Posted on 04/06/2025 12:59:05 AM PDT by RandFan
Republicans who are evidently not too comfortable with President Donald Trump’s decision to announce large new global tariffs have tried plenty of hints to push him in a different direction. And one of Trump’s most vocal tariff critics on the GOP side, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, tried a relatively novel one on Wednesday.
He pointed to electoral peril for the GOP.
“Tariffs have also led to political decimation,” Paul told reporters. “When [William] McKinley most famously put tariffs on in 1890, they lost 50 percent of their seats in the next election. When [Sens. Reed Smoot and Willis C. Hawley] put on their tariff in the early 1930s, we lost the House and the Senate for 60 years.
“So they’re not only bad economically; they’re bad politically.”
This is a good point.
Whatever the theoretical economic benefits of major tariffs, history shows they have coincided with huge losses for the Republicans — and it has almost always been Republicans — who pursue them.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Great points. At the moment, this country is not equipped to produce the war machinery it would need to fight an all-out war to completion and victory. There are plenty of manufacturers today that would not want to participate in retooling their production lines to manufacture war material in the amount that would be needed. Henry Ford never got on line with moving from cars to war products until after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, despite FDR approaching him several times, and after we’d already been supplying Britain and France with war supplies for two years.
The new Industrial Revolution will make the last 50 years look like a slumber party.
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That won’t happen with the current amount of taxes, regulations, and welfare.
Seems to be very popular with all of our trading partners since they all impose them on us.
Milton Friedman kept us from getting even by insisting on free trade when we have never had free or fair trade. How is it wrong to charge a partner exactly what they charge us? In fact they can avoid tariffs altogether simply by not charging us or producing their products here.
Notice how many RINOs are opposing the tariffs and it is not because they are bad for the poor people it Is just bad for them. Every congressman or senator knows how the game is played or they are too stupid too take up space.
Man. The GOP being decimated for 60 years is something the WaPo would definitely not want! We can totally take their advice and rebuff Trump, fellas!
Elon agrees with Rand Paul on tariffs, why would he finance a challenge to him?
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