Trump officials have been trying to divert attention from the precipitous drop in the stock market caused by Trump’s tariffs. From the president on down, they have been telling people to just take your medicine and that, long-term, the tariffs will yield important benefits for the United States.

Of course, this is very easy for billionaires like Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (who called the financial turmoil just an “adjustment process”) and other uber-wealthy Trump officials to say. But it's not so comforting to ordinary Americans seeing their life savings evaporate.

It is not unlike Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s comment that Americans wouldn’t mind if they missed a Social Security payment, because his mother-in-law, whose son-in-law’s worth is estimated at a minimum of $2 billion, wouldn’t mind.

Now, Trump has changed the message. The new talking point is that dozens of nations are seeking to negotiate, and he will quickly cut deals for better, fairer trade. Trump is trumpeting that Japan, for example, has offered to come to the table.

There are many problems with this new theory. For one thing, even if successful — and that is a big if — it undermines the loudly shouted claim that the tariffs will raise $6 trillion over the next 10 years, replacing U.S. taxes; no tariffs, no tariff revenue.

It is also inconsistent with the idea that America will build new plants, creating American jobs, an idea that

© The Hill