How's that 'Makey Greaty' thing working out for ya'?

A trade war with our allies, an embrace of our traditional foes that threatens to shatter the world order and so much more.

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Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

Trade worrier

The Associated Press: “Trump says 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports will start Tuesday, with ‘no room’ for delay.”

President Donald Trump said Monday that 25% taxes on imports from Mexico and Canada would start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war that already showed signs of pushing up inflation and hindering growth. …

His comments quickly rattled the U.S. stock market, with the S&P 500 index down 2% in Monday afternoon trading. … In February, Trump put a 10% tariff on imports from China. He reemphasized Monday that the rate would be doubling to 20% on Tuesday. …

Multiple analyses by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Yale University Budget Lab suggest that an average family could face price increases of more than $1,000.

A trade war with our allies that will almost certainly spur the inflation that Trump promised to curb. Add to that his ominous embrace of a murderous dictator that may result in the crumbling of the alliance that protects western democracy and rampaging nuclear proliferation. And so much more troubling nonsense.

Is this what you voted for, MAGAts? Because we’re all going to get it good and hard.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

How apt are Nazi comparisons these days?

Jake H. — Regarding your comment last week that, in effect, criticized the Tribune Editorial Board for calling Gov. JB Pritzker’s comparisons between America today and Germany during the rise of the Nazis as ill-advised and premature

I'm disgusted by Trump's demonization of trans people, but I bristle at the Nazi comparison. I agree that the Trumpist attack on our norms and institutions are very bad. He and his friends' casual cruelt is very bad. But it's just nowhere near Nazi territory, in terms of scale, ends, or means.

One difference: The Trump administration is not literally genocidal. He is not murdering political opponents either. I see the odds of his abolishing Congress and appointing himself emperor as a bit of a long shot. Ditto the odds that he will lead military invasions of very many countries. (Or build beautiful infrastructure.)

Political dissent and protest will remain legal; discrimination will remain illegal (including against transgender people, thanks in part to "Nazi" Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch's opinion in Bostock, which held that sex discrimination under existing anti-discrimination law included trans-status discrimination).

I'm not as sanguine about the fate of our independent judiciary. In the end, however, I think it will hold, as will the Constitution generally.

One way to think about it: Think back to the years of the Nazi rise and then think about the U.S. at the same time -- Was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's America a Nazi state? Were Americans Nazis then?

There sure was a whole lot of denial of equal rights to Black people! Especially by a huge branch of the president's own party! There really were systems of oppression then! There sure was a whole lot of antisemitism too! Gay rights? Trans rights? Forget about it -- they weren't recognized until yesterday. Did we have a president consolidating power, testing the limits of his authority, resisting court decisions to the point of even threatening to pack the court to get the rulings he wanted, and seeking to shake up the system in ways that shocked and appalled the establishment? Sure did (albeit in ways we liberals and mainstream, mostly liberal historians pretty much approve of).

And yet even that America, one far less enlightened than our own in countless ways, far more cruel, and *institutionally* cruel, than our own in countless ways, was pretty much the opposite of Nazi Germany.

From the standpoint of individual rights and most other standpoints, Trump will very likely leave the country in worse shape than he found it, which is terrible, but nowhere near as bad as it was not only under Nazi Germany, obviously, but under yesterday's America too.

Joanie Wimmer — Jake’s argument makes the point that MAGA has not yet murdered 6 million members of demonized minority groups. But Hitler was a Nazi in 1932 before there were death camps.

Naziism is a form of political, cultural and governmental exercise of power characterized by the promise of a return to national greatness for the “right people”(in Germany, the “Aryans,” here, the “Patriots”). It is demonization of and blame heaped upon members of small minority groups who are blamed for society’s ills (“poisoning the blood of our nation,” causing inflation, etc.), misogyny (the view that men are and should be in charge, and women should make babies for the “right people”). It is cult- adoration of a “strongman,” and disregard for any checks and balances on the leader. If you don’t think that’s the type of culture and government MAGA wants and is actively seeking to put in effect, you are not paying attention.

It’s silly to compare FDR, who was the first person in the United States to prohibit employment discrimination against black people (those working in the defense industries), to Trump, or to compare FDR’s America to the kind of country MAGA wants.

I am not as sanguine as you seem to be that the checks and balances on Trump’s executive power set forth in our constitution will hold. I hope they do.

Jake H. replies — The Nazi willingness to commit genocide was at the core of what made the Nazis not merely authoritarian and autocratic — which describes most regimes in most of history, including a good number of major regimes today — but the most evil regime in modern history.

But I went well beyond the Holocaust in my comment. I mentioned political assassination, banning of dissent, suspension of rule of law, appointing oneself dictator, and so on, all of which just aren't going to happen or, at any rate, not anywhere close to the degree they happened under Hitler.

You mention concentration camps. Your conflation of the Nazi attack on disfavored German citizens with deportation of unauthorized immigrants omits a really important distinction. No U.S. citizens are being rounded up and put in concentration camps. Nor is there any serious danger of that occurring. You scoff at my comparison to FDR, and yet he actually did put U.S. citizens — Japanese citizens in the western part of the country — in concentration camps.

My point isn't to shit on FDR, arguably America's second greatest president after Lincoln, a liberal hero, a man worthy of all the great admiration heaped upon him. My point is to add perspective. He was a man of his time, a much worse time. FDR's America was a place that respected individual rights to a far lesser degree -- Jim Crow, rampant racism, etc. -- than even Trump's America. The fact that that's startling is my point. It's not to give a free pass to Trump. It's to point out the magnitude of progress that has been made since that not even Trump can reverse and to challenge the Nazi comparison by pointing out that even our relatively bad old days, when we were far more Nazi-ish than we are now, were 180 degrees in opposition to actual Nazis.

Laurence E Siegel — Trump has called himself a king. He has stated that if he is doing the right thing, he doesn't need to obey the law. No, he has not yet murdered Jews en masses. But it's early. He is using the Justice Department to go after people for no other reason than investigating him. He is using presidential orders to simply ignore acts of Congress. He might not be Hitler yet. But he's on the way . The GOP and his followers are already applauding illegal actions and his total lack of tact or diplomacy. As his followers applaud his actions, I feel he will get bolder with the things he wants to do.

Pissed at The Post

David Leitschuh—I’m compelled to call you out on your harsh assessment of Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’ statement that conservative viewpoints are underserved in the news market.

I direct you to the ongoing national study of American journalism that has been ongoing over the past half century.

As you will see, the most recent survey indicates that there are over 17 journalists who identify as Democrat for every 1 who identifies as Republican. Quite the striking imbalance, and it is unarguable that people's personal opinions do not influence their writing. Associated Press articles are infected with opinion to the degree that they are now simply editorials on events of the day masquerading as news reports.

Want a contemporary case in point? There are many daily articles about the cuts in government spending orchestrated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and these reports feature a lot of voices expressing concern about possible ill effects from these cuts. But nowhere in the mainstream media have I seen a single example cited of the insane programs our government has been funding with our tax dollars that would be totally repugnant to an overwhelming majority of citizens. Funny how that never makes it into the conversation.

So while I am taking issue with your specific statement unbiased in the news, I also wholeheartedly endorse your position that we are best served through exposure to a diversity of viewpoints and robust point and counterpoint in our media.

Zorn — I’m certainly aware of some of the claims that USAID money has been spent promoting the arts in foreign countries, and I don’t tend to consult right-wing media. But my rejoinder is twofold:

First, the statistically negligible amount of money spent on dubious USAID programs is vastly outweighed by expenditures that advance the health and safety of disadvantaged residents of foreign countries, and the devastating impact of those cuts truly is the story — the inability or unwillingness of Elon Musk and his henchmen to differentiate between clearly humanitarian, beneficial outlays and questionable ones.

Second, American media is filled with tendentious, right-wing, conservative takes on the news. Podcasts, cable news, AM radio, prominent news websites … in what universe are “these viewpoints … underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion”? That mewling contention by Bezos is, in fact, as I wrote, total bullshit.

If he wants to take his once vaunted opinion section and turn it into the Epoch Times, of course he’s free to do so, but please, spare us all the right-wing self pity.

Listen up!

Little Bear — I recommend “Master Plan,” which is an 11-part “investigative podcast series years in the making from The Lever.” It “reveals how political ideologues and corporate forces have spent years orchestrating a system of legalized corruption in America. “

Mmmm, sponges!

Rick Weiland — The reason that eggplant and tofu came out so poorly in your food-preferences polling is that they both taste tenderized kitchen sponges.

In defense of the banjo

Chris Carlson — So another banjo joke won the visual joke of the week poll. I have played the instrument since high school and I know how it is often maligned or misunderstood. The truth is that it is a native U.S. instrument and can be extremely expressive in many musical forms due to the varying techniques such as clawhammer, three-finger "Scruggs style," two finger style, and various alternate tunings. You probably know this, but many people do not, so the banjo remains something of a fringe instrument at present.

Zorn — It is an amazingly versatile instrument and highly expressive in the right hands — the stunning work of Chicago’s own Michael J. Miles comes to mind. The clawhammer style I favor is drivingly rhythmic and does not produce the piercing sounds of bluegrass style that, when played poorly, can indeed be excruciating.

One correction, though. As Ballad of America’s page on the history of the banjo points out:

Sharing design elements with many similar West African instruments, the banjo developed in the Caribbean during the first century of the transatlantic slave trade. It was played exclusively by Africans in America and African Americans during colonial times and the early United States.

Such Black musical artists as Kaia Kater and Rhiannon Giddens have reminded the public that the banjo does not come from the rural white South but instead has a much richer and diverse heritage.

Unpopular opinions?

Reader H. Reitman contributed this a while back, but with St. Patrick’s Day coming up I thought I’d air it for your consideration:

My unpopular opinion is that parades are boring. Floats, dignitaries and marching bands are a snooze. Minimal entertainment value. Way too long. A throwback to when spectacle wasn’t available everywhere. Even parade highlights on TV are dull!

While I am generally sympathetic to Reitman’s view I have to admit being entranced and energized by the Mardi Gras parades I’ve attended these last few days in New Orleans. Wild, funny and surprisingly dazzling. If we still had little kids I’d thrill to taking them.

Your call, though:

Last week’s result

480 votes

Mark K. — Regarding effectiveness/purpose of prayer. I can accept the benefits of prayer as meditation, but it's naive to think it's possible to influence God's feelings or course of action, causing him to relieve suffering. There is a dissonance in monotheism, often summarized as the problem of evil - if God is both all-powerful and benevolent, why does he allow suffering? The problem indicates that God is either not benevolent or not all-powerful, there is no other option. If evil is a way to make people connect with God or learn some lesson, an all-powerful and benevolent God would be able to achieve that connection without the suffering.

Melinda A K. —I believe praying for the health and healing of others is beneficial. It's not that I believe that God is up there listening to us and intervening to heal (maybe don't tell my pastor I said that, LOL). More my prayer is putting good energy out into the world as well as reminding me of others' suffering and the need for empathy. It also reminds me that prayer alone is not enough, that I need to take actions to help where I can and at least offer a listening ear and comfort where I cannot. It's all part of a framework of caring for others, which is what my religion boils down to for me. It's not about rigorous belief in the literal truth of the myths and stories but in living a life of caring for and serving others.

Debra Higginbotham — The very act of praying for someone else's wellness or healing means that the issue is worth your time and effort. Your investment can lead to action or at minimum it can lead to comfort and self reflection upon your own values.

Marc Martinez — If praying is a waste of energy, then how about 'wishing' someone well (or ill). Is it the same onerous waste of energy? Seems the same to me. Hope is an expression of desire without reference to supernatural forces.

Since the vast majority of Americans believe in some deity or spiritual energy, I don't see any reason to debate their expression of support for others.

This occasional Tuesday feature is intended to highlight opinions that are defensible but may well be unpopular. If you have one to add, leave it in comments or send me an email, but be sure to offer at least a paragraph in defense of your view.

NewsWheel

Inspired by the WordWheel puzzle in the Monday-Friday Chicago Tribune and other papers, this puzzle asks you to identify the missing letter that will make a word or words — possibly proper noun; reading either clockwise or counterclockwise — related to a story in the news. The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

The week’s best visual jokes

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Quip of the Week poll!

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Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Contact

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Answer to the NewsWheel puzzle

PRITZKER