The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Warning signs: “[Trump’s] tariff proposals spooked the stock market. This surprised no one who knows history. In 1930, the stock market was recovering nicely from the 1929 crash until President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The stock market plunged, a trade war erupted, and the country slid into the Great Depression. At a minimum, implementing Trump’s tariffs could slow our economy; at worst, with retaliation from abroad, the tariffs could negate all the economic gains that Trump’s other policies have generated.” —Mark W. Hendrickson

Good question: “Tariffs may be good politics, but they are bad economics. Obama majored in political science. But Trump has a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. What’s his excuse?” —Larry Elder

For the record: “If North Korea were applying for a loan, no bank would lend it a dime because of its deplorable credit rating, yet the West, which often appears to bank more on hope than reality, continues to dole out food and other aid hoping good intentions change Pyongyang’s behavior.” —Cal Thomas

Alpha Jackass: “The FBI has been the worst enemy of Black advancement. The Jews have control over those agencies of government.” —Louis Farrakhan, Democrat mascot (“It’s really not difficult at all to condemn this anti-Semitic, nonsensical bilge. Unless of course you (a) agree with it or (b) don’t want to alienate those who do.” —Jake Tapper)

Braying Jenny: “Certainly, we love when people get a bonus, and if they get a raise, but if it is so small in comparison — if the choice was made for corporate America and the top 1% in our society, at the expense of working families, something is wrong with this picture.” —Nancy Pelosi

So the future is lawlessness? “This administration and Jeff Sessions in particular have clearly put a target on the back of California and California’s going to fight. And I think that these folks are really mired in rolling back the clock in time and that’s not going to happen. California represents the future.” –Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)

And last… “Ambiguity is difficult for politicians to regulate, alas, so guns have proven the easier target.” —J.J. McCullough