The price of supporting Trumpism – whether on economics, immigration, or foreign policy – is decline. For it all, some farmers will choose their own humiliation, their own degradation, for the sake of supporting Trump. Tory Newmyer describes what awaits Midwestern agriculture in Farmers are bracing for more tariff pain. But they’re sticking with Trump…
Trump
Economics, Trade, Trump
Trump’s Bottomless Ignorance on Display (Yet Again)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Libertarian-leaning GOP Congressman Justin Amash responded this morning to Trump’s completely-wrong-no-good-and-backwards-beyond-belief Twitter claim about trade deficits: Trump: We have lost 500 Billion Dollars a year, for many years, on Crazy Trade with China. NO MORE! Amash: A trade deficit is not a loss of money. If you buy from a supermarket or go to a…
Economics, Economy, Federal Government, Trade, Trump
The Cost of Trump’s Tariffs
by JOHN ADAMS •
Heather Long reports Trump’s steel tariffs cost U.S. consumers $900,000 for every job created, experts say: President Trump has shown little interest in removing the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed more than a year ago despite growing evidence Americans are paying a hefty price for these tariffs and increasing pressure from Republicans in Congress…
Bigotry, Culture, Diversity, Ethnicity, Herrenvolk, Race, Sports, Trump
‘Why Don’t White Athletes Understand What’s Wrong With Trump?’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jemele Hill, formerly of ESPN and now of The Atlantic, asks Why Don’t White Athletes Understand What’s Wrong With Trump? (“The Red Sox players who visit the White House owe their black and brown teammates an explanation”): So far, the conversation about the upcoming Boston Red Sox visit to Donald Trump’s White House has centered around…
Mendacity, Trump
10,000
by JOHN ADAMS •
We expect honesty even from children, but septuagenarian Trump may be the most prolific liar on the contemporary scene. He is a model of mendacity and depravity. The Fact Checker is keeping a running list of all of President Trump’s false or misleading claims, reviewing every word the president says (or tweets) to compile an…
Agriculture, Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Capitalism, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trade, Trump, WEDC, Wisconsin
‘Stung by Trump’s Trade Wars, Wisconsin’s Milk Farmers Face Extinction’
by JOHN ADAMS •
After years of the ignorant scheming of tax incremental financing, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, capital catalyst grants, the Trump tax bill, and now Trump’s trade war, Alan Rappeport reports Stung by Trump’s Trade Wars, Wisconsin’s Milk Farmers Face Extinction (“The flagship industry in a pivotal swing state faces an economic crisis”): KENDALL, Wis. —…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Mendacity, Misconduct, Never Trump, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
‘A cancer on the presidency’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Attorney George Conway III writes Trump is a cancer on the presidency. Congress should remove him. Although I would describe Trump more broadly as a blight on the country, Conway’s assessment is spot on: So it turns out that, indeed, President Trump was not exonerated at all, and certainly not “totally” or “completely,” as he…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Scott Walker, Speaker Vos, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, WEDC
Foxconn: Cleanup on Aisle 4
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following Trump and Walker with a mop, Gov. Evers arrives to clean up the Foxconn mess: Gov. Tony Evers said Wednesday he wants to renegotiate the state’s contract with Foxconn Technology Group and emphasized the Taiwanese company won’t be creating 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin as originally envisioned. “Clearly the deal that was struck is no longer…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, State Government, Trump, WEDC
Foxconn: Still Empty, and the Chairman of the Board Needs a Nap
by JOHN ADAMS •
Trump declared that Foxconn in Wisconsin would be the eighth wonder of the world, but one of the world’s true wonders would not depend on empty buildings and it wouldn’t have a leader who needs a nap, but here we are. Following his earlier examination on Foxconn’s habit of using empty buildings to dupe the…
Bigotry, City, Economy, Herrenvolk, Immigration, Local Government, Mendacity, Trump
An Answer to Trump: Welcome All
by JOHN ADAMS •
So Trump claims – absurdly – that America is full, and that contrary to the law he might send asylum seekers and migrants to sanctuary cities. Oakland’s mayor, Libby Schaaf, gave Trump the reply he deserved (and a reply that a just and well-ordered society should expect): Trump: ….So interesting to see the Mayor of…
Mendacity, Trump, Trump-Russia
Trump: It Wasn’t Me…
by JOHN ADAMS •
CDA, City, Conflicts of Interest, Federal Government, Local Government, Taxes/Taxation, Trump
Trump’s Tax Returns
by JOHN ADAMS •
If Trump wanted his tax returns to remain private, then he should not have run for public office. So many men want to be private figures and public officials at the same time, opportunistically claiming one role or another as it suits them. Small-town Whitewater has had a problem like this for years: tiny notables…
Bigotry, Immigration, Misconduct, Never Trump, Trump
Unforgotten, Unforgiven
by JOHN ADAMS •
What any given person thinks about Trump is hardly a source of useful criticism. The proper focus of criticism is Trump, His Inner Circle, Principal Surrogates, and Media Defenders and this includes Trumpism Down to the Local Level. Predictably, these Trumpists think that if they leave his employ, perhaps they might recover from the stain…
Health, Trump, Unfit
Trump’s Apparent Cognitive Deficits
by JOHN ADAMS •
The fundamental – and dispositive – objections to Trump are political, legal, ethical, and moral. Collectively, those objections are overwhelming. There are, however, practical concerns, also: he’s apparently, evidently deficient, as psychologist John Gartner writes: In Alzheimer’s, as language skills deteriorate, we see two types of tell-tale speech disorders, or paraphasias: Semantic paraphasia involves choosing the…