One year ago this week, Trump stood in the Rose Garden and announced the highest tariffs in nearly a century. Called it “Liberation Day.” Promised it would bring back factory jobs, rebuild American manufacturing, and make other countries pay. Well, here’s your scorecard: factory jobs are down, inflation is up, and the Supreme Court ruled the whole thing was illegal. Liberated from what, exactly? Your own paycheck?
The best part is the $2,000 rebate checks he dangled in front of everyone like a carnival prize. Not a single one has hit anyone’s bank account. Meanwhile, over 2,000 companies — including Costco and FedEx — are suing the government to claw back $130 billion in tariffs that were collected under a law the Supreme Court said he couldn’t use. So American businesses paid the tariff. American consumers ate the price hikes. And the guy who did it is mad at his own judges for telling him he can’t do that. The working class didn’t get liberated. They got the bill.