Trump: Is There an Alternative?

By Robin Itzler 

 Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  Any cartoons will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free.

A friend who is a former CFO sent me this and I am sharing:

Maybe Trump’s methods are crude, and maybe his style is off-putting, and maybe he could be more of a team player, but as far as I know in my lifetime, he is the ONLY politician at ANY level from either party who has ever actually tried to DO SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT to solve the serious financial problems our country is facing from years of out of control government spending and borrowing.

As such, I suggest that Trump and his team deserve some support and patience - and courage - as they attempt to tackle the very monster that is very likely to take down our country from within. Far past time to reject the attitudes and behaviors of the summer soldier and sunshine patriot. And now is the time to give our love and thanks to those who finally are trying to put country first.

Some additional insight into part of the problem Trump’s tariff policies are trying to correct: 

1. The last time the US had a positive balance of trade was 1975, 50 years ago. 
2. At that time, our balance of trade was 12 billion. At the end of 2024, it had deteriorated to -918 billion. 
3. When Trump left office at the end of 2020, we had a -653 billion balance. When Joe Biden left office at the end of 2024, we had a -918 billion balance, an increase of 40%. 
4. Since 1975, have been the world’s banker, and these numbers do not even include our massive and ongoing subsidies to organizations like the UN, NATO, WHO, and others, as well as the trillions in foreign and humanitarian aid we have doled out to countless counties over that same time frame. 
5. And what do we have to show for this massive generosity? Almost universal disdain and disrespect, with clamors for more and more, and little to no offers to reciprocate, while our misplaced guilt-based policies drag us further down the rathole of continuing to try to “buy” that respect. Our current path has proven only that it is a road to ruin. 
6. All of this has contributed to the staggering federal debt of about 37 trillion which we are burdened with today, and which we have little chance of reducing without radical changes to our profligate spending and borrowing habits. 
7. Like our debt, the balance of trade problem will also not get fixed without radical “America first” policies, which get implemented swiftly. 
8. Because we have kicked this can down the road for 50 years, the correction methods will have to be more painful and take more time than they otherwise would have if we had been doing the right thing, and dealing with this problem in smaller doses all along the way. 
9. The same thing will be true if we want to keep Social Security and Medicare sustainable. 
10. And also if we want to make a dent in the huge federal debt like Trump and Musk are trying to do with DOGE. 

I stand with Donald Trump even when I don’t fully understand everything. But on tariffs, I do understand the United States MUST become a manufacturing powerhouse once again if our nation is to survive.