Re: “Stocks tumble for second day,” Chicago Tribune, p. 1 (April 5)
With his executive order establishing huge tariffs for every country in the world, Donald Trump has single-handedly destroyed the world economy. Our own economy is in a shambles, our retirement funds are drained, and whatever respect we had in the international theater was obliterated. Things will only get worse.
The primary intellectual basis for the idea of massive tariffs comes from White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro, already known for his fictitious “voter fraud” claims [1] and a 4-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress [2]. He has written several books, and is fond of citing Ron Vara, an “economics expert,” to support his views.
It turns out that there is no such person, he was invented by Navarro as an anagram of his own name. So the world economy has been destroyed on the basis of advice from a fictitious expert!
It is high time that we invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the deranged megalomaniac, Donald Trump, from the presidency, before he does even more damage. In these few weeks of his second term he has destroyed everything that makes America a desirable place to live. When will the Republicans in Congress grow a tiny backbone and stop this madness?
Tom DeCoursey
Oak Park