Trump bullies Walmart, US credit drops. Where my free-market Republicans at? | Opinion
So the free-market-loving Republican Party is now led by a guy who thinks the U.S. economy and all the businesses in it make up a 'store' he owns, and he can call the shots.
Bad news, America. President Donald Trump thinks he’s running Walmart.
Our faux-business-genius president posted this on social media over the weekend, responding to Walmart’s announcement that it will have to raise prices to account for Trump’s ill-conceived tariffs: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Given the president’s tariffs and his party’s debt-swelling tax plan recently prompted Moody’s to downgrade the country’s credit rating, seeing Trump trying to boss around a major U.S. retailer seems … not great.
Trump's Walmart bullying shows he knew tariffs would raise prices
After all, it was Trump himself who claimed over and over that tariffs are “a tax on a foreign country.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also self-righteously described the president’s tariffs as “a tax hike on foreign countries.”
I’m starting to think these folks weren’t entirely honest with the American people.
Walmart officials said consumers will see some price increases by the end of May, and CEO Doug McMillon said last week: “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”
Sure sounds like Trump is letting the government pick winners and losers
That’s what prompted Trump to demand that Walmart “EAT THE TARIFFS,” proving the “tax hike on foreign countries” blah-blah was a complete lie, which anyone with a modest understanding of economics already knew, and stripping the Republican Party of any pretense it still believes in free markets. I mean, “I’ll be watching” sure sounds like someone who believes the government can and should pick winners and losers.
When former Vice President Kamala Harris talked about finding a way to stop grocery stores from price gouging, Trump said: “She is a communist, I guess.”
Well, heckfire, according to Trumpian logic, Trump himself is a commie. And he’s also, apparently, the CEO of Walmart.
Trump thinks the US economy is one big store that he runs
In fact, as the president recently told Time magazine, he’s the boss of the Department Store of America.
“We're a department store, a giant department store, the biggest department store in history,” he said, adding later: “It’s a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I’ll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.”
Cool. So the free-market-loving Republican Party is now led by a guy who thinks the U.S. economy and all the businesses in it make up a “store” he owns, and he can call the shots. If a company raises prices because the president’s tariffs have bungled supply chains and cut into already-narrow profit margins, Trump can step in and say, as he told Time, “I set the prices.” He can tell Walmart what costs it has to eat.
Do Republicans ever remember that Ronald Reagan fellow?
That’s a bit different from what former President Ronald Reagan – icon of the GOP – said back in 1981: “We who live in free-market societies believe that growth, prosperity and, ultimately, human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success, only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive and free.”
Under Trump, our society is getting the wool pulled over its eyes by a guy who managed to bankrupt casinos and a slew of other businesses, a con artist who thinks the government can bully CEOs and dupe consumers.
That has left us, in short order, with a downgraded credit rating, consumer confidence at a three-year low, and, coming soon, higher prices, courtesy of what the arch-conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board dubbed “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”
I’m sure all those devoutly free-market Republicans will hustle out this week and denounce Trump. Right?
Yeah, right.
Follow Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk