The U.S. economy is being driven at full speed toward a cliff’s edge, with President Trump and the Republican Party not just pressing firmly on the accelerator but actively disabling the brakes. Between their embrace of tariffs and tax cuts for the wealthy, it is increasingly looking like the Republican Party will be headed into next year's midterms with a strategy resembling the ending of "Thelma and Louise."

For decades, America has enjoyed a unique economic privilege. Despite maintaining historically high debt loads, we have benefited from our reputation as the world's preeminent financial safe haven. When uncertainty strikes, investors across the globe traditionally rush to purchase U.S. Treasurys, keeping our borrowing costs remarkably low and enabling our deficit spending addiction. This economic exceptionalism has allowed us to postpone a true reckoning with our mounting national debt.

That postponement is now ending with alarming speed, thanks to Trump's exorbitant tariffs and aggressive posturing toward allies and trade partners. The international community, which once viewed American leadership as a stabilizing hegemony, now sees us as a force of unpredictability and hostility.

Trump’s tariffs aren't just diplomatically reckless —

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