Tariffs - One More Step Toward Total Rule
April 2, 2025
From the soon to be desecrated White House Rose Garden, president Trump made his announcement for what he has been calling, “Liberation Day” and imposed sweeping tariffs on every single one of our trade partners.
After campaign promises to bring down prices for consumers and so much talk about bringing down the cost of eggs, Trump just imposed the biggest tax on the working class we’ve seen in over 100 years. During his announcement and glorification of tariffs, Trump mentioned the 1913 Tax Act as the thing that brought tariffs down implying that himself as the savior of this trade war precursor.
The 16th amendment asserts that “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” This is the part that Trump left out of his explanation, the reason that the 1913 Tax Act was passed and the Constitution amended, is because the measure was so popular with the public as the tariffs being imposed were seen as a disproportionate tax on the working class.
So what do Trump’s tariffs look like?
A baseline tariff to be imposed globally at 10% was announced, followed by the chart that you see above with many of our biggest trade partners listed on it. Trump stated that the administration would be taking the cumulative total of the tariffs that country imposes on our goods, and tariff them half of it across the board.
So lets look at some of our largest trade partners and what these tariffs are going to mean for you and other working class families:
Electrical Machinery and Equpment - electric heaters, televisions, microphones, loudspeakers, headphones, electrical transformers/converters/inductors
Mineral Fuels - from fuels and lubricants to ingredients in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
Ores - steel production, construction, electronics, transportation, medicine and cosmetics
Machinery (Computers & Cell Phones) - the iPhone that is gong to be released this year just got a lot more expensive.
Gems & Precious metals - jewelry, electronics, advanced technology, military technology
Pharmaceutical and medicinal products
Cars
Mechanical power generators
Organic chemicals
Scientific instruments
Machinery & Equipment
Textiles & Apparel
Electronics
Furniture
Machinery & Mechanical Appliances
Cars & Car Parts
Chemicals & Plastics
Rubber & Leather
Engineering goods
Electronics
Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
Gems & Jewelry
Ready-made garments
Machinery (metals, iron, steel, and tools)
Cars
Equipment
Chemicals, Plastics, Rubber, and Leather
Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Products
Cars
Medicines
As we mentioned before, the reason the income tax act was so popular in 1913 was because tariffs were imposed on and affected the working class far more than wealthy people. These tariffs are a direct tax on working class Americans and they are going to feel them right away.
Nearly every financial aspect of your life was just made worse in that press conference. The thing about those tariffs is, the billionaires don’t pay them. They might pay them at the ports when they are taxed, but that cost is being directly relayed to the cost that consumers are paying in order for these wealthy businessmen to make their money back.
They’ll be fine.
Healthcare, prescriptions, the clothes on your back, buying a car, fixing the car you have, the tools you need for your job, replacing a tv, buying a birthday present for your wife… these all just grew more out of reach for poor Americans.
So why would Trump impose these tariffs knowing this will be a wildly unpopular policy decision once these costs are imposed on his working class supporters?
Because they are just a step on the path to total rule.
Appointing Elon Musk to run DOGE and steal all our information, infomercials on the White House lawn, rounding up innocent people and sending them to El Salvador, tax breaks for billionaires, firing veterans and the federal work force, claiming Canada as the 51st state… none of these policies have suggested that Trump is serving his supporters anymore. They point directly to him being beholden to growing his own power and legacy along with helping the richest men in the world.
The Big Picture
Every move that Trump has made so far points to a consolidation of money and power across the United States government and economy. Elon Musk and his pack of hyenas are dismantling the federal workforce and obtaining our information with a vicious pace. Trump is catering toward what used to be fierce enemies and turning against our allies on the world stage.
We are looking at the beginning of a dictatorship, because these are the actions of a man that doesn’t plan on having to run again. This is all to put the American people under the thumb of Trump and a right-wing authoritarian rule.
Democrats celebrated historic gains in special elections in Florida yesterday with wide margins closed in red districts. In Wisconsin, Elon Musk spent millions of dollars to ensure that a conservative judge was elected to the State Supreme Court; they lost that race.
Despite spending millions and taking the L, today Elon posted on his social media site, “I expected to lose, but there is a value to losing a piece for a positional gain.” Sounds pretty confident for someone who must’ve heard the rumors that Trump told staff Elon would be on his way out soon.
Despite Democrat gains in Florida and a Supreme Court win in Wisconsin, Trump celebrated the measure regarding voter identification passing in up north. Trump “won” the state during the presidential election and stated he will for many years to come because of this.
What was the positional change?
Are elections in trouble?
A couple weeks ago Trump was going through Signalgate, there are rumors that Elon Musk is on his way out after the recent election loss and his “work” finishing up at DOGE, and judicial injunctions affecting his policy, the president is likely going to be desperate to continue his power consolidation and gain wins before 2026 midterms, setting up a potential conflict with the Supreme Court and the American people.
In this desperation he is going to lash out. As he struggles to enact his policy and protests rise across the country, this summer is going to be rough for the Trump administration. His wealthiest donor is deeply unpopular with voters and his company is experiencing record losses. There are big cases coming up with SCOTUS that will determine if Trump can lawfully enact his policy or if he will continue to skirt the constitution in deporting people to El Salvador.
Here’s the thing, he is going to lose, and he is going to continue losing.
Are there still guardrails in place to stop him? We don’t know. A father and decent man from Maryland was “accidentally” sent to El Salvador without due process, so he’s already on his bullshit, but there are ways in which Democracy is still prevailing. While democracy prevails in the courts in the meantime and Democrats continue to get wins, Trump is going to get more and more angry and want a tighter grip on power.
Something will come this summer, whether a protest goes too far, some mass casualty event happens, anything he can use… he is going to attempt to impose Martial Law sometime before the 2026 midterm elections. If he is able to do that and wield that type of power, we are going to have a long road ahead of us.
That is his goal. To turn the military on the people and have us live in a controlled bubble while him and the other billionaires destroy our democracy and consolidate the oligarchy.
This isn’t conspiratorial bullshit, what he is doing with these tariffs is a means to an end. He wants to nationalize the economy and dole out the rewards to a select few. He wants to serve a third term and if he isn’t worried about historic gains or losing an election in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, what does that say about his thinking of future elections?
Costs are going to rise for poor people and the wealth gap is going to grow. That will be deeply unpopular for his poor white voting base. They will turn on him and this will grow into a class movement in which Trump has already chosen his side.
It’s us against the billionaires and the tariffs are just a means to an end. We need Democrats like AOC & Cory Booker to continue to lead from the front and inspire people. We need the good people at Lincoln Square Media like Rick Wilson & Stuart Stevens along with MeidasTouch Network to continue to put valuable conversations and news out there. We need to continue to show up to the ballot box in order to ensure that we do have midterm elections.
We’re fired up but we need to keep pushing.
Until next time,
Underground.
https://substack.com/@lightalight/note/c-106495607