"If the only trade that occurred between the United States and Mexico was my buying 10 Mexican avocados for $30 and someone there buying a T-shirt from me for $10, the trade deficit would be $20. But if I only bought five avocados, dropping the trade deficit from $20 to $5 ($15 for the avocados minus $10 for the shirt), it is not the case that the U.S. government is suddenly $15 richer. The feds don’t suddenly have $15 more to spend on wall building; the $15 is in my pocket."
Phillip Bump
On December 13, 2018, Donald Trump tweeted the following lie:
Donald Trump has convinced his followers that reducing the trade deficit with Mexico would pay for his wall; this lie, like the 7,000+ other lies he's told since becoming president, has been swallowed up whole and regurgitated by his base.
Phillip Bump's analogy disproving this trade deficit lie is spot on; sadly, it, like basically every known fact, will be ignored and/or explained away. For the better part of three years the truth has been getting its proverbial ass kicked by the constant lying of this administration. The only thing we can do to restore any since of sanity is to let Trump and his base have their version of the truth.
We need to quit arguing with them. We need to quit trying to convince them. Blog posts, newspaper articles, fact checks in real time and scholarly think tank pieces have all failed. We are wasting our time and ruining our relationships. There isn't a better argument.
We need to quit arguing with them. We need to quit trying to convince them. Blog posts, newspaper articles, fact checks in real time and scholarly think tank pieces have all failed. We are wasting our time and ruining our relationships. There isn't a better argument.
America has to admit there's a third of the country we have to let go. I know this is a hard pill to swallow for some progressives. Trump's base is their ultimate afterschool special. There are progressives who sincerely believe that the lies, racism, xenophobia and misogyny Trump feeds his base is something other than food for their souls. What we've been witnessing aren't the symptoms of economic anxiety. This is a full on attack on sanity and reason. To paraphrase Lil Duval we have to stop going back and forth with his people.
“When during the campaign, I would say ‘Mexico is going to pay for it,’ obviously, I never said this, and I never meant they’re gonna write out a check, I said they’re going to pay for it. They are.” Donald Trump
Mexico was never going to pay for the wall. Anyone who believed they would knows absolutely nothing about how sovereign nations operate. The fact that he has wiggled on this so much matters to the Conservative media, but it means very little to his base. There's some nuanced way to understand him that we just don't get.
