This column isn't about MAGA cheerleading for President Trump or any glass-half-full optimism about the way that things are going to turn out. Regular readers know that wouldn't be consistent with my standard approach to things. I don't worship politicians, and I weaned myself off of political prognostication after the 2022 midterms debacle.
In the last several days I've had conversations with people on both sides of the aisle who were shocked — SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! — that I'm not spazzing out over what's happening with Trump's Tariffpalooza. In situations like this, it's just easier for me to write down my response(s) and simply refer people to the column the next time the conversation comes up.
Of course, I do it in an imperious and dismissive manner, usually referring to "my body of work" while holding my nose slightly in the air. I do have a brand to maintain, after all.
It was plain for all who had eyes to see during the Biden years that the country was being pushed off of several cliffs at once. Twenty-first century Democrats really like to hedge their bets when trying to carry out His High Holiness the Lightbringer Barack Obama's commie dream of fundamentally transforming the United States of America. Within a very short amount of time, the Biden administration had the Republic dripping in so many existential crises that a NASA computer couldn't tally them up.
Even in the age of vigorous presidential executive orders, the kind of damage that the Biden cabal did wasn't going to be easy to undo. Democrats are quite skilled at placing constitutional time bombs all over the place. The goal is to use an overwhelming volume of sheer treachery to slow down or thwart any future politicians who want to roll back their "achievements."
Just four days into the Year of Our Lord 2023, I wrote a column titled, "I'm All-In if Trump Promises a Scorched-Earth Second Term." For those of you not doing the calendar math, Biden was still a couple of weeks shy of his two-year anniversary in the Oval Office. I harbored no illusions whatsoever about there being any quick fixes should Trump get a second crack at the presidency.
Garden variety politicians don't do the scorched-earth things because most of them are "the path of least resistance" types. Despite this being his second term at the pinnacle of American politics, Trump really isn't a politician. Here's what I wrote at the end of my 2023 column:
A lot of people in both parties complained about all of Trump’s rough edges when he was in office. I always thought they were features rather than bugs. If he is heading back into office in January 2025, I hope they’re even rougher.
Right now, we are at the place that many of us knew we'd have to be. President Trump campaigned on this and has consistently said that it would not be easy in the short term, but the payoff would be worth it. Earlier today, my partner in thought crime Stephen Green wrote a column that breaks down a lot of the financial theory particulars about the current situation. It's like he did the research that I didn't feel like doing.
Who am I kidding? I never want to do the research. I'm a verbal bomb-throwing opinion columnist.
One big reason that I don't waste a moment worrying about anything that's going on with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or tariffs is that I know that I'm not in a position to second-guess a couple of self-made billionaires when it comes to anything that involves money.
Another is that we've been down the tariff road before with no panic and positive results. That was so last year, though. We mustn't burden the news cycle outrage mob with facts or anything else from more than 24 hours ago.
Related: Gosh, It Seems Like Just Last Year That MSM Hacks Were OK With Tariffs...
Again, I am not saying that this will all be hunky-dory in the end. What I am saying is that pain was unavoidable after the last four years. In the long run, however, the status quo would have hurt a lot more.
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