— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) April 3, 2025
Obviously, the left sharing this video of a Reagan weekly radio address is a strategy to invalidate President Donald Trump’s enactment of reciprocal tariffs and to divide Reaganites and MAGA.
I watched the video a few times to determine the context. From what I can decipher, either Reagan is talking about other countries issuing tariffs using America as a metaphor or he is describing why America should not ever rely solely on tariffs. Based on my limited research, I’m inclined to think the latter.
Keep in mind, Reagan championed free trade, (the buzzword of the 80’s and 90’s) and was a proponent of NAFTA and amnesty: both of which turned out to be terrible for America.
Obviously things were different in the eighties and Reagan certainly could not have foreseen the damage done to the USA .The Gipper is still one of best presidents America has ever had, but it appears , at least based on this context, he appears to be wrong on tariffs as he was with amnesty.
Perhaps there is more to this clip and if so, please feel free to post. I don’t mind anyone proving me wrong on this one.
Please watch the previous video and let me know your thoughts.
President Ronald Reagan shakes hands with future President Donald Trump
What have we witnessed in the past six days? All we’ve heard is epic fear mongering by the left , some on the right, and the media over President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs. Let’s spend some time unpacking Liberation Day.
Hopefully you have marked April 2 as Liberation Day in your calendars, because history will record President Trump’s policy as a generational transformation. Believe it!
“But Dex, the stock market is falling, consumers will be paying higher prices and the world will hate us! ” Yes these things are happening, but only in the short term. It won’t be forever as the left is trying to make it.
How come the pearl-clutchers on the left, the media, and some on the right aren’t asking if tariffs are so bad, why do other world economies benefit from them? Why are tariffs only bad for America? Prior to the 16th Amendment, which made income tax law in 1913, America funded itself primarily by tariffs, public land sales, custom duties and excise taxes.
Countries like Japan, India, Vietnam and Canada have booming economies due to asymmetrical tariff policies on USA products. Canada has slapped as much as 200 percent tariffs on American goods.
America has had this uneven trade policy in place for over 80 years with the advent of the Marshal Plan at the end of World War 2. In fact, the last time America had a trade surplus was over 50 years ago. That’s the 1970’s.
So Trump announces we’re not gonna take it anymore, reveals his Executive Order of reciprocal tariffs to begin the restoration of fair trade and all hell breaks loose. The Wall Street Journal lambasts him, the mockingbird media distorts , Democrats demonize and even Republicans like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz condemn the policy.
Typical. Democrats gonna hate, media gonna lie and certain Republicans gonna bail. That’s Washington baby!
However there’s an obvious detail all the usual suspects tend to gloss over: the word reciprocal. Trump’s policy is reciprocal tariffs, not punitive. Reciprocal means the tariff amounts America places on other countries are based on their actions.
In other words, any increase in tariffs, America will respond in kind. The same goes for any decrease in tariffs as well . Funny how the legacy press ignores that part of reciprocity.
Say, for instance, Canada or the EU reduces its tariffs to 0 , we would respond the same way. with 0 tariffs. Yes, if all these global leaders responded with reductions, Trump would do the same. Instead ,all we’re getting from world leaders is foot stomping tantrums promising Americans will feel the pain.
Why do these leaders bloviate with such punitive rhetoric instead of simply reducing their tariffs? It’s all about the money. The globalists are pissed off because they fear their people finding out their economies are sustained by the tariffs on American goods. Reduce those amounts and you kill the gravy train they’re accustomed to.
But it’s even bigger than that. President Trump is upending the parasitical global economic construct that has grown wealthy on the backs of hard-working Americans.Trump is liberating America from this one-way construct that’s screwed us while enriching every other nation.
And speaking of liberation, it requires will. Whether that liberation is throwing off the chains of tyranny, slavery or even an abusive relationship, there must be the resolve to never return to the way things were, no matter the difficulties. Pain usually follows for the short term, but the long term freedoms make the temporary hardships worth it.
Trump cautions Americans prices will go up initially, but from this will come an economic boom. The expert economists attack Trump’s plan, but what is their alternative to benefit Americans? And what is the Democrat plan? Senator Cory Booker ranted and raved about Trump for 24 hours, and said nothing about his party’s plan to fix our 30 trillion dollar deficit or to bring jobs back.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey
First Trump unleashed DOGE and Elon Musk to expose the fraud nd wasteful spending of our federal bureaucracy, and now Americans are learning of a multi-decade trade deficit. Americans’ eyes are no longer closed to how we’ve reached our current economic state. Democrat minions may be vandalizing Tesla Dealerships but the distraction isn’t working.
Every president since Reagan chose to kick the can down the road while telling us “Nahh… it’ll be fine.” Every president except Trump, that is. He’s a brilliant businessman stepping up and doing the heavy lifting because he loves this country. The least we can do is trust him. After all, he took a bullet for us.
