Are you tired of winning yet?

 In some ways, it has been a typical news week. Donald Trump flouted tradition by refusing to participate in the ceremonial receiving of the bodies of four U.S. servicemen killed in a training exercise in Lithuania, so he could make an appearance at a Saudi-funded golf tournament at one of his clubs. While that would be extraordinary behavior from any other U.S. president, it is nothing unusual for Trump. It has been repeatedly established over the past decade that he fawns over the Saudis, never shows anything but contempt for U.S. military personnel killed or injured in the line of duty and has spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars playing golf the past two months. Plus, everyone at this tournament is spending their money (and lots of it) at his club.

On the other hand, there’s this tariff situation. He has been saying he was going to do it, and there was no reason to doubt his word… but a lot of people around the world told themselves he was only bluffing, or kidding. Some of his most fervent supporters at home, who believe despite all evidence to the contrary that he is some kind of strategic genius, believe it is all part of some master plan. I actually heard a friend of mine say (and this wasn’t the first one) that “the rest of the world is playing checkers, and Trump is playing chess.” I responded that no, actually, he is playing chutes and ladders and is eating the pieces.

Here’s the deal. Trump, who apparently only heard the word “groceries” for the first time a couple of months ago, seems to have no idea what tariffs are or how they work. He seems to think he will be able to finance his trillion-dollar tax cut for billionaires - not just by turning Elon Musk loose to fire most federal workers and cut virtually every federal program, but by somehow using tariffs to make foreign countries give us huge amounts of money. That’s not how it works. For one thing, if it becomes less lucrative for foreign countries to sell us their goods, they will simply sell them to somebody else - and, in retaliation, make it harder for us to sell OUR goods. And those tariffs will actually have to be covered by the (American) businesses who were buying the foreign goods in the first place - and they will just pass those added costs along to the consumer by jacking up the price of their goods when they resell them here. Meanwhile, the U.S. industrial infrastructure is not yet in place for us to start making all that stuff again - not for years - and even if we could, the parts we’d have to use come from other countries.

This means that prices are going to go through the roof, and inflation will go crazy. Meanwhile, in reaction to the turmoil and chaos of Trump’s tariffs, including those on islands inhabited only by penguins, the stock market has plummeted. In only two days, the market lost six trillion dollars and things are showing no signs of improvement, Trump has gone from promising to lower prices “on day one” to warning his followers that they need to buck up and take the pain, and some of them are parroting those words, and saying presidents have no control over prices. They are usually the same folks who swore at Joe Biden because egg prices were up. I have seen a couple of my conservative friends on social media practically guffawing at the concern many people are showing over these economic realities. They think it’s hilarious that the “libs” are freaking out, and that Trump is “owning” them. I know these folks probably have 401Ks. I wonder if they know that, if they do, their retirement is tied to the stock market? I know one person whose 401K has lost the value of the past three years’ worth of contributions.

Inflation is going to keep going up. Unemployment is going to go up. Tax refunds are going to be late, if they show up at all, and your nana’s Medicare and Social Security are going to be cut. The stock market is going to keep going crazy, because - even if Trump canceled his tariffs tomorrow - business owners and investors have no idea what crazy thing he might do next. But it’s okay, because the libs are triggered.

Are you tired of winning yet? Because you’re about to be.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.