A small business owner who voted for Donald Trump recently posted a video on TikTok, pleading for help as crushing tariffs on China threatened to bankrupt his operation, which imports alloy wheels. His call for support, however, drew little sympathy from some fellow Americans.
“Votes have consequences,” he was told, with many comments from Twitter/X users relishing the notion that another MAGA voter was suffering because of their political choice. The backlash prompted a second video from the man, in which he dropped several F-bombs while criticizing the apparent heartlessness of those celebrating his hardship.
On the topic of tariffs, voters were outright lied to, so I won’t criticize people for believing it. I’d be surprised if most people graduating high school now even know what a tariff is, much less how they work.
Bummer for us even more that the worst hasn’t yet come on tariffs, and only because it takes so long for new trade agreements to take effect. In the next year or two Europe and China will have rerouted their trade around the US rather than through it.
Wikipedia can dumb it down enough for even middle school dropouts, so it’s not an excuse.
Yeah, we all carry around the entire knowledge of human existence in our pockets, saying “I never knew,” doesn’t fly anymore. The rest of us knew, what’s your excuse?