CBS has apparently discovered its favorite new victim: the Roman candle.
Cue the piano music.
Pan across shuttered firework stands.
Queue up a whisper-soft voiceover about patriotism and porch chairs.
Then drop the emotional hammer; fireworks cost more.
And it's all Donald Trump's fault.
Just in time for the Fourth of July, this CBS video wants you to believe President Donald Trump’s tariff policy isn’t aimed at China, isn’t about protecting American industry, and certainly isn’t part of a broader strategy.
No, no.
According to them, it’s a direct assault on your backyard barbecue. And maybe, just maybe, they think it might crack his support from the right.
But here’s the thing about Trump’s supporters. They’re not as fragile as CBS producers believe. A slightly higher price on fireworks isn’t going to make them abandon the one man they believe is finally standing up to a foreign adversary that’s been playing America for a fool for decades.
What CBS aired wasn’t journalism.
It was narrative therapy for the progressive elite.
A Firework Fizzle, Not a Scandal
Let’s start with the facts they didn’t tell you. When Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs earlier this year, targeting a flood of unfair Chinese trade practices, he simultaneously announced a 90-day pause on many of the measures. That included some of the very fireworks shipments that are now being breathlessly bemoaned.
Retailers were given breathing room.
Inventory flowed.
Orders were fulfilled.
Most industry estimates now suggest that up to 80% of annual shipments arrived on time. So where’s the crisis? The short answer is that there isn’t one. But CBS didn’t let that stop them from trying to turn sparklers into scandals.
Their report fixated on rising prices and supply hiccups, but CBS left out the part about why Trump imposed tariffs in the first place. Not once did it mention the intellectual property theft, the dumping of cheap goods, the currency manipulation, or the forced technology transfers that have plagued U.S.-China trade for decades.
Nope.
Just tears over the price of a Roman candle.
The 90-Day Tariff Pause CBS Forgot to Mention
If you watched CBS’s story without context, you’d think Trump executed a sneak attack on the Fourth of July itself. What they didn’t mention is that Trump’s trade team, understanding the ripple effects of the move, delayed many of the tariffs until well after Independence Day.
That pause wasn’t accidental. It was strategic.
It allowed companies to adjust their orders, bring in goods already in the pipeline, and prepare for long-term changes in sourcing. That’s what responsible economic pressure looks like: not instant chaos, but measured leverage.
CBS conveniently ignored all that. Because to tell the whole story would mean admitting that Trump didn’t “crush the Fourth” out of spite but gave the country one last calm before turning up the heat on China.
It would also mean admitting that he’s playing a smarter long game than his critics can comprehend.
From Cheap Chinese Goods to Economic Independence
Tariffs are not the blunt instrument the media portrays them to be.
They’re not designed to make Americans suffer; they’re designed to make bad-faith foreign actors recalculate. When China dumps fireworks, steel, or pharmaceuticals into our market, it undercuts American producers. It sends factories into bankruptcy and workers into unemployment lines.
And for what? Cheaper bottle rockets?
Trump’s supporters understand this. They remember watching their local plants close. They remember seeing “Made in China” overtake every toy, appliance, and tool on the shelf. And they remember how the media told them to stop whining and enjoy the “efficiency” of globalization.
They didn’t buy it then, and they’re not buying this fireworks pity party now.
Because they know the truth: paying a few extra bucks for some M-80s is a small price to pay if it means China doesn’t get to dictate the rules anymore.
CBS Tries to Divide, but MAGA Remains United
Here’s the real objective behind CBS’s piece: create a crack in Trump’s base. Convince small-town Americans that their beloved Fourth of July is being hijacked by the very man they voted for.
Stir up doubt.
Plant a seed of resentment.
That’s the play.
And it failed.
Because CBS still doesn’t understand that the MAGA movement isn’t transactional.
It’s not about cheap goods.
It’s about sovereignty.
It’s about taking control back from the elite peddlers of globalism who outsourced entire communities into ruin.
Trump’s voters don’t care that fireworks cost more. They care that someone is finally willing to say no to Beijing.
If CBS really believes that a price bump on Roman candles is going to trigger a rebellion in Trump Country, they’ve been inside their D.C. green rooms too long.
This isn’t the Beltway, Barbara. This is Bakersfield. This is Biloxi. This is Janesville.
And they don’t scare easily.
A Firework Fizzle, or the Media's Fizzle?
Let’s consider the irony here. The very same press that dismissed real inflation under Biden now wants to pretend that a marginal hike in fireworks prices is the canary in the coal mine of Trump’s economic policy.
Where were the pianos and somber tones when grocery bills doubled in 2022?
Where were the CBS correspondents when gas prices went through the roof, and families couldn’t afford to drive to work?
Where were the tearjerker reports when retirees had to unretire just to afford their prescriptions?
Nowhere.
But fireworks? That’s the breaking point?
Please.
CBS’s Sparkler of Hypocrisy
This is the same outlet that excused Biden’s $740 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” while inflation soared.
The same network that downplayed the economic harm of lockdowns.
The same producers who couldn’t be bothered to question the billions we poured into foreign conflicts, while cities in America crumbled.
But now, they’ve suddenly found their inner fiscal hawk because a $14 pack of fountains went up to $17?
It’s not just hypocrisy.
It’s theater.
And not even good theater.
It’s the kind of slapstick play that ends with a pie in their own face.
MAGA’s Response? Shine Bright, Not Burn Out
Trump’s base doesn’t run from this story; it embraces it.
Why?
Because it confirms everything Trump's supporters already believe: that the media doesn’t understand them, that the elite will distort any story to make Trump look bad, and that they’ll even use patriotic symbols, like fireworks, as propaganda tools.
Here’s what the MAGA movement understands better than any pundit in a Manhattan newsroom:
- Trade is war by other means.
- Sovereignty is more valuable than savings.
- And dignity is worth paying for.
It won’t be tricked by emotional editing. It won’t cry over bottle rockets. It'll shrug, smile, and light one anyway.
Because the real show isn’t in the sky, it’s in the fight.
And this fight isn’t over yet.
Final Thoughts
In the end, CBS didn’t run a segment about tariffs. It ran a segment about control, an attempt to frame Trump’s economic toughness as petty and mean-spirited.
An attempt to say, “Look what he’s done to your holidays. Are you still sure he deserves your vote?”
But what it failed to grasp is this: Trump supporters aren’t interested in fireworks. They’re interested in firepower.
Trump supporters want an America that commands respect, not one that begs China for cheaper bottle rockets.
So go ahead, CBS. Keep playing the sad trombone. Keep wringing your hands over phantom pyrotechnic price hikes.
The rest of us? We’ll be celebrating under the red, white, and booming sky, knowing full well who’s really fighting for America.
And it’s not the guy behind the news desk.
