinks Greenland is far bigger than it actually is because he doesn’t understand that the Mercator projection maps, which are standard ones we all use, hugely exaggerate the size of areas near the poles.

No one likes the idea that the United States is being run by a moron.

We all know Trump says that he needs Greenland for national security. This argument is not worth a second’s consideration. Greenland and Denmark are both members of NATO. If he felt there was some need for putting additional military assets in or around Denmark, all he has to do is ask.

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http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/dean-baker/116007/trump-proves-again-that-america-is-being-run-by-a-halfwit