Is there no limit to Republican stupidity?
Face it: Republicans can't govern.
Whether it’s Cumberland County Republicans Gary Eichelberger and Vince DiFilippo turning Claremont Nursing & Rehabilitation Center from a 4-star community asset into a 1-star mess or Washington Republicans declaring war on our friends while cozying up to our enemies, it’s hard to see much good coming from the GOP (Garbage Of Politics).
That’s not surprising. Republicans hate government and want it to fail. So hiring Republicans to run our government is like hiring a mechanic who hates cars and wants them to break down. Sensible people don’t do it.
The Latest Proof: Republican Tariffs
This week, Republicans declared economic war on the world with tariffs designed to prevent other countries from taking advantage of the weak, insecure, economically frail United States. (Remember: ours is the country whose economy The Economist declared “the envy of the world” just four months ago. Poor US.)
But according to Republicans, we need those tariffs, and we’ll get enough money from them to pay for more tax cuts for Elon, Mark, Jeff and the other wealthiest among us who need tax cuts about as much as Washington needs more lobbyists.
Countries Republican tariffs will hurt the most.
At the top of the list are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which have a population of zero. As far as anyone knows, no one has even visited them in about a decade. But we’re slapping a 10% tariff on them. Let’s see if Republicans can calculate 10% of nothing.
Then there’s the British Indian Ocean Territory. BIOT has zero civilian residents, although it does have 4,000 US and British military personnel. Whatever those “suckers and losers” export, if anything, will cost Americans 10% more to buy.
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands consist of 27 islands, 25 of which are uninhabited. Americans will pay a 10% tariff on whatever the two inhabited islands, housing about 600 people, export to us.
Others whose economies will take a 10% hit thanks to Republicans include:
Tokelau, population 1,650
Christmas Island, population 1,700
Svalbard and Jan Mayen (more islands). Svalbard has a population of 2,660. Mayen has a population of zero.
10% is just the beginning.
We might as well declare all-out war against the 12,000 people of Nauru who take advantage of us so unfairly. The Republicans’ 30% tariff is just the first shot across the bow.
How about the 40,000 people in Liechtenstein? A 37% tariff will teach them not to mess with poor, feeble America.
Does anyone honestly think that the 3,470 people who live on the Falkland Islands are destroying the American economy? Republicans do. They’ve imposed a 42% tariff on whatever we buy from the Falklands. That should raise a few hundred dollars.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which have a combined population of 5,600, are hit with a 50% tariff.
I could go on…
…but it would be wrong. Even Republicans can only take so much self-inflicted embarrassment.
Am in conversation with a neighbor who thinks less government is better but seems to be on the fence about how the GOP (love your new name) is doing it. I have long been in despair (?) at how to convince others that tiny government may sound good but if you read Michael Lewis' book, The Fifth Risk, you do not realize how much they really, really do. And most of it is GOOD. I am scared and appalled daily.