Let’s ponder Trump’s claims of the day on tariffs, drugs, and inflation.
Trump on Drug Costs
Trump: “You understand, and we’re gonna be reducing drug costs over the next year, year and a half, by not by 50 or 60 percent, by 1000 percent. Because if you think a 10 dollar pill, so, it will be raised up from 10 to 20 because it’s the world versus us, so the world is the bigger place. So, it will go from ten to twenty. It won’t go from 10 to 50 or 60, for them, which is bearable. And it will go from 10 to 20 for us.”
Seriously, that is exactly what he said.
Somehow, a pill that costs 10 dollars in the US will go to 20 dollars and that amounts to a 1000 percent reduction in costs.
For the math impaired, a 1000 percent decrease implies they pay you to take the pill.
Inflation Totally Neutralized
18 Trillion in Tariff Revenue in 10 Months
“Because of the tariffs, we have taken in more than 18, think of this, more than 18 trillion dollars. There’s never been anything like it. Sleepy Joe Biden took in less than $1 trillion in four years. We took in $18 trillion in 10 months.“
If you think any of this is misquoted or out of context, play the videos.
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Is Trump Succeeding at Rebalancing Trade With His Global Tariffs?
On December 8, I asked Is Trump Succeeding at Rebalancing Trade With His Global Tariffs?
it’s hard to make a case on what’s happening to non-full-year trade balances other than for China, Ireland, Taiwan, and India.
Only China shows a clear improvement. But some of the China improvement is a mirage of tariff avoidance through Vietnam, India, and Mexico.
My chart shows Taiwan was already running ahead of 2024 despite only 8 months of data. India and Vietnam appear problematic as well.
December 9, 2025: President Trump Promised a Manufacturing Boom. Where Is It?
The answer is China.
December 11, 2025: The US Trade Deficit Improves in September, Or Does It?
The BEA reports the trade deficit shrunk in September.
December 15, 2025: Only 56 Percent of Republicans Say the Economy Is Good
Among independents, the percentage drops to 19 percent.
December 12, 2025, Two Failed Senate Health Care Bills, Eyes on the House
The Senate rejected proposals from Democrats and Republicans. What now?
Tariffs have produced nearly $22 Trillion in one year.
How much debt has the Federal Reserve imposed in one century ??
Your tariff number is way too high.
Not just too high, idiotic
The 16th Amendment is a Coup. Enforcement is Treason.
It converts a Sovereign immune-from-an-excise-tax to a subject liable for a 100% confiscatory tax and imprisonment for exercising their “Right to Pursue a Livelihood” [LIBERTY, Ref. 5th Amendment; Art. IV, Sec. 5].
Core Constitutional Rights cannot be negated by such means. If they could, the Constitution is worthless.
If you do not know the object of the coup, you have not looked over your shoulder.
Where did the $18 trillion tariff figure come from? The figure for fiscal 2026 is expected to be only a little more than $200 billion.
When you combine Trumpster with Bushie you will get a 1000% reduction in the cost of putting food on your family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rTHJEoZ6xo
And remember, no matter how bleak the situation your rulers and their minions can always make you laugh.
Personally, I do not like dealing with B.S. artists who are trying to sell me something. I have never met anyone who has said they enjoy dealing with a salesperson they know is full of sh!t. Donald Trump has always been the most high-profile B.S. artist in the country. So, who are these Americans who rationalized that they wanted the nation’s most prominent B.S. artist to be President and the face of America?
For me, it was the lesser of two evils. If Michael Bloomberg had been the Democratic candidate, I would have voted for him, not Trump.
donald j. trump from queens nyc, has always been a man of his word. like his father……..democracy works. trump is amerikan as apple pie.
And the happy clappers cheer to the 18 trillion drivel coming out of Mr T’s mouth! WTF
Most of Trump’s voters don’t care what the size of our GDP is, nor that this claim is tariffs brought in 60% of our total GDP – or IOW 90% of China’s GDP. It’s a litmus test for basic smarts, which so many lack. Just think how stupid you must be to believe him and not ever fact check even the most bogus claims.
We at least now better understand his need to gut federal statistics agencies🤡
Wow ! ! ! !
Average Monthly Premiums – Florida Blue Silver Plan (Individual, Age 60 Benchmark and without subsidies)
2014: $615
2019: $975
2025: $1,315
The choice is clear. Stay healthy and save that $1300/month. If you need real medical care, go overseas.
rule of 72 divided by 11 years. looks like our sort of inflation of everything. way less than some things. and way more than others. of course obama care was a swindle to screw over young and healthy by them paying 3x to the insurance C suite assholes. democracy works. it was a swindle. voted into law by swindlers. the amerikan people are swindlers. not really complicated. see century of self documentary if you want the why.
18 trillion??
Then pay off the deb!! get it goneTtrump!!
Absurd and obscene
No wonder he went bankrupt 6 or 13 or 18 times.
And, the rest of the time he screwed his Sub-Contractors by refusing to pay. My Dad knows such a Sub who went under after trying to Sue Trump. He went bankrupt and committed Suicide and left a wife and 4 kids behind who also did not do well. I have never had an ounce of respect for his type of lacking ethics.
It’s what Americans want in their president – FACT
my pal was a big time contractor. he built out ralph lauren in trump tower. ralph got his money from trump after donald was gonna default on him. bwaaahhhhhh. my twisted old pal is friends with trump. the type of amerikan where anything is worth it for a few shekels. a great amerikan.
Same here. Trumps legal dept. was his biggest profit center.
I agree, 1000%!!!
Trump cannot be blamed for his outrageous and continuous lies and childlike behavior, he is mentally ill. We must, most definitely, blame the stupid, ignorant mfer’s that voted for him, they should be ashamed and NEVER vote again. They should be branded across their forehead with an appropriate brand, something like a shit emoji. Ok, that’s extreme, but there were other real Republicans that could have been nominated.
86-47 25th, impeachment or god, whatever works.
What a choice line up of presidential candidates you guys have had recently – demented Biden, low-IQ, super-woke Harris, or erratic Trump.
Trump was still the best of a bunch of bad options….
Yeah no. False equivalence. You get the forehead brand
Keep in mind I write from Australia. From this distance, the entertainment factor is the key element… 😄
Your leadership is worse. One of my oldest and closest friends lives in Perth. He complains constantly. It amped up during Covid where your Government was OPPRESSIVE and way worse than America – – the latter which was bad enough already.
BS.
You clearly do not know about the lockdown of Australia during Covid. It was heartless with no one allowed to cross state lines.
Agree about the oppression during Covid.
They say that 3% of males and 1% of females are psychopaths, and careers where they exercise power are very attractive to them. I would estimate that over 40% of politicians in this country are psychopaths, and they jumped at the opportunity to exercise oppressive control during Covid.
One thing you could say in Donald Trump’s favor – he’s obviously a narcissist, but I don’t see psychopathy….
I love Australia, hate the tax system. How do you like paying 50%+ in taxes all the time with no loop holes? I find governments stealing other people’s money appalling and yet somewhat entertaining.
It’s not theft.
Who is paying 50% in income tax? The top rate is 45%, and that is only for income over $190,000. Health care is covered by a 2% income levy, (or up to 3.5% for high income earners) so I suppose you could say it’s up to 48.5% for high income earners….
it’s way more entertaining in the front box seats. see the whites of their eyes and smell the nihilist twats that inhabit amerika.
A shame an AI like chatGPT can’t be nominated. Couldn’t be any worse than Trump and unlike Trump, it will apologize for saying stupid stuff.
Character, character, character! The most important litmus test that should be applied to any leader whom you select to be in a position that is one of great responsibility and requires public trust is integrity and character. Say what you will about Biden and Harris, but any objective assessment would give them much higher marks in the area of character and integrity than Trump.
I rate Vance higher than any of them. Let’s move him up before the Dems take over and impeach them both.
I would disagree with that assessment. Vance is way too beholden to the Silicon Valley Libertarian Billionaire class. Vance is also far too isolationist to lead the world’s only democratic economic and military superpower.
Yes, at that time he was the best choice. I am promoting impeachment and conviction.
He is not mentally ill but he is f’d up. And so are many in his cabinet, including SGE Musk. I call them mental defectives. Many of them would not be there under normal circumstances because they are wholly unqualified. They are pure opportunists, they know it, and they are making the most of riding DT’s coattails. And he knows that too. They would never have gotten the slightest consideration if it weren’t for him. I liken them to Hitler’s regime of malcontents enabling him to be his worst self. But unfortunately they do not suffer their own idiotic BS, we do…
Most excellent article here!
Every time Trump talks about his tariffs, the story gets better. He used to say we already took in over a trillion in tariffs. Then it was “trillions”. Then it was “trillions and trillions”.
Now it is $18 trillion! Wow! And he still claims that they are being collected from other countries.
And no. He wasn’t talking about investments, GDP, or anything else. It was how much we have collected in tariffs.
I look forward to his next tariff claim. I wonder how much bigger it will get?
The best part is that his cult will believe him.
Wow. $18T. So….national debt paid off before his term ends?
And every piggy gets a pony!
Ssomeone should teach him the word quadrillion and tell him it’s much much bigger than a trillion, and see if he uses it. What a laugh!
Like Biden with “expodentially”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ9sz5_o-uE
Thanks for reminding us of the buffoon Biden who preceded the current one. And, brain dead always springs to mind.
I say we go: “Mish For President.” At least Mish has a handle on all of this bullshit. The first step towards positive change is the comprehend our problems.
Neither could achieve that. TRUMP was a loser before he came to light.
Thanks for reminding me that in 2024 there were a whole bunch of stupid people who could not figure out Trump was far more senile than Biden.
The best part is the continuing belief that these rotating buffoons are somehow “better” and “Worse.” Imagine working for a company led by the likes of THE DONALD. HE IS REALLY stupid.
As of late 2025, there’s approximately $2.4 trillion USD in physical currency in circulation, with Federal Reserve data showing around $2.416 trillion in October 2025, though this figure fluctuates weekly.
If he takes out 2 trillions, there will be no money left in the market to circulate leading to recession.
Was this before or after the viper discussion – lol.
Based on historical records, Trump sounds increasingly like the Roman emperor Caligula. Caligula was a pretty popular and balanced emperor until his brain snapped, possibly because of some kind of brain disease. The weird thing is that official Washington pretends this Caligula-type behavior is normal.
Caligula could get it up.
That’s cruel…..thanks.
It was “up” due to all of those scabs. OUCH, that was gross!
Caligula had V.D.
My Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Uncle knew him and at his death bed he was oozing puss all over everyone surrounding him.
Otherwise, Caligula was a wonderful party guy.
caligula was gentleman and scholar compared to trump epstein obama and bush and clinton crime families.
Nowadays, people are talking about security, security, security.
Trump talks about security. Zalensky talks about security of his country. Russia talks about security. Europeans talks about security.
I’m also worried about security of my country.
My country is one of 14 countries neighbouring China.
We have been living side by side mostly peacefully for many centuries.
Now I’m woke enough to worry for my country’s security.
I want article 5 like security guaranteed from America and NATO.
I also don’t want proxy war in my country like Ukraine.
I also don’t want like Venezuela who is threatened by far away country.
Any suggestion?
Arm yourself. Nobody is on your side.
China is not going to attack you.
Which is more frightening; that Trump believes what he is saying, or that he thinks others will?
Either way, it is patently obvious that his grip on reality has been rapidly slipping over the past few months.
he’s senile. unlike Biden, he has a strong voice and isn’t as sleepy but there’s different types of dementia. or maybe it’s some type of aphasia?
IDK, but he’s literally incoherent.
And literrally means it when he says “Truely, “there NEVER HAS BEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT”! Of $18 Trillion he’s only off by $17.2 Trillion!!
Because there never HAS been anything like it! Just pulling a number out of his ***.
$17.805 trillion off.
😉
He’s always saying “unbelievable”. He means it literally.
He was always a babbling fool but now he is a babbling senile fool. They should find him a room at Mar A Lago where he can pretend he is president and yell at the walls.
the messiah has spoken the religious folk must be trilled……
I’ll have to read the quote again, but I think what grandpa T is trying to say is “without me, that $10 pill would go to $60, but thanks to me, its only going to $20 (therefore a price reduction of … well not 1000% but 300%). But its still idiotic to claim a ‘price reduction’ when talking hypothetical increases been avoided. Like saying, “I saved 500 lives from car accident deaths when I put in that stop sign”. Maybe you would have, but then again, no way to know.
is it too much to ask for the POTUS to make himself understood without other people rearranging his words to make sense?
Holy Book people love that kind of ambiguity.
I don’t know what consulting you do but I hope it doesn’t require any math skills.
With regard to President Trump’s claim that tariffs brought in $18 “Tillion.” He probably meant “Billion.” I like to use “seconds” to compare the difference between the number “billion” and the number “trillion.” If you subtracted 1 “billion” seconds from today’s date you would be taken back to 1995. If you subtracted 1 “trillion” seconds from today’s date you would be taken back to 2500 BC. So, there’s a pretty big difference.
Except he has made the trillion claim several times (and it keeps increasing). And it also allows him to do the other things on his list – abolish the IRS, reduce the debt, AND give out a 2500 tariff check. He truly has the delusional belief that he is bringing in trillions.
I doubt he could state the difference between a billion and a trillion.
(Actually, a trillion seconds ago is close to 30,000 B.C.)
I’m reminded of the George W. era joke about President Bush being told in a security briefing, that overnight, two Brazilian soldiers had been killed in a military action. His advisors were bemused to see the devastated reaction from the President who looked shocked, and held his head in his hands for several minutes. He eventually looked up and asked, “How many IS a Brazillion anyway…?
And Trump now makes W look like a really good President.
He makes W look smart and sane not a good POTUS.
What the holy f***.
Welcome to America, 2025!
For the first time since Trump’s tariff rollout, import tax revenue has fallen, threatening his lofty plans to slash the $38 trillion national debtDecreasing tariff revenue threatens Trump’s goal of using income to slash $38 trillion national debt | Fortune
Because $18 trillion in factories have been built on US soil and there is no tariff on the brazilliions of products the billions of new workers are building and they are selling those products for gobbillitrillions of dollars.
OT<
At his rate, Gold and Silver will continue their ascent into the stratosphere while the dollar takes hit after hit.
At the start of 2025 most mining companies calculated their IRR with gold at $1,300 to $1,700. The value of the underlying assets has exploded over the last year and many mine plans will be revised.
Lower grade orebodies will now have economy of scale on their side and regional mining districts will be great strategic successes.
Gold has tested its all time highs twice now without breaking through which surprises me. Not the best sign, so it merits watching closely for short term traders or options players.
Gold will go to $5,000 and stay there.
Won’t go higher, but will maintain its value through the coming crash.
Nah. I remember $800+ gold in the 70’s and it didn’t last.
In the long run everything goes up.
Do you have a long run in front of you?
I don’t, but my heir does – hoping she sees the mythical $10K and beyond 🙂
Back then, the Federal Reserve did everything it could to kill gold by raising interest rates to nearly 20%. A 20% interest rate today when your debt is $38 trillion would be 140% of total taxation revenue going on interest payments.
This time around, it’s central banks who are doing the gold buying….
The dollar looses its value vs. gold. Not the problem you might think.
The whole world is just as far in debt as we are. So compared to other curency we are still Queen of the pigs. When the crash comes it will be world wide, not just in the US.
Yep, cleanest dirty shirt in the hamper…
Totally “cringe worthy”
We have the lying idiot of the century leading our nation…
Xi and Putin are laughing their asses off!
He never did make much sense but these statements are much more bizarre than his “normal”. Looks like he is going to pull a Reagan and Biden.
Well here’s a stat you can’t dispute: Trump mental decline up 1000%
Where are all the comments about Sleepy demented Don? Is mental acuity no longer an issue now that Trump is in office? Where are all the MAGA clowns?
Psychosis (general term)Psychosis is not a single disease, but a condition where a person loses touch with reality. It can include:
When mixed with a pathological malignant narcissistic personality disorder?
Take away the football!!!
>>>
i had an old neighbor in charleston SC. he carried the football for jfk and lbj. his stories were classic. lbj got drunk and tried to kick this fella off the ranch…………
You know what?
The president is surrounded by the people cheering him.
It makes the problem worse.
Nobody dares to correct.
This is the problem with someone having that much power.
In a word – hypocrisy.
All the apologists have shuffled off to their safe spaces, it seems…
Time for the 25th. Guy is senile.
Biden proved the cabinet will never oust a senile president. They’ll just prod him to do whatever they want. Was Blinken, now Rubio.
Not. Gonna. Happen. If they didn’t do it to celery stick, they won’t do it here.
When you hire a clown as your king, the clown doesn’t become wise, the kingdom turns into a circus.
The kingdom has been a circus for a long time. Covid lockdowns alone top anything Barnum and Bailey could have come up with. All we have done between 2020 and 2024 is changed up the brand on the clown car and changed some of the standard features.
where are you from? I was never locked down in Texas
Um, Trump was President then too. And we reelected him.
While taco didn’t win any of the peace prizes, he is the odds on favorite to receive the Liar of the year and decade award. In fact, there is no one within three deviations from his position.
So if a medicine used to cost $100, now they’ll give it to you for $0 and also send you a check for $900? Goddamn, I can’t take so much winning.
The same principle of negative interest rate: If you deposit your money in a bank you have to pay bank for lending your money ( depositing ) to the bank.
Now when you buy drug from a pharmacy they will pay you money for buying from them.
Its a mad, mad, mad world.
They call it UTOPIAN WORLD.
They promised job is optional. You buy things and you get money.
definitely taken out of context. I am no fan of Trumps and have been an avid follower for over a decade, but clearly Trump means 18 trillion in promised investment due to tariffs. Never does he say 18 trillion in tariff money.
Please explain $18 trillion in investment in 10 months vs $1 trillion under Biden in 4 years.
Idiotic, no matter what spin you try to put on it.+
Mike, I would like to see your analysis and opinion on Trumps MFN Executive order on pharmaceuticals.
You should do an article on it
PROMISED investment. c’mon Mish, I’m really thinking you are being intentionally obtuse.
Trump said tariffs.
But OK
There was 18 TRILLION in promised investment?
Break it down for us.
And how much of it was empty promises just to shut him up?
And please explain 1,000 percent drop in drug prices while you are at it.
“I am no fan of Trumps…”
“Taken in” means in hand. As in, a bird in hand is worth 18 trillion pies in the sky.
$18 trillion in investments? Are you joking? China’s entire GDP is $18 trillion so you’re saying China will take everything they own and create and invest it in the US?
Most countries around the world don’t have that kind of money.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29
But even if that statement were 100% true it’s just a “promise” to placate Trump, as soon as he’s gone those promises will vanish.
Equally ridiculous. Did you pass the third grade?
They say you are what you eat….
He says – “because of tariffs we have taken in more than 18 trillion in 10 months”. He never says investments. You can spin it, of course…as in “clearly Trump means” – lol.
If you repeat the lie 9 times then everyone will believe the lie and bury the truth.
Welcome to California! They’ve been pulling this same stunt for decades and it keeps working.
There is absolutely no doubt about it. Trump is an idiot.
Cerebral arterial stenosis.
Probably.
Crainial Colon Blockage
No, I do believe he could be trained given proper assistance.
He is more like an imbecile.
I believe the president. LOL
Along with making a post about Rob Reiner and his wife’s tragic murder entirely about him while pretending to be sympathetic, a 1,000% price drop along with $18TT tariff revenue in 10 months – it all totally tracks.
Who are the people who still think this man is of sound mind?
How about the folks who cried about people celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, are those same people cheering now Trump said it about a liberal being murdered?
Time to 25 47!