The administration is still lavishing Americans with visions of a golden age to come. Yet in the course of a madcap week – which saw a flurry of tariffs and reversals, sparking a global trade war and a sharp stock-market decline – the tone changed a bit.
“There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that,” Trump told Congress on Tuesday, defending his plans to throw up a protectionist barrier around the US with the biggest tariff increases in almost a century. By Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was arguing that the world’s biggest economy needed some “detox” to wean it off dependence on public spending.
Pain does not imply gain however.
In other words:
Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Pivoting? I call bullshit. They have been saying this the entire time.