DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: #Trumptariffs is trending and, if the majority of voters have their way, so is a colossal reset of America

Like most weeks there is much to write and a limited word count to create the magic.

I knew this week I had to write about tariffs.

I mean, #TrumpTariffs has been absolutely trending on social media the past few weeks.

Tariffs and the stock market.

Alas, the stock market is one of the rabbit holes I don’t have the word count to jump into today.

I’m just going to throw out the word “self-correcting.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio used that word recently.

Yep, my stock is tanking too. After all, stock are a long game of chance (unless you’re a day trader). I am seriously not worried.

In fact, my buddies who breath the stock market are telling me there has never been a better time to invest (www.fool.com/investing/2025/04/03/stock-market-crash-soar-2025-wall-street-forecasts).

In short, “Several analysts have lowered their year-end forecasts for the S&P 500, but the vast majority are still expect strong returns from the benchmark index in 2025.”

Tariffs or whatever else either side of the aisle is peddling – everything we are seeing is about change.

Fast change because the balance in America had become so tilted this country was losing itself.

Argue with me if you want, but many people are still scratching their heads while wondering just who ran our country the last four years.

Whoever it was, it’s safe to say Trump and Vance not only ended that status quo but took the word completely out of the dictionary.

So yes – self-correcting – just like a lot of Americans are trying to do right now.

Americans, who seem perfectly happy this country’s reset button has been pushed.

Which is what Rubio explained when asked by a reporter about the tariffs crashing the European economies.

Rubio said, “Their economies are not crashing. The markets are reacting to a dramatic change in a global order.”

He gave an elementary explanation that if a company makes items that come from China and suddenly the shareholders realize it’s going to cost a lot more to produce in China, the stock is going to go down. He said, however, if the shareholders know what is happening in the future, the markets will adjust.

“We are the largest consumer market in the world and all we export are services,” Rubio said. “We need to get back to being a country who can make things. To get to that we have to reset the world order of trade.”

Sure, other countries (as in those making money on over-tariffing America) want to leave it like it is from a financial perspective, but it seems the majority of Americans aren’t playing small anymore.

As for why the blue people want America to be over tariffed, I have no idea.

One person suggested perhaps because it requires no change, no disruption, and it’s easier to be lazy than to have to adjust to the changing times.

Trump is the karma card for those who have been overcharging America at America’s expense.

Karma for those politicians who have been pocketing money, the NGOs who have been coming up with causes that are not American, for workers who have not been doing their job, for people taking money earmarked for dead people who were not reported dead – and the list just goes on and on.

Every day I hear something new, but spoiler alert; it’s no longer business as usual.

And so, it’s tariffs this week being blamed on the latest calamity the propaganda machine is serving.

US News’ narrative last week was “Markets Crash, Economists Warn of Recession as Trump Announces Sweeping Import Tariffs on Many Countries.” (www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2025-04-03/markets-crash-economists-warn-of-recession-as-trump-announces-sweeping-import-tariffs-on-many-countries)

Let’s keep the fear narrative rolling.

Only it doesn’t work so well anymore.

People are waking up, and fewer people are listening to propaganda, and more people are researching and resorting to critical thinking.

The USA has been tariffed out the wazoo the last number of years, and it’s time for the correction.

One person queried, “If tariffs are so bad (as many Americans are claiming), why do 180 countries have tariffs on America?”

Here is a list of reciprocal tariffs Forbes outlined last week: (www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/04/02/heres-the-full-list-of-trumps-reciprocal-tariffs-announced-wednesday/?ctpv=searchpage).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also confirmed these tariffs were calculated by taking the U.S.’s trade deficit with a country and dividing it by the country’s exports to the U.S., with the “reciprocal rate” calculated by then dividing that figure by two.

One person spoke out that Pres. Trump did not apply tariffs to Belarus, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea.

Well, true, but why do we need tariffs on countries we have trade sanctions on already? I mean, there’s no point in tariffs since we are not trading with them.

I did read Trump has apparently said he might sanction countries who trade with Russia as a move to get Russia back into the overall negotiations.

I’m assuming even if you hate Trump, you can get behind that, right?

And for all Ukraine devotees, this would be a Trump win for you too.

It was interesting watching a random mainstream media talking head get schooled on the matter of tariffs by investor Kevin O’Leary.

It was almost as if the “Tariff Narrative for Dummies” pamphlet supplying the mainstream media’s propaganda on the topic left out some key talking points.

O’Leary had this to say on tariffs: (finance.yahoo.com/news/kevin-oleary-blasts-anti-american-102900212.html), also stating what Trump is doing has never been done before. This is usually done by trade agreements with different countries and not all at once.

He said there are two aspects to the tariffs, with the first being reciprocity based on products and services.

The more complex is relating to trade imbalances. In this situation, O’Leary said it begins “behemoth negotiations” since there are 60 countries involved in these imbalances.

It was noted by the reporter there is a 34% retaliatory tariff from China on the US. She indicated this means the US is not moving toward free trade, but trade wars.

O’Leary reminded China is an entirely different story. The idea is more about leveling the playing field – “none of the previous administrations have ever dealt with China.”

The reporter wanted to know why tariffs are being used to play this game and O’Leary said, “What tool do you suggest they use when nothing else has worked?”

The reporter answered, “I am not the president; it is not my job.”

Good point – she was quickly reminded, “So let him do his job.”

People outside the inner circle of government rarely know all the facts – there is too much at play.

Armchair people attempting to lead the country with a beer in one hand are even more dangerous. Every rabbit hole I fall into while researching is a deeper dive into a larger quagmire. Nothing is black and white. It does get easier to see the bigger picture over time, if you research the pieces and put them together.

Put the pieces together on how the economy works alongside foreign relations, tariffs, the federal reserve, the stock market, wars, and even knowing when to negotiate a deal that does not look good for the American people to secure another deal that does.

Change is hard. Even on a small-scale feathers get ruffled, so taken on a larger scale it is painful.

Add to that the growing pains of an administration that looks to be tearing down a system that generations of Americans have come to accept.

Remember though, even fancy Nancy Pelosi was arguing for tariff changes back in 1996, perhaps a more convenient argument at the time.

During the last Trump administration, Chucky Schumer said he agreed with Trump’s tariff negotiations.

No one ever got anywhere by worrying about what people thought about them.

I don’t think Trump and his group care either.

That angers a lot of people.

It also puts America back on the playing field where other countries know we’re not sitting this one out anymore because we know our worth and are ready to fight for it.

Rita Cook is a freelance writer for The Ellis County Press. She can be reached at rcook13@earthlink.net.