Trump is going after companies he doesn't like with malice - and ones he does like with incompetence

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]You probably know already about how President Trump weaponizes government to destroy companies that he hates, law firms, media companies, wind farms. But I think we don't talk enough about how he is also destroying companies that he likes, mostly by accident cuz he doesn't understand basic economics. Just as a for instance, Trump says he loves farmers. So then why in his first year back in office did farm bankruptcies rise 45%? The answer is not only about Trump trade wars, but it is largely about Trump trade wars. He drove farmers costs for things like equipment and fertilizer. He lost them an enormous amount of business abroad. China, for example, stopped buying American soybeans altogether for a long time. And now farmers are under even more stress because of Trump's war with Iran. It's driving up diesel and fertilizer costs even higher. Not to mention those mass deportations of the agricultural labor force, the higher interest rates and everything else. And if you look over at something like manufacturing, it's basically the same deal. Trump's tariffs and wars have driven up their input costs, too. Aluminum prices are almost double what they were a year ago because of Trump's policies primarily, which is not great if you manufacture a product made from aluminum like the Ford F-150.

[00:01:14]And no wonder then that there are 80,000 fewer manufacturing jobs today than there were when Trump came back into office last year. And look, that's just a sampling of Trump's many victims.

[00:01:24]There are more grizzly details in my latest Bulwark newsletter, Receipts, on the America First Corporate Graveyard.

[00:01:30]Check it out on the bulwark.com.