Tariffs and IncompetenceGate

by Errington C. Thompson, MD –

For those of you readers who are avid consumers of the news, you need to find a different hobby.

Following everything that the White House is doing minute by minute is probably unhealthy for anyone. The blizzard of dizzying information that is coming out of the White House is mind boggling. Unfortunately, confusion is the point.

Tariffs

Please tell me if you understand what Donald Trump is doing with tariffs. And, by the way, please explain it to Wall Street, because Wall Street doesn’t understand his steps either. For some reason, Donald Trump believes that a trade deficit is bad. Therefore, every trade deficit must be reversed. The idea is ludicrous.

Let’s take a simple example like a small, poor African nation that exports diamonds to the United States. The United States buys diamonds because we are a rich, wealthy country. We like diamonds. On the other hand, this poor African nation cannot afford either the cars or computers that we make here in the United States. They cannot import much of anything from us. They cannot afford it. Therefore, when you look at the balance sheet, the United States will have a trade deficit with this African nation. Is this bad? Probably not. Yet, somehow, Donald Trump wants to force this country to buy American products. This is probably not in the best interests of that African country.

By now, everybody except Donald Trump should understand how basic tariffs work. Let’s say that you own a company that makes T-shirts. You sell your T-shirts for $10 a T-shirt. You live in Malaysia. You want to sell your T-shirts in the United States. Donald Trump slaps a 20% tariff on your T-shirts because they’re imported from Malaysia. Now, your T-shirts will cost $12.

Who pays that extra two dollars? Does Malaysia pay it? No, you, the consumer, will pay the extra two dollars. This is basically a tax that we pay out of our pockets to the American government.

The purpose of tariffs, when used correctly, is to protect American industry. Using the same example, American T-shirt manufacturers can continue to sell their T-shirts for $10 apiece and, therefore, undercut the T-shirts being sold by my Malaysian company. In theory, consumers will buy the cheaper T-shirts if everything else is equal. But it is disingenuous, at best, to say that Malaysia will pay the tariff.

But to make T-shirts in the US that sell for $10 apiece, the manufacturer will be able to pay employees no more than $3 an hour (minimum wage in the US is $7.15). So who’s the employer going to find to take those jobs? Malaysians?

Targeted tariffs may be necessary to protect specific American industries. Across-the-board tariffs make no economic sense. This is why Wall Street has been tumbling. This is why everyone has said that Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs make no sense. I still have no idea why we’re alienating Canada. Donald Trump, himself, negotiated our trade policy with Mexico during his last stint in office, yet now he’s slapping them with some ridiculously high tariff? The whole thing is nuts.

IncompetenceGate

In what can only be described as a slapstick comedy that rivals any episode of The Three Stooges, several of Donald Trump’s cabinet members were on a messaging app called Signal. They were discussing plans to bomb Houthis rebels in Yemen. The CIA director was on this chat and revealed the name of an undercover CIA officer. The Secretary of Defense shared specific details of the airstrikes, including the type of aircraft and missiles used, the targets, and the time of attacks.

What’s the big deal? National Security. Certain things are supposed to be secret. Using a “secure” public messaging app is not government policy. Our government has specific steps that government officials need to take to keep certain discussions completely secure. Using WhatsApp or Signal is not in the government playbook. In fact, it’s illegal! Remember what a scandal it was when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a private server for some innocuous emails?

The argument that some or all of this information was not classified is not germane. This was sensitive information that could compromise the mission and possibly jeopardize American lives if they were discovered before the attack. This was reckless. This was thoughtless. Oh, did I mention that an Atlantic reporter was invited to the group chat by mistake?

Look, if you want to change policy, change policy. If the Pentagon wants to use Signal as their official app, go through the motions and change the policy. Currently, the policy at the Pentagon says that you need to use specific protocols, which include specific secure locations, to communicate with high-level officials to discuss sensitive data.

There’s another reason we don’t use apps like Signal for government communications: US law requires that all government documents—including emails, discussions, position papers, chats, and top secret invasion plans—be maintained by the US Archivist. They cannot be destroyed, by this administration or the next one. They are public property, even if they’re so highly classified they can never be seen by the public. But Signal deletes communications after a set, chosen time: a day, a week, a month. And those publicly owned government records are destroyed. That is against the law.

Follow the law. Follow the policy. The policies and laws were developed to keep America safe. That’s what we want.

Of course, the question arises: how many times in the past several months have the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and others discussed sensitive data using a public messaging app? There is no way that this was the first time. The incompetence of these individuals cannot be overstated. Everyone involved in this call, except the Atlantic reporter, should be fired. This was a reckless disregard for law, procedure, protocol, and American security.

The Measles

Never in a million years did I think that I would be discussing a major measles outbreak in the United States. We had measles under control. As a disease, we have basically eliminated measles from our shores since 2000. For those of you who don’t know, the measles is a highly contagious virus. We don’t have a cure for the measles. If you catch the measles, there is no pill or shot that you can take to get rid of it. Instead, care is supportive.

Because of ridiculous and persistent lies, a minority of Americans have been convinced that vaccines are not a godsend, which they are. Instead, vaccines are a tool of the devil. Evil.

Vaccines are incredibly safe. Because we give vaccines to healthy Americans, they have to be safe. They have a completely different risk profile than, say, a medication that you give to somebody who’s already sick. Our government monitors vaccines. We monitor them for side effects.

On the other hand, measles is a terrible disease. Those who say that measles is “just a rash” for a couple of days are oversimplifying a complex disease. Sure, the majority of people who catch the measles will get better. They feel bad for a few days and slowly return to their normal health. But unfortunately, there are those people who will develop side effects. You can be completely healthy, get the measles, and develop a terrible measles respiratory failure. This is viral pneumonia.

Again, no magic potions will help you get over pneumonia. Some patients, one in a thousand, will come down with a swelling of the lining of the brain called encephalitis. This can be fatal. The pneumonia can also be deadly.

RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been lying to the American people and pushing a variety of unproven therapies for measles. Intentionally deceiving Americans should be a crime, punishable by jail time, especially if Americans trust you to promote fact-based therapies. The fact that some Americans have trusted the lives of their children to people like Robert Kennedy, Jr., is disheartening and tragic.

The current measles outbreak in Texas has claimed three lives. There are over 500 cases of measles in Texas. The majority of these patients, the vast majority, are unvaccinated. Over 57 patients have been hospitalized secondary to measles.

Remember, in 2000, we declared measles eliminated. Almost all cases between 2000 and 2016 were imported cases. This means that somebody came into the United States with the infection, then settled in an area where people were not vaccinated. From 2000 to 2016, we had just over 2,000 measles cases in the United States. We have now had 500 cases in the first four months of 2025 alone.

Get vaccinated. Vaccines save lives.

Wellness

Doctor Mehmet Oz was just confirmed to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. This is a tragedy. This is a man who has peddled all kinds of unproven remedies for wellness and weight loss over the past 15 to 20 years. He has no business running any government agency.

But I want to discuss wellness. We need to keep ourselves healthy. This means we need to eat right. We need to get plenty of sleep. We need to turn off the nonsense that Donald Trump spews daily. We need to spend quality time with friends and family. Senator Cory Booker spoke in the Senate for over 25 hours. He did this to protest Donald Trump’s policies. This dovetailed into protests throughout the country. These protests were dubbed “Hands Off” rallies. Hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up in cities and towns across the country to oppose Donald Trump and his authoritarian, lawless behavior. Maybe you attended one, or maybe not.

The important thing during this time of—is there a word? Authoritarianism? Autocracy? Creeping Oligarchy? Madness? Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers?—well, “upheaval,” is this: Find your happy place. Don’t let Trump and his minions kill your joy.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed here, as well as assertions of facts, are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.