Economic Terrorism in a Red Hat

With a Threat to Hit China With 50% Tariffs, or more, the President Is Dragging Every American Family Into a Manufactured Recession

Trump’s 70% Effective Tariff Plan Will Eviscerate the Supply Chain, Kill Retirement Savings, and Skyrocket Grocery Prices

Welcome to The Wisecrackers' Desk! I'm Tracy Rigdon, and I call political bullshit exactly what it is. No filters, no corporate sponsors telling me to tone it down, just raw, honest analysis of America's political circus. Whether you're a longtime reader, someone who's sampled paid content before, or you've just discovered my work, I'm grateful you're here. My unfiltered take on the headlines mainstream media tiptoes around and the political hypocrisy that deserves exposure has resonated with readers who appreciate straight talk about the mess we're all witnessing.

While I'm thrilled to have readers at any level, paid subscribers make this work sustainable and get full access to my most in-depth analysis. If my no-nonsense approach has ever made you nod in agreement, laugh out loud, or think differently about politics, I'd be grateful if you'd consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support keeps the uncensored truth flowing—profanity and all. (Fair warning: This newsletter contains colorful language. Politics these days demands it.) Thank you for reading!

Trump’s 2025 Economic Emergency Isn’t Policy, It’s an Attack on the American People Masquerading as Toughness

Donald Trump didn’t just declare an economic emergency. He detonated one. And now, with the U.S. economy spiraling into recession, Wall Street coughing blood, and households across the country barely hanging on, he’s decided to pour gasoline on the wreckage.

In a Truth Social post that reads more like a dictator’s ransom letter than economic policy, Trump threatened to slap an additional 50% tariff on all Chinese imports, on top of the already destructive 20% he imposed weeks ago. And his reasoning? A mix of paranoia, projection, and a dangerous obsession with economic warfare. It’s the equivalent of lighting your house on fire because your neighbor turned on their garden hose.

This is not a policy shift. This is economic suicide by ego. And while Trump postures and rants about “illegal subsidies” and “non-monetary tariffs,” Americans are getting absolutely gutted at the grocery store. Because you are not insulated by billions. You’re not in Mar-a-Lago. You’re in line at the store, wondering why a pound of chicken breast now costs almost nine fucking bucks.

This Isn’t a Crisis. It’s a Controlled Demolition

Trump’s initial 2025 tariff package already vaporized $4 trillion in market value. He hit Mexico, Canada, the EU, and China all at once. Markets tanked. Consumer confidence plummeted. Wall Street called it a bloodbath. And what did Trump do? He posted a TikTok bragging about it.

Now he’s gone further. In his own words:

“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.”

Let’s translate that: Trump hits China with 20%. China hits back with 34%. Trump loses his mind and threatens 50% more. If that happens, the total tariff rate on Chinese goods could hit 70%, effectively freezing trade between the world’s two largest economies. At that point, it’s not just a trade war, it’s a goddamn embargo.

And who gets obliterated in the crossfire?

Not Trump. Not his billionaire donors.

You.

Your Grocery Cart is Now a War Casualty

The frontline of Trump’s economic warfare isn’t in Beijing. It’s in your local grocery store.

Produce, meat, dairy, packaged goods, cleaning supplies, everything has gotten more expensive. And if this 50% tariff threat goes through, you haven’t seen anything yet.

- That $4 bag of rice? Expect $6 or more.

- Your kid’s lunch snacks? Gone or doubled in price.

- Fresh fruits and vegetables? Imported ones will be luxury items by summer.

- Pet food, paper towels, laundry detergent, all imported in part or whole, are about to punch holes in your wallet.

Since his first tariff rollout, consumer food inflation has already jumped 12–18% across key categories. That was before China hit back. Now, the pipeline is going dry, prices are spiking again, and shelves are starting to look eerily like they did in 2020.

Don’t be surprised if major grocers start rationing imports, trimming product lines, or jacking prices weekly. We’re entering a soft scarcity economy, where the things you need are still technically available, but at a cost you can’t afford.

From Trade War to Economic Collapse

Trump’s economic doctrine is based on a delusion: that he can hammer other countries with massive tariffs and they’ll just take it. But this isn’t 1985. This isn’t a Mob-style shakedown. The rest of the world can, and is, fighting back. China, our largest goods trading partner, responded exactly as expected: retaliatory tariffs. 34%, targeted. Precision economic warfare. And now Trump is promising to blow the whole relationship up. Why? Because he’s a fucking idiot.

If this escalation goes through, trade between the U.S. and China will grind to a halt. That means supply chains freeze. Inventory vanishes. Prices explode. Manufacturing delays. Stockouts. Layoffs. And no, you can’t just "make it in America." Most U.S. companies don’t even have the infrastructure to build their own supply chains without China, and even if they did, it would take years, not weeks. But Trump wants headlines. He wants control. He doesn’t care how many lives he wrecks getting there.

The Working Class Will Be Devastated

Let’s be blunt: if this continues, we are barreling into a full-blown, MAGA-manufactured recession, one that the working class will never recover from.

Seniors on fixed incomes are watching their grocery budgets devour their Social Security checks. Millions who rely on imports for their small businesses are getting squeezed out. Low-income families are now making food decisions based on what they can afford day by day. Every dollar you have is worth less now than it was last month, and with the Fed trapped by inflation and political pressure, there’s no safe off-ramp.

Some projections show that if Trump imposes the full 50% tariff on Chinese goods, we could see consumer prices rise another 10–15% across the board, not just on Chinese products but everything connected to them. Because when the world’s supply chain hiccups, the whole system stutters.

Seniors Will Be Forced Out of Retirement

One of the darkest effects? Millions of retirees are about to be forced back into the workforce. Why? Because their investments have tanked, their cost of living has exploded, and they can no longer survive on the income they planned for.

What happens when millions of seniors flood a labor market already struggling with wage stagnation? Wages drop. Job competition spikes. Young workers suffer. And once again, the top 1% sails through the storm on yachts they bought with your tax cuts.

This isn’t a glitch. It’s a goddamn class war, and the rich are winning because they bought the guy who started it.

This Is Not “Tough Negotiating.” It’s Economic Extortion.

Trump has made it clear: either China caves, or he burns the entire system down. And he’s dragging your mortgage, your paycheck, and your grocery bill into the flames.

He ended his threat with this Orwellian closer:

“Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

“Thank you for your attention”? What the hell is this, a press release or a hostage video?

He’s not just threatening China. He’s threatening global diplomacy. He’s making sure every trade partner in the world sees the U.S. as unstable, reactionary, and economically self-destructive. And while he plays global bully, we’re the ones getting punched in the stomach every time we check out at a grocery store.

What Happens Next?

If China doesn’t blink, and why the hell would they, Trump’s 50% tariff threat will activate. That means effective rates on Chinese imports will be up to 70%, which all but guarantees:

• A recession deeper than 2008

• Mass layoffs in retail, logistics, and small business

• Exploding credit card debt as families borrow just to eat

• A total collapse in retirement planning for those over 55

• Rising homelessness as food and housing costs squeeze every last dollar

Meanwhile, Trump and his billionaire cronies will be just fine. Their wealth is in offshore assets. Their homes are in gated enclaves. Their meals aren’t from Walmart, they’re catered. They’ll weather the storm from inside air-conditioned bunkers while the rest of us try to make a $300 grocery bill stretch for three weeks.

You Are Not Crazy, This Is Designed to Hurt

So when you find yourself standing in the cereal aisle, wondering why the cheapest off-brand box now costs $6.99, you’re not crazy.

When you stare at your utility bill and wonder which card to max out next, you’re not failing.

When your kids ask why their favorite snacks are gone and you lie and say the store was out, you’re not a bad parent.

You’re the target.

You are living in the wake of deliberate economic sabotage.

Donald Trump is playing chicken with global powers and using your family as the hood ornament. This isn’t strength. It’s weakness masquerading as bluster. It’s failure weaponized as populism. And if we don’t stop calling it “negotiation” and start calling it what it is, economic terrorism, we’ll lose more than just our savings. We’ll lose the very idea of economic security in America.

1. Forbes – “Trump Shares Claim He’s Crashing the Market on Purpose”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/04/04/trump-shares-claim-hes-crashing-stock-market-on-purpose-as-he-lobbies-for-emergency-rate-cuts/

2. Reuters – “Investors Flee Equities Amid Tariff Panic”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/hedge-flow-hedge-funds-short-nvidia-tesla-amd-morgan-stanley-says-2025-03-27

3. NYT – “Trump’s Tariff Bomb Triggers Historic Market Slide”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/business/trump-stocks-tariffs-trade.html

4. CNN – “Consumer Prices Spike After Tariffs”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/03/business/grocery-prices-trump-tariffs

5. Al Jazeera – “Why Are Trump Supporters Cheering Market Collapse?”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/17/why-are-trump-supporters-claiming-he-wants-to-crash-the-us-stock-market

6. Brookings Institution – “Economic Cost of Trump’s Trade War 2.0”

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-economic-cost-of-trumps-2025-trade-war

7. FactCheck.org – “Trump’s Misleading Tariff Chart”

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/04/trumps-misleading-tariff-chart/

8. USDA Economic Research Service – Food Price Outlook (April 2025)

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/

9. Rolling Stone – “Trump Brags About Tanking the Market”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-stock-market-tariffs-fed-collapse-2025-1235310745

10. Holland & Knight – “Legal Breakdown of Trump’s Tariff Order”

https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/04/president-trump-announces-10-percent-global-tariff