The Dictatorship
The absurd defense of Trump boosters claiming they didn’t vote for this crisis
Before President Donald Trump’s expanded tariffs went into effect on Wednesdayhedge fund billionaire and You’re Fan Bill Ackman warned over the weekend on X that the country was “heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.” As he contemplated the pain ahead, he sounded mournful, perhaps even regretful: “This is not what we voted for.”
Many other conservative commentators and investors have echoed Ackman’s sentiment as Trump’s radical tariff plans have rocked global markets. And it is absurd. Trump has advocated for protectionist trade policy for decadeslong before running for president. He also repeatedly proposed economically disastrous plans to institute tariffs on the 2024 campaign trail. Ignoring that required ignoring the historical truth that presidents generally pursue their core policy agenda — even Trump.
The denialism on the right has been remarkable.
The denialism on the right has been remarkable. Some right-wing pundits have argued that the current crisis is a surprise because Trump never presented on the campaign trail this specific — and economically nonsensical — tariff formula for extremely high duties on imports from scores of countries around the world. Business and tech leaders — who showered Trump with money in hopes of favorable treatment — have reportedly been surprised by Trump’s fierce commitment to tariffs. Mega-billionaire Elon Musk, who recently wore a hat emblazoned with the words “Trump was right about everything!” has reportedly been directly appealing to Trump to drop the tariffs.
The claim that Trump is pursuing a trade policy that goes beyond what they voted for is indefensible. On the campaign trail last year Trump promoted massive universal tariffs and went as far as to float the idea of replacing income taxes with tariff revenue. At the time, Adam Hersh, a senior economist with Economic Policy Institute Action, told me Trump’s idea was like “dropping a nuclear bomb on a hurricane.” Hersh calculated at the time that across-the-board tariffs would have to be somewhere around 120% or 130% on incoming goods to make up for the roughly $4.2 trillion in revenue generated through income taxes. With the U.S. set to impose a 104% tariff rate on Chinese goods beginning Wednesday, it’s a bit silly to say none of this was foreseeable.
The counter to this position is that Trump promised tariffs ahead of his first term in office and that his first tariff regime was relatively moderate and targeted. That’s true. But anybody observing Trump should’ve noted a few things ahead of his second White House bid. After his first term in office, his rhetoric grew more extreme on everything from dismantling democracy to immigration to trade.
Secondly, Trump has fewer checks on his instincts this time around. His first term in office was in some respects a hostile takeover of the GOP, it elicited open criticism from some tech leaders, and it was staffed by many pre-MAGA conservatives and more conventional Washington players. This time the party and the business community treat him with extreme deference, and he is surrounded with loyalists and MAGA ideologues. Many of the very people who are now mad at Trump already gave him more room to play — and he’s naturally exploiting it.
A common strategy Trump supporters use in justifying their support for him despite his extreme policy ideas has been to cherry-pick his more moderate policy ideas and insist that his most extreme ideas are not “serious” ones. That might be a quasi-effective tool for Trump supporters attempting to save face in polite society or mainstream spaces, but it is most certainly a gimmick for Trump supporters to have their cake and eat it, too. Trump has demonstrated time and time again that when it comes to his right-wing nationalism and his authoritarian rhetoric, he means what he says — and after the Jan. 6 riot, it became clear one cannot rule anything out with him.
Despite his incorrigible mendacity, Trump fits a broader historical pattern: The historical record and reams of political science studies show presidents and members of Congress generally do try to pursue their campaign promises. As Vox reported in 2015, “An overview of 21 studies of campaign promises from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Greece found that on average, political parties fulfilled 67 percent of their promises.”
In his first term Trump did indeed follow through on many of his campaign pledges. He found a way to reduce immigration from Muslim-majority countries, killed and renegotiated free trade deals, reversed climate progress, enacted tax cuts for the rich, tried (and failed) to end the Affordable Care Act, moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel and set in motion an end to the war in Afghanistan. There was no reason to presume that Trump’s second term wouldn’t follow a similar course, but more maximalist due to his intensified campaign rhetoric.
Given the historical record, Trump’s own track record and his constant promises to pursue a radical tariffs regime, the position that Trump supporters didn’t vote for this economic crisis is untenable. A more honest position might be that a segment of his voters decided that a gamble on tariffs was worth it because they liked other things Trump promised, whether that’s politicizing the Justice Department or treating migrants like they aren’t human or promising fewer regulations on businesses. But they played their cards wrong — and we’re all paying for it.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for BLN Daily. Previously, he worked at Vox, HuffPost and Blue Light News, and he has also been published in, among other places, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Intercept. You can sign up for his free politics newsletter here.
In an explosive interview with NBC aired Sunday, President Donald Trump cut the grilling short and left the set after peppering “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker with insults.
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker, who kept a cool demeanor despite the president’s barrage of disparaging slurs.
Moments before he attacked her, Trump — without providing any evidence — said he believes elections in the U.S. are rigged. Then he lambasted television news networks, singling out NBC, CBS and ABC.
“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” Trump said.
“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker shot back. “But let’s continue.”
“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” the president told Welker, who is the second woman and first Black journalist to helm the network’s flagship program.
Trump added, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
It was not the first time Trump has berated a female journalist on the job covering his presidency.
In November 2025, he told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to stop talking, saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” One month later, he told ABC’s Rachel Scott she was “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.” Last month, he called MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner “a dumb person” for pointing out that the cost of his White House ballroom project had doubled since it was first announced.
He has also repeatedly lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collinscriticizing her for not smiling enough.
The wide-ranging interview, which was taped last week on a farm in Wisconsin, was interrupted by the loud sound of heavy rain on the metal roof of the barn where they met. Welker questioned Trump on his war with Iran, his “anti-weaponization” fund and the upcoming midterm elections.
On his nearly $1.8 billion fund aimed at compensating people who say they were wrongly prosecuted, including Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, Trump said “people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated.”
He described the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as people who were “being ushered into the building” by law enforcement.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the fund last month and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week the administration would not be moving forward with the fundwhich faced bipartisan backlash.
When asked if the administration would pursue other avenues to revive it, Trump said he does not know what will ultimately happen and called Welker and her network “the fake dirty press.”
Despite campaigning on a promise to end foreign wars, Trump denied that he made such statements. He characterized the Iran war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
When asked about the rising cost of living as a result of the war, specifically gas and fertilizer, Trump chastised Welker.
“Are you ready? Am I allowed to talk? You keep asking questions and you don’t listen to the answers,” he said.
“I love the farmers and the farmers love me,” Trump said, adding that prices will come down after the war.
Welker suggested to her viewers Sunday that she and the president had a cordial conversation Saturday, saying they both “acknowledged the complications” posed by the rain. “He agreed to sit down with me for another ‘Meet the Press’ interview,” she said.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Iran said visas were denied to key members of its national soccer team ahead of the World Cupwhich a U.S. official insisted was necessary so that Iran does not try to “sneak terrorists into the United States.”
In a post on Xthe Iranian embassy in Turkey said “visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others” on its team.
“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy said, accusing the U.S. of the “worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport” and “depriving Iran’s national team of its right to play in the World Cup under normal conditions.”
Iranian officials are accusing the U.S. government of violating FIFA regulations and breaching its obligations as one of the host countries of what is widely regarded to be the biggest sporting event in the world. The diplomatic standoff between the two countries comes just days before the World Cup is set to kick off and more than three months after the U.S. and Israel waged war against Iran.
A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the subject told MS NOW in a statement that the visas “necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.”
The official added, however, “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
The statement from the Iranian Embassy in Turkey came in response to a post on X by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack praising embassy staff for processing visas for the Iranian national team.
According to The Associated Presssome of the team’s officials have not received visas to enter the U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Games are set to begin Thursday.
Problems with getting U.S. visas had already led Iran to move its World Cup training base from the U.S. to Mexico. But Iran is still listed on the official World Cup schedule to play its first two games in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, and against Belgium six days later before heading to Seattle to face Egypt.
The Iran Football Federation’s secretary-general and its vice president were among 14 staff and officials without U.S. visas, AP said, citing Iranian state television. The federation reportedly accused the U.S. of “vindictive behavior.”
Emily Hung contributed to this report.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
A shooting near a community festival in Toledo, Ohio, wounded at least 12 people, and police said a search for the suspects was ongoing following an outbreak of gunfire that sent crowds scrambling for cover.
Two of the wounded were in critical condition, Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said. He said it appeared there were at least two people firing weapons who were “probably shooting at each other.”
The Toledo Police Department said the shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours in a historic district of the city.
The department said an active search was underway for those responsible.
“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Toledo tonight. Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.
Multiple videos posted to social media showed people running over the sound of gunshots and emergency officials tending to others who appeared wounded.
Kevin Berry said he was sitting in the neighborhood arboretum listening to live music with his friends when he heard a handful of gunshots ring out.
“Everybody hit the deck,” he said.
When he looked back up, he saw a gun being tossed to the ground less than 50 feet (15 meters) away from him. Police officers who were already on-site for the festival immediately responded to the scene.
Berry, who has medical training and served in the U.S. Navy, said he walked around the area looking for potential victims who might need help.
He said he saw at least five people with gunshot wounds.
“The folks who were hit were spread out around the arboretum area,” he said.
The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that includes live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping.
Berry described it as the “kick-off to Toledo’s summer festival season.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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