Toward the end of the Biden administration, conservatives, fed up with the supposed imposition of liberal ideas by “woke capital,” tried to create a “parallel economy” in which one could buy “anti-woke” versions of goods such as beer and razors. Now, in Donald Trump’s second administration, “that parallel economy is just the economy,” Adam Serwer argues. “Trumpist culture wars have made almost everything more expensive, effectively forcing all Americans to pay an anti-woke tax.” theatln.tc/b2LB3hgY
Tariffs are the most obvious example, Serwer writes: “Trump has an economic argument for his tariffs, if a rather unconvincing one. But the tariffs make more sense if you look at them as a kind of anti-woke tax.” The administration has presented them as a “a promise—one impossible to fulfill—that America can return to some golden age of plentiful manufacturing jobs, the kind of manly work that soft-handed libs with email jobs took from you.”
But tariffs have actually cost the United States manufacturing jobs, Serwer continues, and hit the trucking industry particularly hard; tariffs on lumber and furniture means construction jobs will hardly fill the gap. “And, of course, the tariffs have driven up the price of food, because some food simply can’t be grown in the United States and must be imported,” Serwer writes. “Maybe bananas and coffee are woke?”
“There was nothing wrong with the idea of an anti-woke economy in which people could, if they chose to, shell out for Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right ‘100% woke-free’ beer. People are allowed to vote with their wallets,” Serwer continues. “The problem is that Trump-era conservatives don’t seem to believe in that kind of freedom. Instead, they are imposing their anti-woke tax on all of America, raising the cost of living for everyone.”
The Atlantic
Toward the end of the Biden administration, conservatives, fed up with the supposed imposition of liberal ideas by “woke capital,” tried to create a “parallel economy” in which one could buy “anti-woke” versions of goods such as beer and razors. Now, in Donald Trump’s second administration, “that parallel economy is just the economy,” Adam Serwer argues. “Trumpist culture wars have made almost everything more expensive, effectively forcing all Americans to pay an anti-woke tax.” theatln.tc/b2LB3hgY
Tariffs are the most obvious example, Serwer writes: “Trump has an economic argument for his tariffs, if a rather unconvincing one. But the tariffs make more sense if you look at them as a kind of anti-woke tax.” The administration has presented them as a “a promise—one impossible to fulfill—that America can return to some golden age of plentiful manufacturing jobs, the kind of manly work that soft-handed libs with email jobs took from you.”
But tariffs have actually cost the United States manufacturing jobs, Serwer continues, and hit the trucking industry particularly hard; tariffs on lumber and furniture means construction jobs will hardly fill the gap. “And, of course, the tariffs have driven up the price of food, because some food simply can’t be grown in the United States and must be imported,” Serwer writes. “Maybe bananas and coffee are woke?”
“There was nothing wrong with the idea of an anti-woke economy in which people could, if they chose to, shell out for Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right ‘100% woke-free’ beer. People are allowed to vote with their wallets,” Serwer continues. “The problem is that Trump-era conservatives don’t seem to believe in that kind of freedom. Instead, they are imposing their anti-woke tax on all of America, raising the cost of living for everyone.”
🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Shutterstock.
1 week ago | [YT] | 485