Trust

April 7, 2025 (Not Published)

Dear Editor,

                With the economy cratering because of actions by Donald Trump, a new mantra is arising among his faithful: “Trust Donald.  He’s a smart businessman.”  Let’s look at that.

                When Donald proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, he decried the trade agreement that allowed those two countries to “[take] advantage of the United States on manufacturing, on just about everything” adding, “I look at those agreements and I say who would ever sign a thing like this?”

                Well, the answer is “Donald Trump.”  In 2018 he congratulated himself on signing the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement saying it was, “a historic win for American manufacturers and American autoworkers” and “It’s an amazing deal for a lot of people.”  Did the great negotiator get bamboozled by Canada and Mexico?

                Now the guy who negotiated a deal that let Canada and Mexico take advantage of us and bragged about doing it, wants us to trust him to negotiate a new deal with those countries.  They say insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again and expecting a different result.  If he gave us a bad deal before, why would we trust him to give us a better one now?

                Think about all the people who have trusted Donald’s business acumen.  The investors who trusted Trump while he drove six casinos and hotels into bankruptcy.  The banks who loaned him money for loans he defaulted on.  The students at Trump University, which was called a “massive scam” by the National Review before being shuttered in the face of numerous lawsuits.  The believers in all his many business ventures which failed, leaving them holding the bag.  All these people trusted Donald’s business acumen and what did it get them?

                Donald’s acolytes want us to trust he knows what he’s doing while our 401ks are being wiped out; trust him after he said he would lower prices on day one of his presidency and then sent them soaring higher; trust his promise to “drain the swamp” as we see him surrounded by the swampiest bunch of billionaires and sycophants imaginable; trust him as he betrays our friends and embraces our enemies.  You think?

                President Reagan once quoted a Russian proverb that we should apply here: “Trust but Verify.”  I can verify that we cannot trust Donald.

David W. Plunkett