Republicans don't grasp what's about to hit them [View all]

[Tom Rinaldo]

...if Trump doesn't pull the plug on his world wide trade war really soon. Increasingly, it's looking like he won't, probably because he knows he won't get away with spinning it as a win if he does. Earlier, he might have pulled that off, at least in the eyes of his base. Behind the scenes he could have worked out some face saving gestures that Mexico, Canada, and Europe might have allowed him, some minuscule concessions on their parts, that Trump could have inflated beyond all rational bounds to claim "victory." Now however he's poured so much gasoline on the fire that other nations increasingly are defiant. None trust Trump at his word, it is worth nothing. Why make concessions for good will when no good will will be given in return? More likely, sensing weakness, Trump would just stab them in the back,

Trump has boxed himself in with these trade wars, the only thing he is wired to do is escalate. He is psychologically incapable of a full scale retreat. Increasingly I believe America's recent strong allies will comprehend that the best way to neuter Trump is to turn the American public strongly against him. To make that happen, Americans need to suffer real economic pain, that can be pinned directly on Trump. The trade wars that Trump launched will do just that. Of course the people of our until recent allies will suffer also, but Trump has stoked Anti-American feelings inside all of those nations. They won't blink first, it has become almost a real war and they know that Trump must first be humbled, and then destroyed. They will blame Trump as well, not their own governments.

The plummeting stock market has broken through and captured the American public's attention, but that is just the opening act. Trade war sticker shock has yet to take hold. Prices are about to rise sharply for goods and services across the board. When they do, those who brought it on, Trump, Musk, and their sycophants in Congress, will face widespread public rage, and all their ravings against transgenders in women's sports will fail to deflect it.