Our very fact challenged president met with the UK prime minister in Scotland on July 28. I watched it live on TV. Summary and rebuttal of some of his "facts.”
Japan has been totally closed to the United States. I opened it up.
No, Commodore Perry did that in 1858. Just in 2024 Japan imported 85 billion from US. Yes, US bought more from Japan, but that is not a bad thing. We didn't have to do that. The reason we did was because it gave the most bang for the buck for the stuff bought.
The European Union has been closed to the United States, too.
No, in 2024 the EU imported 356 billion from the US. Yes, the US imported more from the EU, but the same reasoning as the Japan trade difference applies. About the only time trade between the US and any European country was nil was during WWII, for obvious reasons. And it wasn't ALL European countries even then.
Windmills are killing bald eagles by the thousands.
This can be debunked with a few keystrokes. It is true that an energy company was fined $8 million or so for killing 150 bald eagles by windmills in eight states. That's the proven count, the actual count is likely more, but not in the thousands. That company is a large owner of wind farms in multiple states. The company was advised of ways to minimize bird deaths but did not do any of it. The company was also aware that it could apply for exceptions in certain cases and did not do that, either. The truth is that the number of birds killed by windmills is insignificant compared to the number of birds killed by other means (excluding natural predation by other animals). And the overwhelming majority of birds killed by wind mills are not eagles.
I made deals for big investments in the US in both places.
But they're not enforceable, and the numbers involved are not that impressive when one looks at investments made from those places in the past. We have two Japanese owned auto plants in Mississippi alone, and there is a Mercedes plant in Alabama. Many more elsewhere.
Japan is gonna pay some high tariffs on their exports to the US. So is China, and so will any countries that do business with Russia.
No, they aren't. The exporter does not pay tariffs on what it exports. The importers do. Despite claiming have an economics degree, Trump apparently does not know this. I do, and all I have is the Economics and Accounting Award from Hinds Jr. College in 1973.
I (Trump) had previously given Russia 50 days to do something about their Ukraine war (which Trump once said Ukraine started. Fact challenged isn't strong enough.) But now it's gonna be 10 to 12 days.
I think he made that up on the spot. Most of what he says is on impulse. He has said more than once that he is his main source of advice. And it shows.
Don't forget TACO. (Trump Always Chickens Out. That's what many investors think with regard to his tariff chaos.) Also, the response from Putin and others in Russia can be summarized as "meh." Putin also strongly implied a war might result. (I am betting on TACO.)
The take away - if these countries don't bow and scrape to Trump, he, Trump will make us pay more for their goods. So there.
And the much vaunted agreements are not enforceable. In fact, the Japanese said their understanding was vastly different from Trump's. And it's all on a handshake. True, their handshake is worth more than Trump's, but their understanding of the $550 billion is that only about 2% of that is "investment." The rest is loans or guarantees from Japanese financial institutions. In other words, they'll loan us more money at a reasonably good rate. Which they would have done, anyway. And the level of investment agreed to is about what they have doing for YEARS.
Trump spews out misinformation so fast it's hard to keep up. While I was typing this he said his poll numbers were way up because the Epstein affair. The exact opposite is true, EVEN with his MAGA base. I bet Marjorie Tayler Greene has thrown away her TRUMP IS ALWAYS RIGHT hat, even.
We will survive, but not unscathed.
Glynn Kegley is a Rankin County Northsider.
