Running Off the Road

Good news - Trump is backing away from imposing tariffs on foreign cars, giving trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union and Japan six months to produce an agreement.  

But get this: Trump is also ready to impose the tariffs at a moment's notice, and he and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have decided that certain imported cars and car parts "threaten to impair the national security of the United States," because Detroit contributes technological advances to military contractors, and thus imports are a threat to U.S. expenditures on research and development involving national security.

So my Volkswagen is a threat to the security of the Republic.  Who'da thought?

Wonderful.  If Trump's tariffs should go through, Americans will be paying 25 percent more for imported automobiles and may be forced to consider buying American - which means buying SUVs or crossovers because Detroit can't be bothered to make much of anything else these days.  The idea of cars from other countries being threats to national security is ludicrous, given America's military superiority on this planet (and it's nice to see we're still superior at something) and given the lack thereof in American automotive engineering.  Left unmentioned is that the tariff on foreign cars and foreign auto parts would have adverse effects on the European and Asian automakers who make cars in the United States - and most of their American factories are located in the Republican South.

As a VW enthusiast, I'm worried, you'd better believe I am.  Tariffs might be the deciding factor in Volkswagen of America's decision on whether or not to kill the standard Golf in America - heck, it may even kill the more expensive GTI and Golf R as well! - and it might limit VW's plans to make and sell electric cars here.  Other brands would undoubtedly be affected, as would at least one Detroit automaker - the Chrysler Group, which is now a collection of American brands owned by a multinational company based in Italy (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles).  Trump's tariffs, if enacted, would wreck untold havoc on the U.S. auto market.

The bright side?  A lot of voters own foreign cars and would never even consider buying a domestic model - and some of them are Republicans.  Congressional Republicans may actually break with Trump on this one.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, by the way, said it best: "I would be very surprised and extremely disappointed if we decided that Volkswagens are a threat to America's national security and we imposed a tax on American consumers in that category."

No Appeal

Coal is a dirty energy source, nuclear power is too dangerous for America (though in France they handle it with little trouble to speak of, but then the French can make bullet trains and did make supersonic airliners), and both coal and nuclear energy are dying in These States.  So how do you keep Mr. Peabody's coal train and Mr. Neutron's reactors humming along if you're Donald John Trump, champion of coal and nuclear power and President of the United States?  You might issue a directive to the Energy Department telling them to keep coal-powered and nuclear-powered electricity-generating plants from closing based on national security reasons, which would stifle competition from alternative-energy power sources, even though a more diverse energy portfolio would enhance national security by allowing some electricity-generating plants to run if others were disabled.

So much for the free market.

Lawsuits are expected to be filed against this directive, but Trump, still flexing his presidential prerogatives, has made it clear that this, like the Veterans' Day military parade, is what he wants, and there's no stopping it.  There is no appeal to a Trump decision.  What he wants is what he gets.  That's why Rudolph Giuliani says Trump can pardon himself and doesn't have to answer subpoenas.           

It won't be long before the Democratic Party and all minor parties are outlawed by a Republican congressional majority happy to appease Trump.

For national security purposes, of course.