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Trump Asked for This Flood. Will He Survive It?
February 3rd, 2025
Early this morning, it was announced that an agreement was made between the United States and Mexico to delay the onset of the 25% tariffs that were set to take effect the following day. Leaders of the two nations have decided to put off the start date by a month. A few hours later, and not unpredictably, a comparable agreement was reached with Canada after a phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
I’m unconvinced that it was ever Trump’s intention for these tariffs to take effect at all. As with the flurry of headlines that have inundated Americans for the past couple of weeks, much of the aim behind the threat was to stoke fear and exhaustion — to continue his media blitz. When the deluge of intimidating new mandates is so relentless, it’s easy for big news to slip through the cracks. In the past, many of the most insidious developments that took place under Trump were clouded over by his typical brand of brazen reality TV-style nonsense and Twitter rants.
His administration wants people to give in to the flood and accept defeat. Throughout the past few days, Americans have fearfully braced for tariffs that were likely only ever raised as a threat. As with the prospect of government shutdowns in our country, I think these tariffs will be a can that we…
