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Those of us on the left have experienced plenty of heartburn as we watch Donald Trump destroy the foundations of our democracy. The good news is, some of his own supporters are also increasingly in touch with that emotion, even if for different reasons. The New York Times writes:
“I would like to tell the president, ‘Man, you are messing up our market,’” said Kevin Scott, a soybean farmer in South Dakota and the secretary of the American Soybean Association. The idea of changing Nafta, he said, “gives us a lot of heartburn in farm country.”
Scott voted for Trump, but losing the export markets of China and Mexico will be devastating to American soybean farmers.
And farmers aren’t the only supporters Trump is screwing with—his random shoot-from-the-hip trade policies are causing anguish across an array of Trump-friendly industries. More than anything, that’s because he’s creating widespread chaos for farmers, manufacturers, the energy industry, and others.
Here how different sources from different industries in the Times story described Trump's approach:
- “Whac-a-mole policy”
- “The law of unintended consequences abounds”
- "Creates massive uncertainty"
- "Disruptive"
- "Wreaks havoc"
Trump is a simple man with a simple mind. He wants to negotiate trade deals one-on-one with other countries because, frankly, he’s only capable of holding the interests of two parties in his mind at any given time. He also seems to believe all American industries have the same interests and that they are mutually beneficial to each other. They do not.
The steel industry supports the tariffs, but the aluminum industry does not. Automakers who sought looser emissions rules now say Trump's regulatory change was so heavy handed it will likely be tied up in the courts for years. Oil and gas companies say their market share is threatened by Trump's bid to bail out coal companies.
In short, in an extraordinarily complex economic game that requires a nuanced, multi-dimensional strategy, Trump is trying to play bean bag with a sledgehammer. Unfortunately, the rest of us will be left to pick up the pieces.