I Gotta Wear 😎

Future’s so bright:

However, the president's triumphant tone does not match what consumer sentiment and economic data are currently showing. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the American manufacturing economy, which Trump has claimed will benefit the most from his tariffs, is currently "sputtering" as companies face higher costs of key inputs such as steel, aluminum, and copper.

"From March to July, U.S. manufacturing activity contracted, according to the Institute for Supply Management's monthly survey," noted WSJ. "The Manufacturing PMI last registered at 48, below the 50 score that differentiates growth and decline."

The Journal also cited top domestic manufacturers such as Whirlpool, Polaris, and Harley-Davidson, who say that consumer demand has been hit in recent months as consumers pull back spending in the face of the president's tariffs. In fact, Polaris CEO Mike Speetzen told investors during a recent earnings call that "consumers are really just reluctant to go spend right now unless they really need to or they're fortunate enough to have the financial flexibility to do that."

Data released last week also showed that the American labor market overall has nearly ground to a halt over the last three months, as the economy added an average of 35,000 jobs per month from May through July.

As if all that weren't enough, the tariffs are expected to hit Americans with price increases across a wide range of products during a time when voters say they are still very anxious about the cost of groceries.

Tariff update from the president pic.twitter.com/IFmiExre8V

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 7, 2025

"So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer, is that right?" -- Eugene Robinson guides Scott Bessent into acknowledging that tariffs are in fact paid in the United States, not by foreign governments pic.twitter.com/uB3QqAsmpe

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2025

It took six months for a Trump official to be politely forced by a journalist to admit live on air what everyone - including every economist - knows to be true (but which Trump keeps lying about): tariffs are paid in the US by US importers.

What an indictment of our media. https://t.co/zS9VRpIqSf

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 7, 2025

Now, let’s talk about those “trade deals.” As I said before, if it ain’t a contract, it ain’t enforceable. And agreements between nations are the equivalent of contracts. Contracts have to be signed. International agreements have to be officially approved by those governments. If they aren’t, they aren’t contracts.

Trump’s “deals” aren’t even in writing.

"I just came back from two weeks in Japan, and I was talking to a variety of very senior government officials, none of whom I can name on the record. And let me tell you, the Japan deal involves what the senators described as being hundreds of billions of dollars coming in and 90% of the profits going to the United States," Wolfers said. "And there is no one in Japan who understands the deal remotely in those terms."

"More than that, you'll notice that this is a trade deal where we haven't seen a single word in writing," continued Wolfers. "And I think there's probably a pretty big reason for that. The Japanese were happy to leave this deal unwritten, so that Trump and [Scott] Bessent could tell whatever stories they want to tell about it, while not actually making the Japanese live up to any of this."

"And there is no one in Japan who understands the deal remotely in those terms." One other point common to international agreements and contracts is that there must be a meeting of minds. That’s not so much a metaphysical state as it is something apparent from the agreement: at least. What is most apparent is, that condition doesn’t exist here. The Japanese never agreed to anything, really. They just happily played Trump for a fool.

Trump is a very unreliable narrator. “Delusional liar” is a good synonym. He’s also just a blockhead.