Trump’s Cruelty Is the Point: The $8 Trillion That Never Was

Trump could end the government shutdown today without a single vote from the House or Senate. By his own claim, his tariffs have raised over $8 trillion for the United States. Money that exists under his exclusive authority as the “unitary executive,” beyond Congress’s control.

But if that were true, wouldn’t he release the funds right now? The shutdown would end. Health care costs wouldn’t have to rise. Families wouldn’t go hungry. Federal workers could return to their jobs. Yet none of that has happened.

The reason is both simple and damning: he doesn’t care, and he doesn’t have $8 trillion.

Trump’s tariffs never produced anything close to that amount, and the pain of the shutdown serves his personal and political interests. Ordinary Americans are collateral damage in a show of power designed to please his billionaire cronies like Peter Thiel and to reinforce his own myth.

Trump’s claim of $8 trillion is a fiction — but the suffering is real. And in choosing to let that suffering continue, Trump reveals the truth of his leadership: power over people, cruelty over care, and loyalty only to those who already have everything.

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