I Was Gonna Write About Tariffs, But This Was Weirder

I was planning to spend this week's episode explaining in very simplistic terms why tariffs are gonna cost you, the consumer, alot. So I started researching economic policy as well as the people who are designing President Felon's tariff program. I kept running into the name Peter Navarro. Do yourself a favor and follow that link. Read the whole article. 

So, sure, Navarro has some pretty impressive degrees on the wall, including a PhD from Harvard in economics. But degrees from Harvard are not guarantees of common sense. Navarro has a long history of sinophobia, and has written a number of  books on the subject, one of which, Death By China (2011)  caught the attention of Jared Kushner back in 2016, ultimately leading to his becoming a White House trade advisor during President Felon's first term. 

Even though he wrote a memo in January of 2020 warning that the novel coronavirus should not be overlooked, and in February went on to warn it could conceivably become a pandemic, killing millions, his fabrications cannot be ignored. In March, he was appointed to coordinate the federal government's Defense Production Act. His advisor, Steven Hatfill, was heavily promoting Hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID, and by April, President Felon was all on board, even though there was insufficient data to support that claim. This should have raised dozens of red flags with this guy. 

It didn't. 

Navarro wrote books about how trade with China was destructive for the US economy. While that last line is a gross simplification, the reality is even worse. In those books, he extensively quotes a PhD candidate at Harvard named Ron Vara. In October, 2019 in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Peter Bartlett wrote an article entitled: Trump's 'China Muse' Has an Imaginary Friend Who is Ron Vara? He seems to exist only in the books of Peter Navarro

Ron Vara has strong opinions. He thinks you’ve “got to be nuts to eat Chinese food.” He doles out little scraps of wisdom, like “Don’t play checkers in a chess world.” Vara is a military veteran and Harvard-trained economist who made seven figures in the stock market by investing in companies that do well during international crises. His contrarian savvy earned him an ominous-sounding nickname: Dark Prince of Disaster.

Vara makes frequent cameos in the books of Peter Navarro, a White House adviser who is often referred to as Trump’s “China muse.” Before joining the White House, Navarro was a professor of economics and public policy at the University of California at Irvine and the author of books like Death by China: Confronting the Dragon — A Global Call to Action and The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won (FT Press). He’s since become one of Trump’s most dogged defenders, telling CNN recently that “I am never disappointed in my president.”

The only problem is that Ron Vara does not exist. He is a figment of Peter Navarro's imagination. In fact, his name is an anagram of NAVARRO. He appears as an expert in 6 of Navarro's books, dating back to 2001. Following the Bartlett article, Navarro defended the use of Ron Vara in an NPR interview on October 18, 2019:

Navarro, who directs the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, defended the fabrication as a "whimsical device."

"At no time was the character used improperly as a fact source," he wrote in an email. "It's just a fun device."

Really? Just a fun device?????

Here's where I get into trouble with that thinking. Despite his degrees, he doesn't attribute what he says to himself....for whatever reasons...but rather to a fictional character who he presents as an expert source. But that lapse in honesty did not prevent him from getting a role in the first administration. Nor did his contempt of Congress conviction. 

After his first go'round with President Felon, Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He began his prison term on March 19, 2024. 

Did that stop him from taking a role in this administration? Apparently not. Now, he's arguing with the Muskrat who is currently opposed to tariffs. I guess the hit on Tesla is working because now he's singing a different tune that lacks the usual pocket ka-ching sound as the money drops in. But rumor has it the Muskrat is on his way outta the Big Show. Navarro, on the other hand, with this highly discredited tariff program, seems to be hanging on. Gotta wonder what the motivation is for that.

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

And as long as I'm ranting about motivation, looks like Snake Oil man is back in favor. Mehmet "I-never-met-a-scam-I-didn't-like Oz is back on President Felon's good side. Last week, he was appointed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator. I'm not sure what this means for health care, but one thing that he seems to be on board with is telemedicine which has recently been disallowed by Medicare just last week. The truth of that position remains to be seen. According to the AP:

Oz has formed a close relationship with his new boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He’s hosted the health secretary and his inner circle regularly at his home in Florida. He’s leaned into Kennedy’s campaign to “Make America Healthy Again,” an effort to redesign the nation’s food supply, reject vaccine mandates and cast doubt on some long-established scientific research.  

While he has faced some criticism for promoting unproven vitamin supplements and holistic treatments — staples of the “MAHA movement” — he’s regularly encouraged Americans to get vaccinated.

Something is better than nothing, I suppose, but this jury is out on whether or not this is the ultimate demise of public health. Once a snake-oil salesman, always a snake-oil salesman because it ain't about the snake-oil. Follow the money.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

hostage tunnel

The rest of this week will be spent getting ready for Pesach. A bitter taste remains in our mouths since there are still 59 hostages in Gaza. It's hard to rejoice in our freedom when our people are chained in dark tunnels without food, water, or even air.  On the right is an IDF released photo of the tunnel where six hostages, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and MSG Ori Danino were held captive and murdered. There is no Next Year In Jerusalem for those children of Israel. 

For thousands of years, longer than Christianity or Islam has been around, we have faced Jerusalem to pray. Our history is on that tiny strip of land in the middle of people who hate us because we have survived as a people. We still speak the same language, we pray the same liturgy, we eat the same foods, and hold fast to our identity as Jews. We are indigenous to the land we never left, but have managed to bring back so many who were exiled. We turned a whole lotta sand and rocky land into a thriving national economy....that people simply want to destroy. Do they think by killing us they will reap the benefits of our industries and our farms? 

As I get ready for Pesach, my heart will be in the land where it all began. And even if I won't be there I believe with all my heart and soul that we belong to that land. 

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our harps.

For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us mirth: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.'

How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a foreign land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week 

If you're getting ready for Pesach ...

remember to breathe once in a while.

Chag Sam'each!