Trump’s love/hate relationship with China is all about himself…
Yeah, Trump really blew it on China and COVID. Made them both all about himself, instead of just dealing with them sensibly.
First he HATES China. So, he puts tariffs on goods from China.
Import tariffs are additional taxes, PAID BY AMERICANS, not by China, for the right to buy Chinese goods. So prices go up here. Doh!
Predictably, China responds by buying less soybeans and such from US farmers. So we had 20% more farm bankruptcies, and had to subsidize farmers to prevent even more. More than 33% of total US farm income in 2020 was government handouts made necessary by Trump. Doh!
Then Trump LOVES China and makes a deal with them, begging them to buy American and to support him in the election. He continues to LOVE China as COVID starts to spread and kill Americans. He downplays COVID to make himself look good. But people here are dying. Doh!
Then, he suddenly HATES China again. Tries to blame them for COVID. Refers to “Chy-na” and the “Chinese flu”. Pulls out of WHO just for the sake of having something to tweet about.
What an incompetent, self-centered boob! Couldn’t get it right, so he kept flip-flopping between various dramatic stances in a desperate attempt to keep himself in the news. Pathetic…
Somehow, despite all the violent flip-flopping back and forth, many Trump fans have remained fans. You’d think they’d be suffering from “shaken baby syndrome” by now, the way they’ve been jerked around.
Maybe they are. They’re now out attacking and murdering Chinese people and other Asians in record numbers.
It’s SO nice to have a real president again! You may or may not like all of Biden’s policies. (Personally, I’m a HUGE fan of everything he’s done so far.) But you have to admit that he’s been extraordinarily effective. Just quietly going along, cleaning up Trump’s messes, doing what needs to be done, looking out for the American people, and not making it all about himself. Nice!
More info in today’s summary by world-famous historian @Heather Cox Richardson (@heathercoxrichardson):
- https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-18-2021
— Fred
