Trump Effs Around, and an American Sector Finds Out

Over at Reason, two articles show in general and specific terms how Donald Trump's ignorant and unprovoked trade war is backfiring.

The first of these is a piece about just three things the President got wrong -- Life is short. -- in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he took a pretend victory lap.

He was far from perfect, but on top of being correct, Ronald Reagan builds more broad-based political momentum in one six minute address than Trump has built (or can build) in eons of name-calling and chain-yanking.

Although everyone except Trump and his yes-men understand that trade deficits are not, in fact, a problem, the below is my "favorite," since a major stated premise for imposing illegal import taxes is to "fix" this "problem:"

Trump's op-ed claims that he has "slashed our monthly trade deficit by an astonishing 77%."

That would be astonishing. But in reality, the Census Bureau reported last week that the trade deficit increased -- not decreased -- by nearly 37 percent in November, the most recent month for which data are available. Through the first 11 months of 2025, the trade deficit was 4 percent higher than it had been in 2024. That is literally the opposite of what Trump is claiming.

It's somewhat astonishing that the Journal allowed such a wildly misleading claim to appear in its pages. Someone really should have fact-checked this before it went to print. [links in original, bold added]

The second describes how the combination of Trump's tariffs, his continuous insults aimed at our neighbors to the north, and the fact that, strangely enough, people who are treated badly often return the favor, have wreaked havoc on American wineries and distilleries, who used to enjoy brisk trade with Canada -- the top export destination for their products:

As reported by The Independent, large distilling companies like Brown-Forman Corporation (producer of Jack Daniel's) have seen their organic net sales to Canada plummet by 60 percent in the first half of the 2026 fiscal year. Jim Beam faced such a significant drop in sales from both the Canadian boycott and the general drying up of its international markets on account of the tariff wars that it suspended production entirely at its flagship plant.

According to The Independent, smaller distillers in states like Minnesota have suffered 70 percent declines in sales and have been forced to ship production to Canada by working with Canadian contract distillers. The result, in turn, is fewer U.S.-based manufacturing jobs and more Canadian-based jobs. [links in original, bold added]

MAGA, blinded by its confusion of rank bullying with decisiveness and masculinity, is fond of the motto, FAFO.

Too bad that motto applies to our economy due to one clueless dolt effing around, while his lackeys in Congress sit on their hands, leaving us all to find out.

-- CAV