Playing Us All for Suckers

As can be seen in the video (at 1:53)  below, Jim Cramer tells CNN's Erin Burnett, once a colleague of Cramer at CNBC

What bothered me, Erin, was they really did- over and over again- the Presidentsaid- listen, it's going to be reciprocal. If you do it, we do it. And that was going to be so good.. And I really believed in it. And I feel like a sucker becausse I am not a free trader and I do not believe in free trade and I was just as tough, if not tougher, than his people but they screwed it up and they really did- they made it a totally ill-advised way and I was very let down as someone who truly believes that free trade is awful for the American working person. This is what they came up with?

Tariffs today, no tariffs tomorrow, modified tariffs tomorrow; slamming allies and letting Russia off the hook; motivation seemingly borne out of vindictiveness. As Cramer argues, tariffs imposed properly can help balance the god of "free trade" and its half-century+ of hollowing out America's industrial base. The holy grail of free trade was characterized by the story of American steel manufacturing, in which, as Joshua Zeitz explains in Politico  

The example of American steel manufacturing is telling. American steel firms, such as those in Youngstown, had once been an engine of national economic power. But they had been slow to invest and modernize, and foreign competitors adopted new technologies that made their steel production faster and more efficient. Compounding the problem, federal policy inadvertently strengthened foreign steel production. Following World War II, American assistance helped rebuild efficient steel facilities in Europe and Japan while allowing these countries to impose high tariffs on U.S. steel. At the same time, American companies invested in modern plants abroad rather than upgrading their domestic operations, resulting in increased import penetration in the U.S. market. Furthermore, conglomerate ownership of steel companies like Youngstown Sheet & Tube led to profits being siphoned off to finance non-steel ventures, further weakening the industry’s competitive position. The result was a wave of plant closures and job losses, as seen in once-prosperous Youngstown, where over 50,000 steel jobs vanished within half a decade.

"All of this," Zeitz recalls, "led to the anomaly known as stagflation," a combination of high inflation and slow growth, which contributed considerably to the downfall of the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter presidencies. This begs the question which the reporter (emphasis his) asks: Why would anyone elect to do this?"

Zeitz notes "Trump maintains that, contrary to what most economists believe, it will reinvigorate American industry in his nationalist vision."

Trump's argument- not the only one he has made to justify his tariff regime- comports with the overall vision of Cramer and myself. But this may not be the President's primary motivation. While Trump was plotting his comeback to the presidency:

 

Donald Trump was not saying that the system was rigged or that Joe Biden was corrupt. He was saying that the USA was at that time rigged and corrupt- and evil. Admittedly, he was contending this when he was out of office. Not so when at a Cabinet meeting on February 26, 2025, President Trump would declare "this country has gotten bloated and fat and disgusting." He also called Joe Biden "the worst President in the history of our country" and "a disgrace." This was on- wait for it-

             

It's too easy to snicker that this President wants to outdo Joe Biden. Yet, when a man calls his own country "evil" and "disgusting," that may be exactly what he's trying to do.

The President's punitive trade policies reflect contempt for nearly all nations, and he has exhibited a special disdain for Canada, Greenland, and Denmark. His disregard for human life in Gaza is startling, though no more so than for individuals in the undeveloped world who will be ravaged unto death from starvation or disease because he has ended the US Agency for International Development.

Nonetheless, much of the contempt has been saved for Americans ourselves. We've all heard about the Administration summarily disabling the departments of Treasury, Education, and Health and Human Services and the Federal Election Commission; attacking the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.; shaking down major law firms; harming transsexuals and other beneficiaries of diversity, equity, and inclusion; gutting the Social Security Administration; and so much more.

The depth and breadth of Donald Trump's attacks on virtually anything which helps Americans should prompt us to consider the possibility that the President is assaulting more than the specific individuals, institutions, or groups which he believes have victimized him. He may harbor a special hostility toward foreigners. However, he also may be targeting Americans, as in all Americans regardless of circumstances.

The latest example of unparalleled scorn- at least as of this writing- came on Thursday. Over the last several years, Trump has called deceased American servicemen "losers"- on another occasion "suckers"- and because of rain skipped a ceremony at Alsne-Marne American Cemetery to honor American servicemen killed in France during World War I. Now he has missed 

the dignified transfer for four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Lithuania during a training accident as the president, who was forced to abort his helicopter after a wheel malfunction that same day, was seen playing golf at his Trump National Doral Miami golf course for a LIV Golf event.

Lithuania's president held a ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers who fatally 'drowned' after their tank disappeared on a training mission about a week ago. Lithuanian, Polish and U.S. soldiers and rescue teams searched through forests and swamps at the Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, which is about 6 miles west of the country's border with Belarus.

And yet we are to believe that the guy who believes that the United States of America is "evil" and "disgusting" is only trying to do right, as he sees it, by his country. This may be Donald J. Trump's biggest con ever.

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