Latest news with #OfficeoftheHistorian
The Independent
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
SNL cold open mocks Trump tariffs with ‘Make America Great Depression Again' line
Saturday Night Live's James Austin Johnson took to the stage as President Donald Trump, promising to 'Make America Great Depression Again' in a spoof of the president's 'Liberation Day' announcement in which he detailed his widespread tariffs. 'Thank you all for coming out to hear about tariffs. My favorite word, tariff, which, of course, is short for a-terrific-idea,' said Trump, calling the tax on Americans the 'backbone of my incredible plan for our economy.' 'It's actually even better than a plan, because it's a series of random numbers, like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance,' he added. 'You have no idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean … They mean we're gonna make America wealthy again. You know you're gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple days and think 'I'm almost too wealthy.'' But before all that, the president said, 'We're going to do MAGDA — Make America Great Depression Again … It'll be better than great. It'll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which have never been seen before.' Johnson, as Trump, called back to the campaign in the fall when the president, then a candidate for office, spread the conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating people's pets. 'You know, the depression is going to be so great. We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs. That's going to be fun,' he said. As he announced widespread tariffs on Wednesday, the actual Trump claimed that the Great Depression would never have happened had the U.S. stuck to its tariff policy — even though experts say the tariffs worsened the economy at the time. Trump indicated trouble began after the income tax was launched in 1913. Before that, the U.S. relied on tariffs. 'From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,' the president argued. The U.S. was 'collecting so much money, so fast, we didn't know what to do with it,' claimed Trump. 'Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,' he said. Tariffs imposed on foreign goods aren't paid by foreign nations as Trump often falsely claims. U.S. tariffs imposed on imported goods are paid to the American government by companies in the U.S. importing the goods. Much, if not all, of that extra cost is passed onto consumers in the form of higher purchase prices. Trump claimed Wednesday that the good times in the U.S. 'all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression' in 1929. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 raised tariffs on thousands of goods and is widely seen as exacerbating the economic downward spiral. Smoot-Hawley 'remains a watchword for the perils of protectionism,' notes the State Department 's Office of the Historian. 'Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster cooperation among nations in either the economic or political realm during a perilous era in international relations,' the site states. 'It quickly became a symbol of the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the 1930s. Such policies, which were adopted by many countries during this time, contributed to a drastic contraction of international trade.' The act is viewed as having worsened the economic decline, which lasted between 1929 and 1939, as it undermined international trade and drastically reduced the nation's income from products. On Saturday night, SNL moved on to mocking Trump's massive board on which the tariffs were laid out. 'We listed the countries in an order that's neither alphabetical nor numerical for maximum confusion,' said the president. 'The tariffs will be reciprocal. We love the word reciprocal, unless it's in the bedroom, right fellas? You want me to do what? Yeah, the guys know what I'm talking about.' 'We need to send a message to countries who have been ripping us off, like South Africa. South Africa puts a 60 percent tariff on everything we send them, and they've never even sent us one good thing,' said Trump, prompting the appearance of Mike Myers as Elon Musk – the South African-born head of DOGE – lamenting the protests against Tesla. 'We're introducing the new Tesla Model V, the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing, with features like self-smashing headlights, self-slashing tires, and AI-powered graffiti,' said Musk. 'You can choose from penises or swastikas or my favorite — swastikas made out of penises.' 'Wow. Swastikas made of penises — we are truly the party of Lincoln,' Trump responded.
The Independent
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Trump vows to ‘Make America Great Depression Again' in SNL cold open spoof on tariffs announcement
Saturday Night Live's James Austin Johnson took to the stage as President Donald Trump, promising to 'Make America Great Depression Again' in a spoof of the president's 'Liberation Day' announcement in which he detailed his widespread tariffs. 'Thank you all for coming out to hear about tariffs. My favorite word, tariff, which, of course, is short for a-terrific-idea,' said Trump, calling the tax on Americans the 'backbone of my incredible plan for our economy.' 'It's actually even better than a plan, because it's a series of random numbers, like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance,' he added. 'You have no idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean … They mean we're gonna make America wealthy again. You know you're gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple days and think 'I'm almost too wealthy.'' But before all that, the president said, 'We're going to do MAGDA — Make America Great Depression Again … It'll be better than great. It'll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which have never been seen before.' Johnson, as Trump, called back to the campaign in the fall when the president, then a candidate for office, spread the conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating people's pets. 'You know, the depression is going to be so great. We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs. That's going to be fun,' he said. As he announced widespread tariffs on Wednesday, the actual Trump claimed that the Great Depression would never have happened had the U.S. stuck to its tariff policy — even though experts say the tariffs worsened the economy at the time. Trump indicated trouble began after the income tax was launched in 1913. Before that, the U.S. relied on tariffs. 'From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,' the president argued. The U.S. was 'collecting so much money, so fast, we didn't know what to do with it,' claimed Trump. 'Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,' he said. Tariffs imposed on foreign goods aren't paid by foreign nations as Trump often falsely claims. U.S. tariffs imposed on imported goods are paid to the American government by companies in the U.S. importing the goods. Much, if not all, of that extra cost is passed onto consumers in the form of higher purchase prices. Trump claimed Wednesday that the good times in the U.S. 'all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression' in 1929. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 raised tariffs on thousands of goods and is widely seen as exacerbating the economic downward spiral. Smoot-Hawley 'remains a watchword for the perils of protectionism,' notes the State Department 's Office of the Historian. 'Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster cooperation among nations in either the economic or political realm during a perilous era in international relations,' the site states. 'It quickly became a symbol of the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the 1930s. Such policies, which were adopted by many countries during this time, contributed to a drastic contraction of international trade.' The act is viewed as having worsened the economic decline, which lasted between 1929 and 1939, as it undermined international trade and drastically reduced the nation's income from products. On Saturday night, SNL moved on to mocking Trump's massive board on which the tariffs were laid out. 'We listed the countries in an order that's neither alphabetical nor numerical for maximum confusion,' said the president. 'The tariffs will be reciprocal. We love the word reciprocal, unless it's in the bedroom, right fellas? You want me to do what? Yeah, the guys know what I'm talking about.' 'We need to send a message to countries who have been ripping us off, like South Africa. South Africa puts a 60 percent tariff on everything we send them, and they've never even sent us one good thing,' said Trump, prompting the appearance of Mike Myers as Elon Musk – the South African-born head of DOGE – lamenting the protests against Tesla. 'We're introducing the new Tesla Model V, the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing, with features like self-smashing headlights, self-slashing tires, and AI-powered graffiti,' said Musk. 'You can choose from penises or swastikas or my favorite — swastikas made out of penises.' 'Wow. Swastikas made of penises — we are truly the party of Lincoln,' Trump responded.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump points to the Depression to justify tariffs, but they're widely seen as intensifying downturn
As he announced widespread tariffs on Wednesday, President Donald Trump claimed that the Great Depression would never have happened had the U.S. stuck to its tariff policy — even though experts say the tariffs worsened the economy at the time. Trump indicated trouble began after an income tax was launched in 1913. Before that the U.S. relied on tariffs. 'From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,' the president argued. The U.S. was 'collecting so much money, so fast, we didn't know what to do with it,' claimed Trump. 'Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,' he said. Tariffs imposed on foreign goods aren't paid by foreign nations as Trump often falsely claims. U.S. tariffs imposed on imported goods are paid to the American government by companies in the U.S. importing the goods. Much, if not all, of that extra cost is passed onto consumers in the form of higher purchase prices. Trump claimed Wednesday that the good times in the U.S. 'all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression' in 1929. 'It would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy; it would have been a much different story,' Trump insisted. 'They tried to bring back tariffs to save our country, but it was gone. It was gone. It was too late, nothing could have been done.' Trump laid out the false argument as he announced a 10 percent tariff on all countries, a higher reciprocal tariff on about 60 countries, and a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made cars. As for the time before the Depression, Republicans put forward an income tax amendment in 1913 as farmers struggled, and Democrats pushed for the measure, and the 16th Amendment instituting taxes became law. Congress passed the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act around the same time, which lowered tax rates as Democrats pushed for free trade. Tariffs, however, were raised once more under the leadership of Republican President Warren Harding. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 raised tariffs on thousands of goods, and is widely seen as exacerbating the economic downward spiral. Smoot-Hawley 'remains a watchword for the perils of protectionism,' notes the State Department's Office of the Historian. 'Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster cooperation among nations in either the economic or political realm during a perilous era in international relations,' the site states. 'It quickly became a symbol of the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the 1930s. Such policies, which were adopted by many countries during this time, contributed to a drastic contraction of international trade.' The act is viewed as having worsened the economic decline, which lasted between 1929 and 1939, as it undermined international trade and drastically reduced the nation's income from products. Trump argued Wednesday that it 'took years and years to get out of that Depression, far longer than even FDR had that office right over there for a long period of time.' The depression ended in 1939 amid the beginning of the Second World War, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt remained in office from 1933 until 1945, becoming the only president to serve more than two terms. Speaking in the Rose Garden of his extensive tariffs, Trump pointed to the system of ramps built for Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair. 'Every time you walk up, you think of him. And he did a great job in many ways, but [the Great Depression] lasted long beyond his terms, as you know. But it's not too late,' claimed Trump. The Depression ended six years before FDR left office. The president's comments come as he has refused to rule out seeking a constitutionally barred third term, which is prevented under the 22nd Amendment, which was passed in 1951, following Roosevelt's four terms in office.
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Trump points to Great Depression to justify tariffs, but they're widely seen as intensifying bad times
As he announced widespread tariffs on Wednesday, President Donald Trump claimed that the Great Depression would never have happened had the U.S. stuck to its tariff policy — even though experts say the tariffs worsened the economy at the time. Trump indicated trouble began after an income tax was launched in 1913. Before that the U.S. relied on tariffs. 'From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,' the president argued. The U.S. was 'collecting so much money, so fast, we didn't know what to do with it,' claimed Trump. 'Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,' he said. Tariffs imposed on foreign goods aren't paid by foreign nations as Trump often falsely claims. U.S. tariffs imposed on imported goods are paid to the American government by companies in the U.S. importing the goods. Much, if not all, of that extra cost is passed onto consumers in the form of higher purchase prices. Trump claimed Wednesday that the good times in the U.S. 'all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression' in 1929. 'It would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy; it would have been a much different story,' Trump insisted. 'They tried to bring back tariffs to save our country, but it was gone. It was gone. It was too late, nothing could have been done.' Trump laid out the false argument as he announced a 10 percent tariff on all countries, a higher reciprocal tariff on about 60 countries, and a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made cars. As for the time before the Depression, Republicans put forward an income tax amendment in 1913 as farmers struggled, and Democrats pushed for the measure, and the 16th Amendment instituting taxes became law. Congress passed the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act around the same time, which lowered tax rates as Democrats pushed for free trade. Tariffs, however, were raised once more under the leadership of Republican President Warren Harding. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 raised tariffs on thousands of goods, and is widely seen as exacerbating the economic downward spiral. Smoot-Hawley 'remains a watchword for the perils of protectionism,' notes the State Department 's Office of the Historian. 'Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster cooperation among nations in either the economic or political realm during a perilous era in international relations,' the site states. 'It quickly became a symbol of the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the 1930s. Such policies, which were adopted by many countries during this time, contributed to a drastic contraction of international trade.' The act is viewed as having worsened the economic decline, which lasted between 1929 and 1939, as it undermined international trade and drastically reduced the nation's income from products. Trump argued Wednesday that it 'took years and years to get out of that Depression, far longer than even FDR had that office right over there for a long period of time.' The depression ended in 1939 amid the beginning of the Second World War, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt remained in office from 1933 until 1945, becoming the only president to serve more than two terms. Speaking in the Rose Garden of his extensive tariffs, Trump pointed to the system of ramps built for Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair. 'Every time you walk up, you think of him. And he did a great job in many ways, but [the Great Depression] lasted long beyond his terms, as you know. But it's not too late,' claimed Trump. The Depression ended six years before FDR left office. The president's comments come as he has refused to rule out seeking a constitutionally barred third term, which is prevented under the 22nd Amendment, which was passed in 1951, following Roosevelt's four terms in office.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump says Great Depression would never have started if tariffs continued
President Trump on Wednesday said that the 1930s Great Depression wouldn't have happened if tariffs had continued, while announcing his massive tariff plan to hit trading partners. The president argued that before the income tax on U.S. citizens was established in 1913, the U.S. leaned into tariffs and was collecting money from other countries. Then he argued that the U.S. ended tariffs, despite a tariff act from President Herbert Hoover at the time. 'In 1929, it all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression, and it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy, would have been a much different story,' Trump said. He added, 'They tried to bring back tariffs to save our country, but it was gone, it was gone, it was too late. Nothing could have been done, took years and years to get out of that depression.' The Tariff Act of 1930, also known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raised tariffs on tens of thousands of goods into the U.S. and was known as a protectionist policy. Economists think the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act actually 'provoked a wave of foreign retaliation that plunged the world deeper into the Great Depression,' according to the Office of the Historian within the State Department. The department outlined that after Hoover's law, imports from Europe fell from $1.3 billion to just $390 million by 1932 and exports to Europe fell from $2.3 billion to $784 million by 1932. Trump's comments on Wednesday came as he announced a 10 percent tariff that will go into effect on Friday on all countries and announced that about 60 countries will face a higher reciprocal tariff, which will go into effect on April 9 at 12:01 a.m. The president also announced a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made automobiles that will take effect at 12:01 a.m. April 3. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
