As the Tax Foundation’s Erica York quickly pointed out, about 150 million people make less than $100,000. She noted that sending each of them a $2,000 check would cost $300 billion, and Trump’s tariffs are only projected to raise $217 billion annually.
Archive article: https://archive.is/Ih7jO
Don’t “sane wash” the ravings of a mad man.
I’m not sane washing. I believe it’s how he sees it and now he’s probably been told that’s not how it works, he continues to use this method as a way to make the number bigger. So it crosses from idiocy to deliberate deception. IMO
You’re reaching a lot in your “theory” trying to attribute logic (however few of it) to the ramblings of a delusional, unintelligent and dementia riddled old man. I do not believe for a second that there’s any logic other than “big number make me feel good”.
And the deception part would require him to understand and accept that he was wrong, which he’s shown to be completely unable to do numerous times.
Well maybe I am, but I also think there is a tendancy to dismiss a lot of trump’s behaviour as delusional, or dumb when I see it as intentional malice with moments of dementia woven in.
I do think he is not very bright, but not so dumb as many want to believe. It feels good to think of him as dumb, but the fact of the matter is he convinced tens of millions of people to vote for him. He has steam rollered the USA and imposed his will. He is clever enough to have understood his to manipulate the public masterfully up to his second election, despite being a convicted felon by that point. To say he is stupid and somehow lucked his way into all of that is not impossible but improbable. I think his issue now is that he underestimated how the public would respond as he got positive reinforcement for many years even when doing harmful things because of his blind support from MAGA. He underestimated how much they would put up with.
It is entirely possible that he pulled the number out of the air but I don’t think that’s how he works. Some of what he says is rooted in a truth that he then distorts and exaggerates to serve him, which is why I think the number comes from his deliberate misunderstanding than from nowhere.
The deception doesn’t require him to accept he was wrong. It requires mental gymnastics. Something he has proven to be an Olympic gold medalist at.
Just to be clear I am not defending him I am advising caution. Writing him off as stupid means you are in some way excusing his actions as being accidental and leads to the “of its just trump being trump” rhetoric that has let him get away with so much. He is a dangerous, dangerous man. I can’t decide if he believes the things he says or simply wants you to believe the things he says. I lean towards the latter.
As I wrote this I am reminded of Boris Johnson who is someone who spent a great deal of time convincing the UK public he was a harmless, likeable idiot. He was not. He was an intelligent, deceptive man who wore his public image like a mask to hide his nefarious intent. Boris is not trump of course, but I see Boris as a cautionary tale and it makes me view Trump differently than I perhaps would if Boris had not existed.
Fully accept I may be wrong about all of this, but just want to share my opinion.