The whole idea behind tariffs was to replace income taxes with them. The bonus was realizing that he could weaponize it.
Tariffs today have one real value only: protecting domestic industry. And to do that correctly, it needs to be thoughtful, consistent (legislated rather than by executive order), and coordinated with the industries they are designed to protect.
I'd agree in the context that this wasn't necessarily a case of driven by natural forces of the universe rather than some key events that could have been better addressed to hold them off. And the best way to do that is lots of sunshine and awareness.
IMHO politics is two distinct things: control of law and the circus of those who vie to take that power. Everybody focuses on the circus because that's where the media points to and is the most engaging.
But it's the former that actually matters, and it's boring, slow, and opaque, but literally a matter of life and death to every citizen of the union.
One final thought: the creation of literal Red vs Blue was a masterclass in division and distraction. It's crazy-making to watch it play out from the sidelines.
Things were still pretty normal for a long time after all that and pretty stable. No matter what side you were on, when your side lost at least the winner, at least for major offices, was competent.
Conservative commentator P.J. O'Rourke summed it up nicely in 2016 when as a panelist on NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" announced
> I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises. It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters.
That's how it was up to 2016, long after those things you cite had been in effect. Even if you thought some candidate with a chance at winning national office was wrong on everything they were at least wrong within normal parameters.
Something happened between 2008 and 2016 that enabled the current situation.
Oh sure, I was less than happy to have her be my candidate. That said, she actually was one of the most qualified candidates considering her previous experience in the Whitehouse, Senate, and State Department. Add to that her training as a lawyer and the fact that she was likely the smarter one in the marriage.
For all of that, she did lack Bill's charisma.
Sure she was a finger in the air politician but there really was no contest as far as fitness for office. But then again, the typical American voter only cares about what's ostensibly immediately in it for them.
2016 was a populist referendum, and I still think Bernie could have won it (not that he's perfect either).
It's not just the president. Trump is at least the 3rd senile president we've had, (there were probably more). The difference is that Biden and Reagan generally appointed competent heads and advisors.
How is anybody on the sidelines with this? Every single person in the world is affected by it in some way, thanks to globalization. An Iran war wasn't inevitable. (Other than the uncontacted tribes, which are still affected by the effects of global warming.)
Those terms need to be clearly defined. SCOTUS has declared that the police actually have no duty to protect and to serve the people.
And with an overwhelming amount of evidence, the police operate with effectively no accountability and repeated demonstrate that they abuse their powers freely.
So yes, laws without teeth are pointless but the state's monopoly on violence should only be granted when it can be demonstrated to not be abused.
The Iran War was predicated on a manufactured threat of them getting nuclear weapons. That's been the line for some time.
All reports about the initiation of the war was that Bibi wanted it and manipulated Trump to join in (against the advice of all of those around him warning that the very problem we have now would in fact occur).
> The Iran War was predicated on a manufactured threat of them getting nuclear weapons
its not entirely manufactured. The IAEA report was pretty clear they were violating the rules. It was almost certainly the most damning report the IAEA has ever made in their entire history.
But yes, the real reason for the war, is that the protests made Iran look weak, so they thought they had a limited-time opportunity to deal with a long term adversary. Iran's proxy strategy threatening US interests in the regions almost certainly had just as much to do with it as the nuclear issue.
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