“Bring me tariffs! I want tariffs!”
by digby
I remember when Tea Partiers tore out their hair and rent their garments over government bailouts during the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. Today … eh:
This is a taxpayer bailout for farmers Trump hurt with his senseless trade war https://t.co/BCkaxfPo1L— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 17, 2018
Trump’s idiotic “trade war” is to blame of course. He seems to think these subsidies will be paid for by big checks the Chinese government is writing to the US Treasury. Or something. It’s very hard to understand exactly what he wants out of all this other than for President Xi to say to the world “Donald Trump is the greatest leader the world has ever known and I bow before his genius.”
If this is truly a battle of wits between these two men I’m afraid we’re screwed.
I think one of the most surprising aspects of this Trump debacle for me is the extent to which the government bureaucracy is impotent in the face of a cretinous conman. I would have thought that when everyone in the world knows that a president’s policy, divorced from any ideology other than his own fever dreams hatched over a quarter century ago, is absurd and counter-productive there would be some way to stop it. The congress could do it but it would take a major united front led by the people who can’t even muster the strength to say that foreign infiltration of our electoral system might not be a good thing. So that’s out.
Basically, he can pretty much do what he wants. Recall:
The scene: The Oval Office, during Gen. Kelly’s first week as Chief of Staff. Kelly convened a meeting to discuss the administration’s plans to investigate China for stealing American intellectual property and technology. Kelly stood beside Trump, behind the Resolute desk. In front of the desk were U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, senior trade adviser Peter Navarro, top economic adviser Gary Cohn, and Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump, addressing Kelly, said, “John, you haven’t been in a trade discussion before, so I want to share with you my views. For the last six months, this same group of geniuses comes in here all the time and I tell them, ‘Tariffs. I want tariffs.’ And what do they do? They bring me IP. I can’t put a tariff on IP.” (Most in the room understood that the president can, in fact, use tariffs to combat Chinese IP theft.)
“China is laughing at us,” Trump added. “Laughing.”
Kelly responded: “Yes sir, I understand, you want tariffs.”
Gary Cohn, who opposes tariffs and the protectionist trade measures pushed by the Bannonites, had his shoulders slumped and was clearly appalled by the situation.
Staff secretary Rob Porter, who is a key mediator in such meetings, said to the president: “Sir, do you not want to sign this?” He was referring to Trump’s memo prodding Lighthizer to investigate China — which may lead to tariffs against Beijing.
Trump replied: “No, I’ll sign it, but it’s not what I’ve asked for the last six months.” He turned to Kelly: “So, John, I want you to know, this is my view. I want tariffs. And I want someone to bring me some tariffs.”
Kelly replied: “Yes sir, understood sir, I have it.”
At one point in the meeting, Navarro pulled out a foam board chart. Trump didn’t pay attention to it, saying “I don’t even know what I’m looking at here.”
Trump made sure the meeting ended with no confusion as to what he wanted.
“John, let me tell you why they didn’t bring me any tariffs,” he said. “I know there are some people in the room right now that are upset. I know there are some globalists in the room right now. And they don’t want them, John, they don’t want the tariffs. But I’m telling you, I want tariffs.”
Kelly broke up the meeting and said the group would work things out and reconvene at the appropriate time.
He got tariffs. And now they are costing the taxpayers billions of dollars to subsidize all the people everyone told him would be hurt by his stupid plan that he doesn’t even understand. What a system.
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cheers — digby
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