"Trump’s [first] speech [to Congress] was a performance of contradictions—proclaiming the virtues of capitalism while advocating economic controls, calling for individual rights while violating them, and celebrating American greatness while embracing policies that betray its foundations.
"Nowhere was his dishonesty more blatant than in his discussion of Ukraine. He claimed that both Ukraine and Russia were ready to negotiate and that his leadership would end the war. This is a lie. Trump is not offering peace—he is offering surrender. ...
"Trump’s immigration stance was another betrayal of America’s principles. ... America was built by those who arrived with nothing but a willingness to work and build a better life. Trump’s vision replaces that with state-controlled borders and tribal loyalty. ...
"Tonight, he claimed America is entering a “golden age.” That is another lie. His economic policies increase state control. His foreign policy rewards dictators. His governance breeds chaos. If America is to remain great, it must reject the strongman tactics Trump embraces. He does not seek to restore America’s greatness; he seeks to twist it into a closed-border, state-run, nationalist machine where power—not principle—rules.
"His promises of peace will lead to more war. His economic plan will lead to more government. His leadership will bring more instability. Trump is not America’s saviour—he is its greatest betrayer."~ Nicholas Provenzo from his post 'My Hot Take on Trump’s Address to Congress'
PS: Trump’s speech to Congress exposes "two foundational fallacies that surround his protectionism." Don Boudreaux explains:
One fallacy is that tariffs are used against foreign countries. In fact, tariffs are used against the citizens of the government that imposes the tariffs. Canadian tariffs, for example, are taxes on Canadians’purchases of imports, and U.S. tariffs are taxes on Americans’purchases of imports. And so while foreign exporters do suffer when the U.S. government raises tariffs, the bulk of the suffering is by Americans – by American families who pay higher prices for food, clothing, and other household goods, and by American producers who pay higher prices for raw materials and intermediate products used in production here in the U.S.
Moreover, these higher prices at home are by design: U.S. tariffs will not cause American manufacturing and agricultural outputs to rise unless these tariffs increase the prices that Americans pay for these outputs. When Trump and other protectionists deny that Americans will pay higher prices as a result of tariffs, they are either lying or displaying frightening economic ignorance.
The second fallacy is the frequently heard excuse that Trump’s tariffs are bargaining chips to compel other governments to step up actions to stop the flow into America of illegal drugs. Yet last night, Trump himself identified other countries’ tariffs – which, again, ‘rip off,’ not Americans, but their own citizens – as the principal justification for his tariffs.
In short, Trump insists that, because other countries use tariffs to rip off their citizens, he’s going to use tariffs no less harshly to rip off Americans.
PPS: And a question for you is if you are an advocate for capitalism and also, somehow, still, an apologist for the toddler ...
Trump and Capitalism. #economics pic.twitter.com/2RsqkOFYgN
— Michael Liebowitz (@Lieboisout) March 5, 2025
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