Writer and Chicago-area organizer Jamie Merchant joins us for a deep dive into Trump 2’s economic policy. We talk about Trump’s decades-long obsession with tariffs and the intra-elite class war at the heart of his economic policy, the legacy of Bidenomics, Trump’s messy relationship with Jerome “Too Late” Powell, and the future of free trade and manufacturing in the United States. We then swerve hard into the e-girl influencer drama tearing apart the far right #TeamEmily #MorganWashed.

Read more of Jamie’s work at: The Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-uneasy-oligarchy-merchant 

And Heatwave: https://heatwavemag.info/dossiers/tariffs/jm-tariffs-052925/ 

Be sure to pick up Jamie’s book Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Decline here: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/endgame 

And follow him on Bluesky: ‪@jamiemerchant.bsky.social‬

Just a FEW MORE DAYS (for real this time!) to get your pre-order in for YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1