1) I hope you can understand that, whether on this board or in real life, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to discuss issues with the TDS-afflicted -- i.e., most Democrats -- when they are so propagandized by their Fake News, especially regarding Orange Man Bad.

These two lies from yesterday and this morning that I referenced in my OP have now been stacked on top of years of countless other lies about Trump that have so polluted the TDSers' judgment and sense of reality that they appear beyond hope when it comes to rational discussion of issues. Despite being easily disproven, they will go down in TDS lore with injecting bleach, calling neo-nazis "fine people", Russia collusion, finding votes, etc., as lies accepted as truth by around half the country.

It can't be overstated how big of a problem this is in our national (or Soapbox) discourse. It is for this reason that I made my post -- i.e., in the hope that by exposing these lies over and over we can perhaps bring some TDSer's back to reality and be able to discuss real issues like the one you raised.

2) Moving on to the issue you mentioned, I think tariffs are a double-edged sword. I won't comment on Trump's specifics regarding numbers because they are meaningless at this point, but the issue itself is very important. Generally speaking, I'm as laissez-faire as one can get on virtually any issue, including trade. If we lived in a perfect world, then I'd be opposed to all US tariffs because in a perfect world no country would have tariffs or any other government-driven economic distortion.

But we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where other countries (as well as the US) distort their local and the global economies and trade with all sorts of interventionist policies, including tariffs, creating an unbalanced playing field. It's impossible to say at this point what is fair and what is economically efficient in such an environment.

Free(ish) trade has brought many benefits to the US, but is has also brought destruction and ongoing danger. Are we an economy or a country? That's an ongoing debate. My own views have moved toward more protectionism over the past 10-15 years. I'm still for free trade, but it can't be a suicide pact for Americans. Hence, some balance is needed to protect ALL of our interests.

So, long story short, I'm in favor of Trump (or anyone else) using the bully pulpit on trade. As for the details of any actual policy that might come from it, who knows? Could be positive, could be negative, could be some of both. Only time will tell.

[Post edited by Los Angeles Hoo at 03/17/2024 3:49PM]