[Harmless Teddy Bear]

What’s new here is the idea that Smoot Hawley WAS NOT a bad thing and likely had very little impact on the Great Depression in the US.

It is? Only to the poorly educated. I learned it in 4 grade US history.

But that was because my parents used real history books rather then poorly written propaganda by the DoE.

[BroJoeK]

No,no... you may not remember, but in relatively recent years there’s been a conservative rethinking of what caused the Great Depression to sink so deep and last so long.
Sure, Friedman wrote in 1963, but even Friedrich Hyek didn’t admit to agreeing with him until 1978 (of course, for young folks, that’s all ancient history ;-) )
These studies have pointed the finger more at Roosevelt and Fed policies, than at Smoot Hawley.

Sadly, at least in this regard, I grew up in an earlier age, and to the point of this discussion: so did many other Republicans who supported NAFTA against Ross Perot in 1992.
That’s why they supported it.