(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

Just after Labor Day, Donald Trump - now the oldest man to ever run for president in the United States - addressed the Economic Club of New York. He then took four prearranged questions. Even so, all of his answers were rambling, non-answers really.

The final question was whether he would make affordable child care a priority as president. Again, Trump knew in advance exactly the questions being asked…and yet, this rambling word-salad response is how he chose to...answer?

“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because, look, child care is child care. It’s, couldn’t, you know, there’s something, you have to have it — in this country, you have to have it.

“But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to — but they’ll get used to it very quickly — and it’s not gonna stop them from doing business with us. But they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country.

“Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care.

“We’re gonna have — I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care.

“I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, that I just told you about.

“We’re gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world.

“Let’s help other people, but we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about Make America Great Again. We have to do it because right now we’re a failing nation, so we’ll take care of it. Thank you. Very good question. Thank you.”

The audience - mostly wealthy Americans - applauded. If you applaud this…you’ll clap for anything. Even James Joyce would have found Trump’s words confusing.

What this roomful of millionaires was really cheering, of course, was the promise of another big tax break. Democracy? Freedom? Human and Civil Rights? An America for All? 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good, but show me the money.” That’s really what most of Trump’s audience were thinking…if not saying among themselves. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean... know what I mean?

Again, read his actual words above. He’s going to pay for child care by taxing foreign countries when they send products to America.

OK, maybe all these millionaires were absent when they taught Economics 101 in high school…maybe Trump was, too. Perhaps, some pandemic…maybe?

You see Trump’s tax is actually called…a tariff. Countries don’t pay tariffs. Consumers…citizens of the U.S. in this case…pay the tariffs. Trump’s 20 per cent tariff on all foreign goods…means the television you paid $1,500 for at Costco…will suddenly increase to $1,800. Not a better model…same TV…just more money.

So, those making child care more affordable under Trump would be poor and middle-class Americans paying more taxes. How unfortunate, these are the folks who need the affordable child care.

How many millionaires in The Economic Club of New York do you think are worried about paying for child care? They all earn more in a few weeks than most Americans make in a year.

Trump isn’t - as he says - taking in trillions of dollars from foreign countries. You’d have to be an idiot…oops answered my own question. The fact is, every middle-class taxpayer would pay an extra $5,000 in taxes…every year…with Trump.

By the way, Trump says China might deserve a 60-per cent tariff…always to the howls of joy from MAGA crazies at his rallies. Sorry, these are really stupid people…back row of the classroom…writing notes and making spitballs through an entire 12 years of school.

For those with bad memories or an aversion to facts, the Trump administration gave more taxpayer dollars to farmers - $23 Billion - harmed by Trump’s trade policies than the U.S. spends each year building ships for the Navy or maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal.

The MAGA folks that say groceries cost too much…I guess the $4,000 they paid farmers each year under Trump to cover tariffs would have come in handy at Safeway or Kroger. Even sadder news, it made little difference to farmers…who still experienced their worst years in more than two decades.

It’s a shame most journalists aren’t going after Trump and Vance…and the Republican enablers…for lying…obvious lies. CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS…all failing to apply anything resembling professional journalism standards to Trump.

The New York Times writers and editors somehow interpreted Trump’s word salad into a totally false summation sentence…“What he seemed to be saying was that he would raise so much money by imposing tariffs on imported goods that the country could use the proceeds to pay for child care. In itself, that would be a disputable policy assumption.”

No, no, no…New York Times. Did your writers and editors not take economics in school either? First, nowhere in Trump’s gobbledegook did he even hint that it would be his policy to fund child care. That’s the stuff of Democrats…never Republicans.

Secondly, and for the New York Times, I’ll shout: FOREIGN COUNTRIES NEVER PAY TARIFFS…CONSUMERS IN THE COUNTRIES RECEIVING THE GOODS PAY THEM…THEY ARE CALLED TAXES.

Only MSNBC is calling out the lies…facts are facts…truths are truths. Smarten up, folks.

Balanced reporting isn’t throwing a Republican and a Democrat in front of a camera for equal time…and letting one - MAGA Republicans - lie every time they open their mouths. That’s why I stopped watching Fox and CNN long ago.

Reporters went after Biden for being old and decrepit…and while Trump sounds like someone with Alzheimer’s…most reporters aren’t laying a hand on him. Liars need to be told they’re lying. And those who repeat the lies, they’re liars, too. That’s how it works, folks.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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