I haven't spent a lot of time writing about Der Führer's so-called economic policy, or even the devastating DOGE firings in the federal labor force because a US corporate media class trying very hard to either ignore, or normalize Trump's fascist agenda has gladly turned to reporting extensively on why Trump sucks at running an economy and it's a terrible idea to fire all the smart people who actually make the government function, only to replace them with nazi ideologues and teenage fascist hackers. You don't need me to tell you what you can hear on CNN and there's been surprisingly little spin on this type of reporting; Fox News obviously excepted.

Unfortunately however, the Trump tariff story is an absolute shitshow in terms of how poorly corporate media is covering it. Virtually every network and paper has dragged out a bunch of baffled economic analysts who're more or less trying very hard to make sense of Trump setting fire to the global economy and levying what is effectively the largest tax on consumers in the modern history of America; as if there's some sort of long term vision that means Trump's absurd tariff regime might pay off for Americans or at least American businesses. This is of course nonsense and I've been inclined to simply assume the obvious; Trump is gonna use the made up income to justify massive tax cuts for the billionaire ruling class and when it turns out tariffs don't magically make up trillions of dollars in tax revenue, leave workers and taxpayers holding the bag.

As I've noted however, these fascists are pretty good at using the whole cow, and after I read this article by David Dayen, I'm starting to come around to the idea that the key to understanding Trump's tariffs is to realized they aren't economic policy at all, but rather an authoritarian attempt to bend companies, industries, and even entire countries to the Pork Reich's will.

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-03-theyre-not-tariffs-theyre-sanctions/

They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions

"What Trump is doing is a sanction policy, only he’s doing it against the whole world, all at once, for the assumed harm of “ripping off” the United States for decades. Sanctions have become a dangerously large component of American geopolitical strategy, an instrument of economic war felt disproportionately by the world’s poorest citizens. The stated reason that Russia and North Korea and other rogue states aren’t on the tariff lists is because sanctions have destroyed their ability to have a trading relationship with the U.S. Trump is applying those punitive measures to the rest of the world.

It is not at all surprising that Trump sees the appeal in sanctions. It is no different from a mob boss moving into town and sending his thugs to every business on Main Street, roughing up the proprietors and asking for protection money so they don’t get pushed out of business. Trump believes that the U.S. is indispensable enough that it can intimidate every country on Earth by, well, asking for protection money, which would take many forms: curbing migration, taking in more U.S. farm exports or weapons systems, reducing industrial capacity in China and forcing more consumption, buying long-dated U.S. debt on the cheap, siding with a war strategy against Iran, literally anything the White House wants. Trump now has a tool by which he can achieve whatever goals he conjures up, or simply have his leg-breakers beat the global economy to a pulp. It’s a mentality fit for someone repeatedly linked to organized crime."

I realize Dayen's theory may be hard to accept; after all, what kind of egomaniac fascist dipshit seriously thinks he can strongarm the entire planet? On its face, it seems absurd; until you realize that Trump clearly thinks he's the God Emperor of the most "indispensable" nation in the world, and he's surrounded himself with a bunch of American exceptionalist nazis who ardently believe "Western Civilization" as exemplified by the United States has a right to dominate the planet. Furthermore, Dayen's analysis dovetails very well with Chris Murphy's theory that Trump is trying to strongarm American companies to consolidate his power because the same strategy works for both private sector actors and entire nations. In other words - Trump has hit supervillain on a quest for world domination status; less than 3 months into his term.

"I’ve really only seen Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) understand this, that this is just a loyalty test for virtually every business in the nation, a universal attempt to gather protection money. It’s no different than using the leverage of government funding to force universities and law firms into submission. These economic sanctions force businesses to supplicate. “One by one, every industry or company will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief,” Murphy writes. That’s correct, and it could come in the form of campaign support, corporate governance changes, or just raw cash. Anything is possible."

#Trump #Tariffs #Fascism