Feeling stupid yet, MAGA?

Donald Trump slapped a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports, and a 10% tariff on Canadian and Chinese energy. Apparently the message that tariffs donโt merely economically punish other countries, they punish American businesses and ultimately the consumer, hasn’t penetrated the lump of festering turds we laughingly refer to as Trumpโs brain.
Or perhaps it has. Trumpโs only goal may have been to punish Canada and Mexico and China, and he ultimately doesnโt give a shit about what it does to Americans generally and the MAGA idiots who voted for him specifically. Trump knows that tariffs mean that American importers will cast around for other sources apart from the tariffed nations. That means less demand for fruits and vegetables from Mexico and technology from Canada. Itโs a kind of a bankshot punishment to prove a fictional point.
The fiction Trump uses to justify this idiocy is to stop Canada from illegally smuggling fentanyl into the country, which they donโt, and to make the Mexicans take border security seriously, which they already do. Itโs to prove what a โtough guyโ he is, when we know he is in fact a weakling. The net effect of Trumpโs tariffs will be to raise the average American household’s tax burden a whopping $830 per year. Howโs that for fixing the price of eggs, folks?
My question to MAGA is, are you feeling stupid yet? No? I didnโt think so. The Dunning Kruger effect reminds us that stupid people almost never notice how stupid they are. If ignorance, as the saying goes, is bliss, then your brand of stupidity must be goddam nirvana.
Thatโs some serious lib ownership youโve got going on there, MAGA. Howโs the price of gas and eggs? Still having trouble paying for โgroceries,โ a word Trump claims he invented? Still smugly sure you are going to be in paradise thanks to your toad-god? Well at least the border is safe. Wait a minute, no change there either? Thatโs what tariffs are supposed to fix? Donโt hold your collective breath, MAGA.
So good luck, MAGA. If youโre not feeling stupid yet, MAGA, you sure as hell look stupid. And as time goes on more and more people are going to be laughing at you. After all, if Trump can screw you over this badly in a dozen days, imagine what he can do to you in four years. Weโll be watching and laughing โ at you.

Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.