The Times Letters to the Editor are often more insightful than the Op-ed writers. (I know, not saying much when you’re competing with David Brooks, Ross Douthat and Bret Stephens.) But a letter today made a point I hadn’t seen raised by anyone, including Rachel, Chris, Ari et al. Connecting the tariffs to the PA CD-18 special election next week between Connor Lamb and Rick Saccone, the letter states:
The district is in the state’s steel and coal belt, including suburbs of Pittsburgh. By threatening the tariffs, Mr. Trump is hoping to swing enough votes to keep the district in his party’s hands and avoid another humiliating off-cycle loss. Why aluminum? Alcoa is based in Pittsburgh.
Key is that Mr. Trump is merely threatening the tariffs but hasn’t enacted them.
(Emphasis supplied.)
I find this pretty credible, even though there are a lot of other possible reasons Trump announced the tariffs (distraction from Mueller; gives him a chance to strut and bully; he actually believes in it; it was a campaign promise (hah! just like “health care for all; and cheaper!). Also, the theory requires a minimal a amount of reasoning skill of Trump — a tricky presumption.
But it’s still compelling. The letter ends:
To rational people, it might make no sense to roil the stock market and upset our trading partners just to sway a few votes in southwestern Pennsylvania, but it’s exactly the sort of narrow, petty con that has typified Mr. Trump’s career and at which he excels.
Hire this guy for the Op-ed page, NYT!