It’s scary to think that the reality is as simple as “Trump is just an idiot that is incapable of understanding even the fundamentals of global trade and has been obsessed with what he thinks tariffs are for 30+ years and is too stubborn to listen to non-stupid people”, while the rest is just hopeless attempts to rationalize his stupidity. But when you’re in a billionaire bubble isolated from reality, and a dumb grifter who rips off every party in every deal you’ve ever done, it makes sense to assume that global trade is just countries ripping each-other off.

The people around him with zipped mouths who know better could very well be treating it as a pump and dump however.