Last month, Donald Trump’s administration assured the US Supreme Court that the president’s massive tariffs were intended to address an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and were “essential to the country’s future.” This weekend, Trump announced that he was jacking up tariffs on Canadian goods by another 10 percent—because he was angry about a television ad that ran during the World Series.
Ten days ago, Ontario—Canada’s most populous province—released a TV spot featuring former President Ronald Reagan explaining at length why tariffs are generally bad. The ad edits the Gipper’s speech and omits a bit of nuance about his support for a narrower set of temporary tariffs imposed in 1987 on Japanese electronics. But overall, it provides a pretty accurate picture of the GOP icon’s free-market economic views.
You could use that to explain most of the current timeline.
The deranged and racist old Faux “News” viewer got mad at TV during Obama presidency, ran for office on a campaign of hating Blacks, immigrants, etc…and now we have the likes of Stephen Miller and Hegseth trying to completely revamp everything, including the culture.
The problem is that he is galvanizing a huge part of the country who think exactly the same as him. And though they only really represent around a third of the total voting populace, they are bolstered by the die hard republicans who robotically vote R on every ticket every time they are at the ballot box.