Word of the Day: Own-Goal [ohn-gohl] noun. A term use in sports, usually in soccer, when a player scores a goal against their own team, usually with disastrous results. An own-goal is usually inadvertent. On rare occasion, however, a player will intentionally boot it in because he thinks he is the smartest player on the field, while teammates – despite silent, private horror – cheer him on by telling him what a great shot it was. The opposing team, often Chinese or Russian, laughs hysterically.
Nearly everyone will agree on the necessity for the United States to have withdrawn from Afghanistan. An even greater consensus witnessed Biden’s method of withdrawal as a complete disaster and national embarrassment. Utterly bungled.
Nearly two months into the new Administration, we already see the rapid emergence of embunglement. Hmm, that was fast. To be fair, the President is pretty good at putting his finger on the right issues. However, his methods of attack to fix problems is beyond cringey.
Exhibit A – DOGE: The US Government could certainly use an overhaul to improve the orientation of its priorities and increase operational efficiency. But the equipment to do so should include more than a chainsaw and a blindfold. “Break-now-fix-later” is a moronic strategy. If your car needs repairs, you don’t start by draining the oil and pouring sugar in the tank; you still need it to drive the thing, but it will now soon grind to a seizure. In a flash of brilliance, howabout “Diagnose then break as needed then fix to desired specs”? (Insert “Aaaahhh” and lightbulb here.) Demolition without construction blueprints is just demolition. The reason the American public is becoming appalled at the DOGE-ing of America is it has zero confidence that it is being driven by a coherent outcome in mind.
Spoiler Alert: Fifty bucks says the Musk kid declares victory and slips out the back door by July. No way he’s in it for the long haul, when the hard work of “building back better” kicks in (or not?).
Exhibit B – Tariffs: The new Axis of Evil is Canada, Europe, and Mexico, eh? Tariffs are the President’s new hammer. But if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. A self-made trade war with our closest and oldest allies? That has the genius of a tree stump. Minimizing friendly fire is equally important in the global economy as it is on the battlefield: Casualties-Я-Us. And it’s not just me saying; just ask my 401K and crypto accounts. How much personal wealth has vaporized in the past two weeks based on conscious (?) policy moves rather than an external shock? The Trump Slump is not an economic cycle or market correction, it’s a GSW a la foot.
And, don’t buy the, “We will have economic challenges because we need to detox the economy…” That is a total BS manufactured talking point generated from the inner circle communications team after a collective, “ruh-roh” from the fallout. Any big policy moves come with a few unforeseeable, unintended consequences. Swingin’ tariffs around like a battle ax? Eeeehhh, pretty foreseeable… by no less than everyone. Biden’s inflation was nasty but the other economic fundamentals were solid and the market grew. The current turbulence is even more overtly self-generated and unnecessary… but similarly hits the American voter right in the pocketbook. The private sector hates uncertainty. The whiplash of economic policy has pushed economic uncertainty to the highest levels since 1973. Quoting an observation from my African friend, “We really struggle economically, often because we are small and have so many external forces. Then we watch the United States and are amazed that it causes problems for itself. Why do you do that?”
We can count on the President to identify relevant urgent issues. And we can certainly count on him to be bold. But please stop with the own goals. You’re killing us, Smalls.
