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“Rush - which is it? He was lying or He’s not as deep a thinker as he pretends (by previously opposing tariffs)”

My take on Rush is that his best area of expertise is politics - that he has great political instincts about how people are feeling, and what motivates people and politicians.

I take his bluster and over-the-top self promotion as just tongue-in-cheek humor, like trash talking in a locker room. I don’t think he seriously pretends to be a deep thinker on International trade. So the answer to your question is the second option - with a caveat, that he often pokes fun at his own (playfully) proposed infallibility.

He is admitting that he was not right about the use of tariffs - sometimes they can be warranted/useful to bring unfair trade partners back into line.

In fact, when trading partners are placing unfair barriers on us, our leaders really have a duty to fight back somehow, and represent/defend our interests. Nonetheless, tariffs will remain highly subject to corrupt abuse by politicians looking to sell favors, and businesses looking to buy them. They also can inflict a strong distorting effect on prices and efficiency. So tariffs, as a general rule, should be minimized wherever possible. Just as killing people is a very bad thing in general, there are times when it is not only the lesser of two evils, but it can be be imperative to do it in some circumstances. So we do it when we have to, and try to arrange things to avoid it being necessary.

But I think there is something to your first point as well (appease his rich friends AKA party elites). My take on Rush is that he is more focused on politics than economics or International relations. I think that what he may be seeing as the big picture, is the approaching midterm elections, and the need to unify the Party, and deflect likely attacks from the Left.

No doubt he gets lobbied by Party elites to shill for their positions, and has to constantly sift through a lot of attempted manipulation to get at the truth, and to chose his positions. None of us are perfect, but Rush is fundamentally a loyal American, who is entertaining, who has excellent insight into the Left, as well as lots of high level sources to inform him. Much more good than bad (the only perfect person got nailed to a cross a long time ago).