President Trump told an audience in North Carolina that if Republicans retain control of Congress in the upcoming November midterm elections, he would direct the Justice Department to quickly settle “all remaining legitimate claims” related to contaminated water at the nearby Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where thousands of cases remain unresolved.
“If we don’t win, there’s no money,” Trump said Tuesday night at a campaign rally in Greenville. “If we do win, you’re getting it. It’s going to be finally over with, that nightmare that’s been going on for so many years. We will never abandon the heroes who served America.”
Let’s be honest, this isn’t just maga morons.
Tariffs were not exactly something in the public consciousness until recently, and I’ve just encountered a ton of people over the past couple of years who didn’t understand how they worked.
I mean, with the previous de minimus exemption, the actions of tariffs would have been mostly hid to us through inflation, promotion, or demotion of certain products, etc. Right now your average Joe likely has to pay them just to order something from Europe or Canada.
I guess what I wonder is why Trump fans are either oblivious or indifferent to being lied to constantly
For my (young) children, reality is malleable, or at least their perception of it is. When I explain something to them, they’re largely going to take it for face value, even if it conflicts with prior knowledge.
When it comes to the under-educated that he proclaims he loves so much, I think that’s the same thing. When you don’t know enough about how the world works, everything around you’s going to appear to be fucking magic.
So imagine a dude comes out and explains to you that he’s famous and wealthy and an excellent businessman and is the smartest guy around. Once you start buying it, you’re not going to question whatever comes out of his mouth, even if it’s inconsistent with previous statements or reality.
I don’t expect people to have already known how tariffs worked unless they personally imported items over $800. A fair amount of people do that as part of their jobs or businesses, though.
However, what I mean is working through the logic of Trump’s lies about it. Why would foreign governments pay for a private company to sell something to the US? If it mean the exporting company had to give us a discount, that sort of makes sense, but as I noted earlier, a 100% tariff, if always paid by someone outside the US, would mean it’s free for us, and over 120% would mean they paid us to take their goods. Obviously that would never happen.