With the midterm elections less than four months away, it’s a precarious time for Donald Trump and Republicans: Trump’s war against Iran is going badly, his approval ratings are in the toilet, gas prices are soaring and pushing up inflation, and nation after nation is furious about Trump’s insults, bullying and ugly American unilateralism.

So amid all this mess, what does Trump do? He turns to his favorite economic plaything: tariffs. On Monday, Trump signed orders to slap a 50% tariff on many Canadian goods, and four days later, he imposed across-the-board 10% or 12.5% tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries. Trump was no doubt thumping his chest, while millions of people overseas were dumping on him for yet another unnecessary, hostile act.

Too bad for Republicans, and most Americans, though, because Trump’s fixation on tariffs will only worsen their troubles. Trump’s new tariffs will push up prices – let’s not forget that tariffs are taxes on imports, and US consumers will pay those taxes. A corollary of that: Trump’s tariffs will worsen Americans No 1 economic concern: affordability. In bad news for typical Americans, the Yale Budget Lab estimates that Trump’s tariffs will increase costs for the average US household by $1,100 each year. The tariffs are also likely to push Trump’s approval ratings deeper into the sewer. If Trump thinks these tariffs are going to distract Americans from thinking about the Epstein files or the disastrous mess he’s made with his Iran “excursion”, he’s deluding himself. The American people aren’t going to forget those things.

It’s hard to tell whether Trump’s repeated use of tariffs is a fixation or an addiction. Emperor Donald I evidently loves tariffs because he can use them to clobber other countries whenever he wants. They’re a powerful cudgel he won’t let go of. Trump imposed his new tariffs on more than 80 countries on the very day that another set of tariffs he slapped on dozens of countries was due to expire. To paraphrase the actor Charlton Heston, I can imagine Trump saying: “I’ll give up tariffs when you take them from my cold, dead hands.”

With these new tariffs, Trump is again engaged in his delusional, destructive tariff tomfoolery. They’ll push up prices, squeeze Americans’ wallets and anger other countries. Trump........

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