The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/23/25

Trump said he's going to apply a 50% tariff on the European Union and a 25% tariff on the US company, Apple.

I could try to explain Trump's latest round of idiot 'tough talk,' but the truth is he thinks he can force countries into taking all US products for free while the US imposes tariffs on the other countries. I've made the point before that the EU did fine without the US for a long time, and even though this new trade-heavy world is nice, I don't think they have a real problem going back to ignoring the US, at our peril.

The threat against Apple is interesting. Apple has consistently made the point that the reason they manufacture their products in China has far less to do with the cost of labor, and far more to do with the skill set of the labor.  The machinists in China are more plentiful and more educated than what you can find at home.

This actually goes back to a major problem of Trump's demand to just shift high-tech jobs back to the US.  Setting aside Apple needing to build billion-dollar manufacturing facilities here, which currently do not exist, and pretending the materials needed to make an iPhone could all be sourced domestically, there's a real problem with getting enough trained US workers to do the job.  

Some dolt who barely finished high school, who thinks "learning stuff is for stupid idiots," who has been fired from three jobs because he's a drunk, and whose best career outcome was two years working second shift at a gas station, can't just be put into a high tech production facility, where the employee needs a high skill set of technical courses just to understand the basics of the job they're doing.  This isn't a "we'll train you for three days and then you can make the iPhone!" kind of job!

Dumb MAGA idiots don't want to accept this reality;  the problem is not the availability of jobs, but their reluctance to take math, science, and higher education seriously when they were in school.  They're grossly unqualified to do the job!  They don't think this is a resume position, but a 'filling out an application' job, like it's an Arby's.   China understands what is required in modern manufacturing, hence why they've been training people in technology at a MUCH higher rate than the US.  

Trump's real problem with Apple is that he wants them to dumb down production, which they can't do.  Considering Trump will never invest in educating his base, all Apple can do is look at this threat and shrug.