Donald Trump was on one hell of a Twitter tirade Friday morning, tweeting his own approval ratings and retweeting Fox clips, while also ranting about his manufactured trade war with China. At one point, he declared that U.S. companies are “hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China.”
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Here’s the thing, though: That’s not actually something the President can do. He can’t force American companies to conduct business in a certain way (and he sure as hell can’t order it via Twitter).
I like when Trump uses “hereby” to make a meaningless declaration like he’s King Ralph or something.
— maggie serota (@maggieserota) August 23, 2019
It’s so cute he threw in “hereby” as if it means anything.
“I hereby order the Cubs to win their next 20 games.”
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 23, 2019
Well, now I’m going to be hereby ordering shit all day long.
— ana marie cox (@anamariecox) August 23, 2019
Pretty much any time Trump tweets about the economy, something bad happens. Like how he’s been tweeting about Chinese tariffs (and lying about how those work) for a while now, and China responded by announcing a new round of retaliatory tariffs on American goods. So unsurprisingly, the stock market plummetted after Trump made his empty declaration. The DOW fell more than 400 points, the S&P 500 fell 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2%.
BREAKING: Stocks plunge after Trump tweets that he will respond to new China tariffs today and says “American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China” https://t.co/ewwtEr0ClV pic.twitter.com/mzhueqJPL5
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) August 23, 2019
Also, didn’t Ivanka Trump just get a bunch of new trademarks approved in China for her business? I wonder if her father will bring that up …
Trump keeps praising his own economy, accusing “the Fake News Media, together with their Partner, the Democrat Party,” of “working overtime to convince people that we are in, or will soon be going into, a Recession.” He says Democrats are only doing this to win elections. Now, it’s true that the illusion of a strong economy seems to be Trump’s best weapon going into the 2020 election, but no one is hoping for a recession. A lot of people do see one on the horizon, and Trump’s lies aren’t going to stop it.
Trump has apparently decided the best way to avoid an economic collapse is to call the Federal Reserve Chair–a man Trump appointed–an enemy of America.
….My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Trump desperately wants the Fed to cut interest rates–something he would not have to do if we weren’t actually on the brink of a recession–and Powell’s reluctance to make the dramatic cuts Trump wants has made him furious. He’s attacked Powell for his “horrendous lack of vision” and now he’s actually labelling him as an enemy to the economy and the country.
Both his attacks on Powell and his meaningless hereby declarations paint the picture of a man who truly does not understand how our government or our economy or, really, anything at all works. But he wants so badly to be a tyrant and doesn’t know how to respond to not getting his way with anything but a Twitter temper tantrum.
There is too much constitutional ignorance in this country, so I HEREBY order that all White House personnel spend this weekend re-watching Schoolhouse Rock. pic.twitter.com/NWyokxhFja
— Jonathan H. Adler (@jadler1969) August 23, 2019
(image: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
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