The Daily Populous Friday August 8th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by rollingstone.com and submitted by rollingstone

Today just after midnight, steep retaliatory tariffs President Donald Trump slapped on dozens of countries went into effect. “IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!” the president wrote on Truth Social minutes before the levies snapped into effect.

“Tariffs are flowing into the USA at levels not thought even possible,” he added in a subsequent post.

Hours later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on MSNBC, where he was gently coaxed into admitting that while the government might rake in plenty from the new taxes, American businesses and consumers are the ones paying the penalties.

“So if someone here, an importer, wants to buy Brazilian products today or tomorrow and import them, they’re going to pay 50 percent to the Treasury, and so who writes that check,” host Eugene Robinson asked Bessent of the new tariffs leveled against the South American nation.

Bessent first stated that tariffed Brazilian imports could simply be replaced with “substitutes” from other nations, before being pressed by Robinson to clarify “who writes the check to the Treasury,” if the product does come from a tariffed nation like Brazil.

“Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock, in the U.S.” Bessent replied.

“The check is written by the person, the receiver. So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer. Is that right?” Robinson pressed. Bessent then said that the exporter could lower their price to retain market share. Robinson pressed again: “But the check is written by the importer, at the dock?

“Yep,” Bessent said. “And the importer can pass it on or not.”

The economic reality is that tariffs are not taxes paid by exporters: They are an economic disincentive against the importing specific products that primarily burdens the purchaser. But much like Trump thinks he can just fire the nation’s leading statistician to make his floundering economic metrics go away, the administration believes it can simply declare that centuries of economic theory and practice don’t apply to them. Editor’s picks

The pared-down tariffs that have been in place for several months have already begun negatively impacting the American economy. Job and GDP growth has slowed, consumer prices are on the rise, and inflation has begun to tick up. Some of Trump’s advisers worry that not even dipping economic numbers will get the president to back off his chaotic tariff policy.

“Sometimes Trump can’t stand prosperity,” longtime Trump economic confidant Stephen Moore told Rolling Stone this week. “My advice to Trump is to stop with the tariffs. We don’t need tariffs right now.… When I see him, he knows my position; every time he sees me, he says, ‘There’s Steve Moore! He doesn’t like tariffs!’ This will hopefully get the administration to back off of the tariffs.”

Rolling Stone reported that Trump fulfilled a long-held dream by firing Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, after the agency released a weak job report on Monday. He is continuing to do what he can to avoid the reality of his economic agenda as the new round of tariffs went into effect early this morning. Trending Stories BET Hip Hop Awards and Soul Train Music Awards Have Been ‘Suspended’ Indefinitely Treasury Secretary Admits Trump’s Tariffs Are Paid by Americans How ‘Clanker’ Became the Internet’s New Favorite Slur Govt. Website ‘Glitch’ Removes Trump's Least Favorite Part of Constitution

“BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA,” he wrote on Truth Social.

He can put it in all caps, he can post it 10 times a day, but by the admission of his own Treasury Department secretary, it’s American businesses who are writing the check for those billions. Consumers are already feeling the squeeze, and it stands to get a lot worse.

jasoncross00 on August 7th, 2025 at 20:01 UTC »

If you watched the clip, he tried first to answer several other questions that weren't asked, tapdancing around all of it, and making pre-excuses.

But the fact is, when Trump says tariffs have brought in hundreds of billions of dollars to this country, it's a LIE. That money was ALREADY HERE. It was paid by AMERICAN businesses to the government (also known as a tax).

Bessent (who knows better) jumps ahead to say that foreign companies may lower prices to compensate - he omits that that would necessarily also lower tariff revenue. He says companies may absorb the tariff in whole or part and not pass it on to consumers - he omits that this necessarily means eating into their profits. The profits of U.S. companies.

It's a scam. It's a massive tax hike that lands mostly on the working class. And Bessent of all people ABSOLUTELY knows this.

muchnycrunchny on August 7th, 2025 at 19:37 UTC »

It's such a revealing thing that people didn't already know this.

sinktheirship on August 7th, 2025 at 19:36 UTC »

To the surprise of all of maga

Edit: release the Epstein files.