Donald Trump tries a desperate new distraction from his scandals – and it’s about to blow up in his face

| 10:05 pm EDT May 30, 2019
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Donald Trump is so spun around, he’s publicly changed his mind three times today about whether Russia helped him win the election, and he’s changed his mind twice about whether his USS John McCain scandal really happened. He’s spiraling downward quickly, and he’s apparently decided that the only way to fix things is with a giant distraction – even one that’ll quickly blow up in his face.

Toward the end of his terrible day, Donald Trump posted this surreal tweet: “On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.”

Immediately after Trump posted the tweet, the Dow Jones Futures began to trend sharply downward, because if there’s one thing investors of all political stripes hate, it’s tariffs. They wreak havoc on the economy of the country levying the tariff, and on the economy of the country facing the tariff. Trump – who routinely misstates the basic definition of what a tariff is – either doesn’t understand the negative impact on the United States, or doesn’t care.

We’ve seen the U.S. stock market react negatively each time Donald Trump has placed new tariffs on China, or even threatened new tariffs. But at least those tariffs were misguided attempts at altering the economic playing field. This is just a matter of Trump throwing an economy-wrecking tantrum because he’s convinced his base that Mexican immigrants are coming to get them, and because he’s not allowed to build his racist wall. The stock market will plummet at the opening bell tomorrow, at a time when the still-growing Obama economy may be the only thing still propping up what’s left of Trump’s presidency.