Oh, good grief

Unless something happens in the next 24 hours, we're going to be in a war with Canada.

A trade war, actually. Don't worry, no blood will be spilled, eh?

Thanks to convicted felon Donald Trump, who is pretending to be an actual president of the United States, Trump has slapped a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports as well as a 10 percent tariff on imports from China.

The tariff on Canada is set to take effect at 12:01 a.m on Tuesday. So there's still time to wiggle out of this mess.

It's difficult to know what Trump is thinking. A tariff is pretty much akin to a tax on the people of the country who are imposing the tariff. Because it's a tariff on IMPORTS! That means the duty is paid on those goods by the importers. Consequently, the cost of those duties is passed on to the consumer.

That consumer would be us.

That's how tariffs work.

Trump, who apparently has no clue how tariffs work even though he is a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School of Business, claims the tariffs will stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants from entering the US. It's difficult to see how that happens unless he's counting on the actual THREAT of tariffs to do this.

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau have both promised counter-measures to oppose Trump's tariffs. If they really want to do damage, they ought to ask Trump to actually increase the percentage of the tariffs that he is imposing against them because it's the United States that will have to pay. As it stands, Trump has threatened to raise tariffs if any opposing action is taken. Buckle up.

According to research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, it's likely that American consumers will be paying more for practically everything from sneakers to oil to lumber to avocados (food) to toys.

Expect supply chains to be disrupted. Expect inflation to rise. An extended tariff trade war could also result in a recession. Maybe even world-wide recession. When you voted for Trump, did you know this is what you were voting for?

Yikes. And you thought the price of eggs was too high. I fear we ain't seen nuthin' yet.

•   •   •

Diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) have dominated the news cycle lately, especially coming after the horrific mid-air collision of an U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Trump, without offering any proof whatsoever and while the bodies of the deceased were still being pulled from the frigid river waters, told us that his common sense indicated DEI hiring practices by the military and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were responsible for the tragedy.

Sweet Jesus...

Here is the more likely scenario: if the helicopter is at fault, responsibility falls on the Department of Defense under newly-installed secretary Pete Hegseth. If, however, investigations show the crash to be the fault of air traffic control, then responsibility falls on the FAA and the Department of Transportation under newly-confirmed DOT secretary Sean Duffy.

Both the DOD and the DOT fall under Trump's purview. No wonder he's trying to point blame elsewhere.

One of the best summations of this disaster that I've seen comes from a commentator on Quora: "What the investigation will not show is that the crash was due to undocumented immigrants, LGBTQ, Greenland, DEI, California water policies or Bishop Budde's sermon. Trump tries desperately to pass the blame when bad things happen because he's a terrible leader. But when a military helicopter takes down a commercial aircraft full of passengers, we the people need to hold Secretary of Defense Hegseth and president Trump accountable."

Amen.