The ‘king’ has spoken

When China recently imposed retaliatory tariffs on American exports, President Trump ordered American companies not to do business with China. Ordered, mind you. See, there’s the thing. He thinks he’s king. China’s President Xi can order state-controlled industries to do his bidding. Trump can’t even convince the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who he appointed, to needlessly lower interest rates to give the economy a hit of easy money in a reckless attempt to offset the economic burdens created by his own ruinous trade war.

Reasonable adults dismayed at the vulgarity and pettiness of this president believe he has made them financially better off and thus is worthy of their vote. “The Democrats will destroy my IRA,” one such misguided voter bemoaned, parroting Trump’s own political propaganda. She, like millions of other voters, has drunk the financial Kool-Aid offered by this demagogue.

At a recent rally Trump brayed that if the economy is good you’ll want to vote for him, and if it’s bad you’ll have to vote for him because he’s the only one who can fix it. There is the essence of the man. His modus operandi. He creates a problem that didn’t exist, then brags that he is the only one who can fix it.

Will your savings produce any income when interest rates plummet to zero? Will your IRAs grow when the auto industry and steel industry and technology hubs are decimated by his ruinous trade policy? Will you be better off when our air and water are befouled, our forests burned, our crops withered in the field? Let us pray for a recession in the Rust Belt, a plague in the farm belt and a pestilence in the Bible Belt if that is what is needed to rid ourselves of this disgraceful man who would be king.

DAVID ELI COCKCROFT Little Rock