Trump’s bad week

As I write this column, the world has experienced the latest flight of fantasy and fancy that typifies the administration of Donald Trump: tariff mania! Trump enacted tariffs on most nations of the world, exempting Canada and Mexico for now. The latter following his shootout of little consequences with them. Trump also dialed up tariffs on China. Predictably, the markets didn’t smile at these moves. Exchanges across the world saw sharp downturns. Investors and citizens now have more uncertainty than in recent memory about the world economy. Most bets are for a recession, sooner rather than later. A recession will mean Trump’s MAGA (“Make American Great Again”) legacy has a bad mark, perhaps a defining one.

Donald Trump is up to his usual sophistry and charlatan’s games. He doesn’t have a playbook. Little he does makes sense under the eyes of reason or rationality. His goal is to make deals that will enable him to say, “I won for you, and America is great again!” This doesn’t even have to be true. It just needs to convince enough dubious Americans in his base that he’s kept his promises. I fundamentally believe this is his endgame. Trump wants to find a way to extend his time as the doge and potentate of his brand image in Washington.

His actions will bring inflation and already are doing so. They will alienate the allies of the United States and embolden her enemies. Global publics will view American leadership with a jaundiced eye more and more.

Trump didn’t turn to Canada or Mexico. He hasn’t turned Putin. He hasn’t stopped the Houthis in Yemen or the Red Sea. He hasn’t ended the Palestinian call for nationhood. What he’s accomplished is putting the world’s attention on himself.

If Trump were serious, he’d parlay these moves domestically with a major infrastructure bill tied to creating businesses that will substitute for global producers. Trump isn’t interested in working that hard or in using the government to create businesses. He’s not that interested in government at all.

The pause on implementing tariffs for 90 days is said to be a move for bilateral trade agreements. Trump’s going to have to move a lot faster. Of course, he might delay the tariffs again.

The unfortunate reality of this morass is Trump has no ground game for the economy, American or global. His advisors aren’t compensating, if they even can do. He has no plan. Nothing he’s done fits a plan. In the throes of Elon Musk and Peter Navarro one already should see the writing on the wall.

Trump should end the tariff games and declare himself victor. He can point to the few deals he’ll make, his “retaking of the Panama Canal”, similar Pyrrhic victories, and move on.

I hope Trump doesn’t forget to watch the markets. His favorites are falling and trying to recover, only to fall further and sew instability. There’s growing concern about the bond market. The Chinese own over a trillion dollars in Treasury securities. The United States has no business courting a “tit-for-tat” game of roulette with its third-largest trading partner. I also discount the idea he’s trying to win some queer game of triangulation between America’s two largest trade partners, Canada and Mexico, and China.

Long ago, I compared Donald Trump to a trope in American mythology known as the dodger. Originally, the dodger was a term for someone who avoids war, as in a war draft or fighting in the army. More often it can be anyone who wants you to do his dirty work. The “Dodger Song” was used in the 1884 campaign of Grover Cleveland against James Blaine. The song features several characters, in a curious way reminiscent of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, including a politician, a merchant, and a war general. The key thing is that following the dodger conduces to one’s detriment: as a merchant, “you’ll have to pay him twice,” while as a general, “he’ll put you underground.” Mainly, as a candidate, “he’s a-dodgin for your vote.” The song has older roots and origins.

I think the Dodger Song is nearly spot-on as a representation of Trump. It saddens me to say so, but we have a president who blames everyone and uses everyone to maintain his self-image as a leader. Trump doesn’t plan to go to war. He hasn’t an economic vision that would hold water in a desert. And I fear he approximates more of a Reverend Henry Kane in the Poltergeist series than a leader for American greatness.

Take heart though. Many Americans, world leaders, and the global public begin to push back on Trump’s dodging. Rollercoaster rides aren’t the way to lead global markets. Frankly, it’s sophomore-level knowledge in economics that tariffs aren’t either. It will take time, but reason and rationality will prevail over the nonsense of this moment.

Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and academic services and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.