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President Trump has sent the financial markets into wild gyrations by fulfilling a campaign promise to impose tariffs with the goal of returning high paying manufacturing jobs to America’s shores.
Thus far, he has refused to back down, even thumbing his nose at his detractors by playing golf the same day the Dow tanked over 2,000 points.
He recently tweeted:
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!"
America’s corporate overclass is aghast. The Wall Street Journal pummels Trump daily. National Review moans. Trump-hating liberals on CNN and MSNBC have rediscovered the wonders of corporate greed and obsess about their IRAs.
Comedian Stephen Colbert went on an expletive-filled rant blaming Trump for the tanking stock market. His $75,000,000 portfolio is now only worth $68,000,000. Such suffering.
But have any of these well-heeled complainers ever spent time in rural America? Did any of them grow up there? Do they have any friends or family from there?
When I grew up in rural western Pennsylvania in the sixties and seventies, we had manufacturing jobs, mining jobs and stable families. Yes, much of it was rough work, but it paid well. A man could support a family on one income.
Then the corporate Democrats and Republicans came up with NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) which President Clinton signed in 1994. President George W. Bush rubber stamped allowing China into the WTO (World Trade Association) in 2001.
And the race to the bottom began. Middle America lost at least one million manufacturing jobs, and 80,000 plants closed. Meanwhile the Dow rose from 8,000 in 1994 to 45,000 in 2025, a 565% increase.
The outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to cheap labor in Mexico and slave labor in China resulted in a massive wealth transfer from working class Americans to the financial class, many who became multimillionaires through speculation and finance. And the white upper middle class got in on the action, watching their portfolios skyrocket along with the housing values in their neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, rural America disintegrated. When I return to visit western Pennsylvania, the local newspapers are replete with stories of fentanyl deaths, early heart attacks, car accidents due to alcohol abuse, and domestic violence.
Both political parties were in on the scam until Donald Trump came along in 2015. Furthermore, Trump had been saying it for decades, as can be seen in the below interview with Oprah in the 1980s.
But the trillion-dollar question is “Will tariffs help?” There are multiple cogent articles on both sides of the issue. Those who oppose tariffs state this is a huge tax on the middle class, as cars, food, clothing, etc., will increase in price. But the real fear is that tariffs could cause a global recession, as the interconnected economies collectively tank. Many economists blame the Smoot-Hawley Act – which instituted tariffs – as the cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Trump is gambling his presidency and the future of the Republican Party. Should the economy tank and 401K’s loose half of their value, it won’t matter how many ads the Republicans run against transgender athletes: Hello Bernie Sanders.
Furthermore, Trump needs to convince businesses that these tariffs are permanent. Manufacturing companies must invest huge amounts of capital in equipment and wages for years until a profit is realized. And there is always the possibility that some power-hungry liberal judges will rule Trump does not have the power to institute tariffs, creating more uncertainty.
But our corporate financial overclass and their newly discovered allies, Trump-hating white liberals, have nothing but contempt for the plight on rural Americans. This was personified by President Obama’s famous sneering comment:
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them…
And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion [my emphasis] or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
And during his presidency, President Obama continued to export American jobs while bailing out the Wall Street Welfare state.
Which is why President Obama’s legacy can be described in two words: Donald Trump.
America would be a much happier place if the Dow were at 30,000 and working-class Americans had jobs that would enable them to support a family.
