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Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if certain policies or statements are being taken seriously or are meant to be satire. One thing is clear: the consequences of certain economic and social policies often hit the lower and middle class the hardest, and that’s no laughing matter.
Take Trump’s tariffs, for example. While they were framed as a strategy to “bring jobs back,” the reality is far more complicated — and costly. When tariffs are imposed on goods from overseas, those prices will rise to match the cost of U.S.-made products. The result? Higher prices for consumers across the board. Instead of lowering costs or making goods more accessible, it creates a situation where essentials, like homes, fruits, and vegetables, skyrocket. Who bears the brunt of these increases? The lower and middle classes who already struggle to make ends meet.
The Rhetoric Problem
Add to that the constant hate-filled rhetoric that dominated the public discourse. How can we ignore the damage it does to marginalized communities, let alone the way it sows division among us? It’s baffling to me how anyone could support a leader spouting that kind of language.
But I think I understand part of the phenomenon. It seems that many people cherry-picked the parts of the message they wanted to hear…