"Well, they did sign up for this actually." Trump on voters concern for higher living costs
When ABC News' Terry Moran asked Pres. Donald Trump to respond to voters who may be concerned that rising costs are not what they "signed up for," Trump responded: "Well, they did sign up for this actually."
Can't argue with that. It's not like he hid anything. He is doing exactly what he said he was going to do. It's not like these morons couldn't have googled "what is a tariff" before election day and that's not Trump's fault that they didn't. This is something I actually agree with Trump on. Imagine having so many loyal fans and then suddenly they're acting surprised and angry that you're doing exactly what you promised to do. It's kind of absurd.
He actually did lie repeatedly about tariffs. The Daily Show did a great segment on it.
He lied about the impact they'd have every time he was asked about it publicly during the campaign.
OP is right that instead of believing the lies and propaganda, a 5min google could have really cleared things up for some people. The problem is Trump consistently implied that other countries pay the tariffs, which obviously isn’t how tariffs work.
US companies pay them as import costs, and pass those costs directly to the consumer in the form of price increases. That’s why tariffs are a Tax by another name.
He also back pedals on everything, and is a lying shit sack. But those are just two giant character flaws that should have immediately disqualified him to anyone who isn't an idiot.
Unfortunately all we get for POTUS candidates are character flaws these days.
It's just common sense that taxes make costs go up. Any other belief is magical thinking and anyone dumb enough ti fall for it deserves to be fooled
Well the media didn't do an amazing job referring to tariffs as "import taxes" and the average American is pretty dumb.
Exactly. The Conservative Propaganda Machine deliberately muddied the water about taxes, and confused their easily befuddled followers.
But they have been fed a steady diet of tax demonization, where the smallest and most necessary tax is nothing less that outrageous tyranny. They despise any taxes to their core.
So why wouldn't the Dems re-brand the tariff's as "Trump's Taxes," name him as the greatest tax increaser in American history, and make EVERY Democrat say it in every single media appearance? Just repeat it over and over and over, until even we get sick of it.
Politics is 90% marketing, and the Dems messaging has been abysmal for decades. They have basically abdicated all responsibility for directing the political discourse in this country. The Republicans, now MAGA, set all the definitions, direct the entire discourse, and Dems just react to it, usually poorly.
First, no it isn't.
Second, this is terrible messaging. Part of why Democrats lost so big and Trump broadened his coalition is that people aren't stupid, and they're sick and tired of the moronic finger wagging. Your message shouldn't be "You deserve this," because you need those votes. Your message should be (and also just happens to be correct): "You were lied to, but there's an election next year, and if you vote for us we'll put a stop to this."