Op-ed:
Even
Great Presidents Make Mistakes...Part One
By
Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor
The article posted here is the authors opinion alone, and does not
necessarily represent the views of blogspot.com
or Google
Let
me begin by saying that I voted for President Donald J. Trump three
times, and would vote for him a fourth time if it was
constitutionally allowed. I also think that as president he has done
an amazing job when it comes to securing our southern border,
removing those here illegally, cracking down on crime in America's
cities, cutting bureaucratic wasteful spending, and in his striving
to bring global peace. However, here I must add that Donald Trump, in
his position as president, is not perfect...nobody is...in regards to
what are two areas of growing concern to many Americans, as in the
economy and the Israel/Hamas ceasefire that is anything but a
ceasefire let alone a pathway to lasting peace.In
this 'Part One' of what is a two part series, I will first focus on
the economy. And with that said, remember back to the 2024
presidential campaign when then candidate Donald Trump
promised to reduce government expenditures by eliminating certain agencies;
slashing federal regulations; ending spending on diversity, equity,
and inclusion (DEI) initiatives; and cutting what he called
“fraudulent
spending”...all
of which were indeed promises kept. In fact, as per the U,S. Treasury
Department, “year-over-year
federal spending growth”
has declined during Trump’s first year of this current term. Score
one for our side I'd say.
Simply,
if the supply of domestic goods is readily available and fairly
priced, then the consumers demand for cheaper made foreign goods will
start to wain, thus leaving the “tariff”
issue to safely be addressed at a later time.
Now
as for the price at the ”
pump,”
that too is being affected by the newest Trump “tariffs.”
How and why so...because just like with grocery prices, gas prices do tend to go
up as “tariffs”
increase, especially in regards to imported “refined
products.”
Simply, any increase in the cost of imported energy...in this case it's in regards to diesel gasoline and crude oil...does tend to see the consumer paying
higher prices at the pump. And while prices, for a short time, did
drop but mostly on “regular”
gasoline, the price drop was but pennies per gallon. Translation: not
enough dollar savings has been acquired to really help the average American consumer at the “pump,”
especially with many cars now on the road still needing “high
test”
not “regular”
gasoline.Here's
but one example. As I was writing this article, here in south Florida
my husband just paid $3.52 per gallon for high test gasoline to fill
his 22-gallon tank car, for a total of $77.44. We used to pay around
$3.60 per gallon earlier this year when Trump took office for a total
of $79.20. Simply, my husband saved but a mere 8 cents per gallon to
fill up his tank for a grand total savings of $1.76 per tank full...a
quite laughable savings I'd say...a savings that cannot even buy
someone a full carton of eggs.
But
in regards to both grocery and gas prices I'd be remiss if I didn't
say that the economy...and everything else Trump inherited...was an economy in total
shambles, which in and of itself should have put the economy front
and center of the Trump agenda not the “tariffs”
which, in my opinion, just make a bad situation even worse for many
Americans.But
something that must not to be forgotten in this discourse is that,
thanks to President Trump, inflation itself has come down a bit even
while prices at the grocery store and at the “pump”
are on the rise up again. And why...partially because of the
“tariffs”
as a fair amount of imported goods (like coffee, fruits, seafood,
nuts, cheese, and beef for example) do stock America's grocery store
shelves. Remember,
“tariffs”
are basically a tax on imported goods which the taxed countries then
pass on to we consumers by a rise in a given goods price.
And
to give additional credence to my previously stated “economy first” then the tariffs opinion, many leading economists...economists like
Thomas Sowell,
Jeremy Siegel, and Joseph Stiglitz (winner of the Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences.)...have also opined that in Trump's
imposing the “tariffs”
before addressing
what were the underlying economic conditions was a mistake. And why
so...because
in his focusing on the “tariffs”
in
regards to their being revenue generating,
Trump
believed that it would help to correct what he considered to be a
U.S. “trade
deficit”
while also helping to bring down the national debt. But with a
“trade deficit”
simply meaning that one country buys more goods and services from
another country than it sells to that given county, more monies flow out of the country to pay for the imports than comes
into said country as a payment for the exports.“The
impact of imposing these tariffs will have the effect of depressing
U.S. economic growth, contributing to a higher rate of inflation, and
those effects will be worse if the other countries retaliate in
kind.”
-
Marcus Noland, executive vice president of the 'Peterson Institute
for International Economics'
Think
of it this way, the raising of “tariffs”
on imported goods...Trump's still economic focus...will in the end
be passed on to we the American consumers courtesy of a price rise
initiated by the countries supplying said goods. And why the
increase...because those countries need additional revenue to offset
the Trump imposed increase in “tariffs”
in order for them to be able to afford to purchase American exported
goods which could, in turn, actually lead to a rise in inflation.
Now
add in that Trump believed that his “tariff”
objectives would, in ten years time, see a four trillion dollar
reduction in the national debt (numbers shifting on paper), but the truth is that these “tariffs”
would have done nothing of substance to lower said debt. And how did
I know this...because I knew that while “tariffs”
do generate a certain amount of income, the amount they generate is
but a small portion of what are much needed government revenues. And
when coupled with the fact that “tariffs”
typically
raise billions, not trillions, of dollars in revenue, it was easy to
surmise that the numbers themselves simply would not allow for a
truly meaningful reduction in the national debt no matter the time
limit placed. And this is exactly what I said would be the outcome as
soon as Trump announced his “tariff”
plan.
A
background in rocket science is not needed to figure that outcome
out, a simple understating that two plus two will always equal four
serves the purpose well.
So
even with the “tariffs”
that were already in place before President Trump's newest round of “tariffs”
was announced, the fact remains that our national debt did continue
to increase not decrease, and the real time numbers prove it.
One
case in point is that as of early November 2025, the U.S.gross
national debt registered at approximately $38.09
trillion which is
a $2.18 trillion increase over 2024's gross national debt, with the
corresponding average daily increase being around $5.97 billion. And
while interest payments alone remain in excess of $1.2 trillion,
this allowed the debt-to-GDP ratio to keep rising because “tariff”
generated revenues only offer a temporary fluctuation in deficit
relief.
Simple
translation: you cannot rob Peter to pay Paul when the tangible
monies needed to do so are simply not available...or in this specific
case are but a fraction of what would be needed to meaningfully bring
down the national debt.
And
to that, with all due honor and respect I say, “No,
Mr. President you are wrong.” Why
so...because as a businessman you had to know that no juggling of
numbers of “tariff”
raised revenues would ever be large enough to significantly filter
down to “We
the People's”
pocketbooks let alone bring down the gross national debt, the prices
at the grocery store and at the pump. Simple math alone does dictate
that to be fact.
Donald
Trump's intentions and motives in focusing on the “tariffs”
cannot be questioned for he truly did believe the issue needed to be
addressed...which it certainly did...it was just that, in my
opinion, his timing was off in doing so what with so many
American's monetarily still hurting.
And
now when you add that President Trump wants part of the income
from the “tariffs”
to pay $2,000 dividends in seven year annual increments to low and
middle income Americans, he has ignored the fact that in doing so it
would actually counter his original intention of the “tariffs”
helping to bring down the growing national debt. Why so...because as
per the non-partisan “Committee
for a Responsible Federal Budget” (CRFB),
the huge amount of monies being
diverted via the payouts would push the national debt to 127% of the
GDP by 2035, and possibly see it eventually rising to 134% of the
GDP. Not good folks, not good at all.
Simply,
the man, the president, I truly admire and was proud to vote for
three times lost, in my opinion, his focus on exactly how to bring
down the rising costs we Americans see on a daily basis in regards
to grocery store prices and at the
“pump.” Dwelling so deeply on the “tariffs”* was
not and is not the sole answer to our Biden/Harris inherited economic problems...the
issue of the “tariffs” could have waited, and I'm glad that key economists on both sides of
the political aisle are now saying exactly what I said months ago. I only
hope, in my opinion, that this timing mistake does not affect the 2026
midterms in a negative way.
In
“Even Great
Presidents Make Mistakes...Part Two,”
(which will be published on Monday, December 1st, due to the
Thanksgiving holiday), I will focus on a key foreign policy mistake
President Trump made, and why it might well affect the 2028
presidential ticket...but for now, case closed.
_______________________________________________________
* Tariffs are a particularly bad way to raise revenue...a must read by The Brookings Institute
Copyright
© 2025 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved.
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, One Dumpster Fire After Another.
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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE! Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 18th from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'Even Great Presidents Make Mistakes...Part One'; 'One Dumpster Fire After Another'; and important news of the day. Hope you can tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50pm EST, show begins at 7pm EST.
