I wonder who is behind the Dotard's tariffs. Is he just making them up on the fly

[raccoon]

I wonder who is behind the Dotard’s tariffs. Is he just making them up on the fly? Are those orders coming down from the American oligarchs, or the Russians?

[randr]

1. It must be tied up with a personal vendetta

[The Blue Flower]

2. Comes straight from the boss

Who do we know that wants to wreck our economy? Could it be---PUTIN?

[SimpleC]

3. trump 2020 campaign posters/hats/bumper stickers, ect... ect...

Do you realize the trump team has placed large orders to China for his 2020 campaign and they put the orders in before tariffs would hit those orders...

[tblue37]

4. Peter Navarro is all on board with protectionism, so he might also have some input, but mostly it

is just Trump, I'm sure. As he says, he has had these ideas for 30 years.

[PatSeg]

9. At first I thought someone else

was behind the tariffs, but now that I'm reading Bob Woodward's book, it appears that it is Trump's idea and when people disagree with him, he just doubles down. Navarro is around because he is one of the few people who supports Trump's bizarre economic policies.

[Hortensis]

14. Yes. He prides himself on many completely wrong notions

that he won't let go of matter how many try to coax him into learning or how destructive going forward will be. He has a superior brain.

He also bulls forward as a tactic for getting his way, such as when he wanted to cancel the Iranian nuclear deal and repeatedly responded to proof that they were in compliance with insistence that they were in violation asserted as a position, smashing truth as irrelevant.

[yardwork]

5. American and Russian billionaires and Putin. It's a twofer.

If farms go under because of tariffs, then agribusiness buys up the land cheap. Same for small businesses that might be competing with huge businesses. Let them fail, but then buy them up. Vulture capitalism. Look at what the Mercers own, for instance. Look at what they have to gain from these tariffs.

And if, along the way, the tariffs weaken our allegiance with other nations, isolating the U.S. and weakening our overall clout in the world - that works for Putin.

[beachbum bob]

6. GOP neo-economists who still think its 1950

trump has no original ideas

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Not sure, but Carter imposed tariffs too

Carter was a great President IMO, but he was dead wrong on tariffs.

Dems would do well to message against Trump comparing him to Jimmy Carter on trade.

[FSogol]

8. You can ask for excemptions from certain tariffs. Probably his favored companies get exemptions and

other do not. They are making an uneven playing field, grifting, and assisting supporters. They are probably taking kickbacks too.

It'll take decades to undo the corruption coming down from this (mis)administration.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I am rather certain that the tariff's are completely Trump's doing.

He also clearly has no idea at all how they work. He seems to think it's the companies making the goods or the country exporting them that pays the tariffs. He has zero understanding of economics.

[Mosby]

11. Liberals used to support tariffs

But we did a bad job explaining them and now we have liberals/progressives championing unregulated trade and how tariffs will crash the economy.

And no, I don't support trumps approach to tariffs.

Howard Dean on trade:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Howard_Dean_Free_Trade.htm

[Thrill]

12. Russians

The only ones that will benefit

[Cosmocat]

13. I am absolutely certain that it is a case by case basis

Some of it is him getting some crazy idea and running with it, but I also am certain that he has people he talks to who pitch him on tariffs for market (not stock market necessarily, the market that tariffs would impact) manipulation purposes.