By Vishwamithra –

“A salesman, like the storage battery in your car, is constantly discharging energy. Unless he is recharged at frequent intervals he soon runs dry. This is one of the greatest responsibilities of sales leadership” ~ Robert Henry Grant

Trump

Donald Trump is an extraordinary salesman. He executes every stage of the sale meticulously; his presentation is impeccable and his eventual asking for the sale is final. Bullying first, then cajoling and without submitting any proof of merit of the product, he closes the sale with so much ease, he could take the best used car salesman to school. He has the knack to evoke you to agree with him with one single half a sentence (because he hardly completes a sentence with the elegance of a scholar), by saying ‘you know, my first term had the best time in terms of economic prosperity in the country’, he prompts you to agree with him by saying ‘you know’ phrase. The whole of America once again got caught to this snake oil salesman and he is continuing to do the same sale today.

When he declared that he hoped to impose tariffs on products imported from China and other ‘unfriendly’ countries, the people at his rallies thundered and acknowledged prescribed impositions with so much ease and then and there, showed that they did not know what they have been just told. Creating a false enemy and portraying that ‘enemy’ as a mighty monster, Trump was engaged in one of the most lopsided election campaigns in American election history. When Kamala Harris and the political opposition tried to explain away the disadvantageous aspects of tariff enforcement by example and proof, the voters at large were not convinced. By that time the first of the larger duel-context of economic hardships by way of inflated prices on food, gas and other essential household items has already been created. The other part of the duel context was immigration about which I would explain at the latter part of this column.

Tariff is one tool most of the poor economies whose balance of payments and balance of trade are being expressed in grossly negative terms. Most of Sri Lankans can relate to this in terms of the economic conditions that prevailed during the Sirimavo Bandaranaike regime from 1970 to 1977. Her tariff came in the guise of imports bans. Such import bans could easily be interpreted as a patriotic policy of nationalism and anti-globalism. Instead of enlarging the economy by way of international trade and encouraging the local manufacturers to compete with the global players, a total ban on imports closes the free market and strangulates free enterprise which is the prime mover of any advancing economy.

The era of bread queues beginning form at 3 in the morning of the day; times of having to carry the old bicycle tyre to buy a new one and requiring the bridegroom to produce a marriage certificate to buy the cloth for his wedding suit are most resignedly remembered by those who had to undergo such miserable conditions. By no means are those Sri Lankan conditions equal to what prevails in the United States today. Yet Donald Trump sold the idea that Joseph Biden’s Presidency was not only bad, it was deplorable and outright anti-American. The people chose to listen to the snake oil seller. They chose to be entangled with a tariff-ridden economy. They chose to ignore the obvious truths and bought the sugar-coated lies and half-truths.

It has been nearly seventy days since Trump’s inauguration as President. More than one hundred Executive Orders have been issued. Almost all of them are being challenged in courts. Trump is praying that they would end up in his ‘friendly’ Supreme Court. Donald Trump has taken the Supreme Court for granted. However, imposition of tariff is not amongst the issues that would be referred to the highest court of the land. Such an economic policy is hardly challenged by the court system. Verdicts on Trump economic policies and principles would ultimately be the main subject in the minds of the majority of Americans when they go to the polls in midterm or the next Presidential Elections. By the time the next Presidential Elections arrive, nobody would be able to forecast whether tariffs would still be in force or not. Predictability of Trump’s actions is a monumental task and none would dare indulge in such a luxury now.

Nevertheless, the glaring disadvantages accruing to the US economy are already evident. The irregular and volatile behavior of the American stock market, its nasty effects of the 401 Ks of millions of middleclass investors, fears gathering around the business houses, both corporate and small-time, are taking their toll. The real consequences of tariff-imposition where it is not needed and utterly anti-free enterprise system are being felt. Uncertainty, the declared enemy of a healthy economy is pervasive and it has begun its cruel path. A great majority of economists have already passed their collective judgment on the effects and ill-effects of tariffs.

Trump said that tariff is the most beautiful word in the English language. His language skills aside, the very petty and simpleton view of current sociopolitical dynamics alone is sufficient to judge Donald Trump’s global view and economic knowledge. 2 April, 2025 has been declared as the Tariff Day by Trump.  It’s the day that most of Trump’s drastic tariffs are supposed to come into operation. The jury is waiting without any prejudgments and preconceived notions. The people will see the extent to which Trump would travel to elongate his own ego and self-righteousness. 

Immigration Issue

The second part of the twin-issue that played a very crucial role in the election of Trump as President is immigration, basically the southern border of America across which many hundreds of thousands are alleged to have come to America. Trump and the Republicans defined this movement of mass immigrants as an invasion and it had its rhyme and usefulness in an unsuspecting voter market. The way the Democrats handled this issue is below par. When Trump and the Republican gang coined new phrases and concocted false stories such as those cat-eating Black immigrants injecting themselves into to the State of Ohio and displacing white Americans and desecrating its unsoiled earth, they thought that the American voter would take a balanced view on the whole false episode. It was not to be. Before the elections even began, the Dems had lost the issue of immigration. Being a nominee of Biden on top of the fact that she was the Vice President, Kamala had no answer to that issue at all. A fresh candidate could have declared his or her position on immigration and outlined a different policy formula for the problem of immigration. But now it’s too late.

I am as clueless as any democrat of today would be as to how to approach this problem and how it could be addressed without hurting the ‘good’ image of America while maintaining a balanced view of the whole issue. Yet the way Trump has begun his expatriation of hundreds of thousands of illegal or legal immigrants purely because their skin is of a different color cannot be sustained for long time. When the agriculture crops are to be harvested and when such undocumented immigrant labor is sparse, then only the real effects of Trump’s and Republicans’ policy or more accurately put across as their submission and naming of the issue comes to play. The jury is still deliberating on that.

First Amendment Rights

More than the tariff and immigration issues, what is at uppermost stake is freedom of expression. If Trump is allowed to carry on as and when he pleases, the most dangerous consequences would be accruing to the significance of the First Amendment to the American Constitution. Up to this point, it was only some students in some of the Ivy League colleges who have fallen victims. Make no mistake, the day some of daredevil American journalists are cornered under the pretext of spreading lies and stories harmful to the sovereignty of the country, then the real drama will start playing its sorrowful and tragic sub-plays.

Donald Trump, unlike in his first term, has a distinct advantage today. All his executioners are his die-hard loyalists. He has both, the House of Representatives and the Senate held by the Republicans. The day that Jeffry Goldberg, Chief Editor of ‘The Atlantic’, revealed ‘Signalgate’ fiasco, the entire Republican party, Trump’s Cabinet and the FOX network stood behind the incredulously comical episode. They not only stood behind Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, they willfully defended him and engaged in redefining the terms ‘classified’ and ‘secret’.

Disengaging from funding colleges under various pretexts is being treated as normal. What could be most hurtful to America’s democracy would be the silence of those who sit by and allow these extraordinary measures to be ordinary and normal. Normalizing utterly extra-parliamentary execution of policies and weaponizing the Department of Justice in pursuing a policy of retribution of political adversaries must be stopped and it must be done now.

Donald Trump is not an ordinary salesman. He is extremely clever and ruthlessly ambitious. He seems to have settled down into a domain that gives him extraordinary comfort and illusory importance. His cohorts seem to believe in him totally. Like Trump, they too seem to have abandoned all values that have made America exceptional. With the uncanny flirtation with Greenland and Canada, Donald Trump has set his eyes on a longer journey than one would like to estimate. If he is not checked now, it may be too late for America to realize that they have bought a lemon under the guise of a Rolls Royce!

*The writer can be reached at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com