Fake news and theories form a growth industry that prospers in America. While our counterfeit information might be cheaply exported, America will not require a protective tariff to import foreign misinformation across our borders. No other country is in our league since we are self-sufficient, and no country does it better. The various factions in our fake industries are so competitive and sophisticated that they now create fake scoreboards about the fake facts generated by their competitors. Our penultimate fake business, even greater than Hollywood, is American politics. Our politics of deception and illusion are now centered in Washington, DC.
In the absence of Congressional action, President Trump’s first 100 days have been filled with furious activity and an abnormal number of executive orders. Trump filled the vacuum the Republican-led House and Senate left when they abdicated their legislative duties. Thus, the political stage currently belongs to the Executive Branch.
One of Trump’s primary executive decisions was initiating a trade war with the world. This new all-out war included islands solely populated by penguins. How did this happen, and who is the architect of this very disruptive trade war? I think we now know.
In 2019, a Harvard doctoral student discovered the primary source of Trump’s tariff war. Trump’s Liberation Day and his signature economic program were based on the rigorous research by an esteemed scholar named Ron Vara. Ron is a little-known, homegrown scholar who developed theories and rationales for creating America’s war on trade, come hell or high water.
Economic theories have been used for a long time, for better or worse. John Maynard Keynes’s theories have been used to guide many economies out of economic crises since the 1930s and have been used extensively, even partially, by President Reagan. However, conservative economists criticize Keynesianism for assuming that scarcity does not exist.
Reagan’s trademark trickle-down economics added a new theory during his administration. This new approach was based on the scholarship of Arthur Laffer, who developed the Laffer Curve. Despite the robust political support for Dr. Laffer’s approach, most economists regard it as simplistic and impractical in the real world. Laffer’s research was extremely popular with a few Americans since it was used to justify significant tax reductions for the ultra-wealthy. Most economists still deride it as the “laugher curve.”
During his first campaign, the presidential candidate Trump tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with finding a new economic theory to call his own. Jared researched online and found a book he thought would satisfy Trump’s requirements since he knew that Trump thought China was ripping off America. When he found a book entitled Death by China: Confronting the Dragon—A Global Call to Action by Peter Navarro and Greg Autry, he contacted Peter Navarro.
On the surface, Peter Navarro has excellent academic credentials. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and is a Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine. However, his credentials disguise a vital fact. His Harvard Ph.D. was not from the Economics Department; his degree is from the School of Government. Why does this matter? Like most schools of government, Harvard emphasizes democracy, civic engagement, environmental issues, governmental practices, and the intersection of the public and private sectors. A Harvard economics Ph.D. requires students to become masters of economic theory, economic statistics, modeling, and mathematics. Government studies and economics are not mutually exclusive, but it is important to note that Dr. Navarro did not receive the more specialized Harvard economics education.
Dr. Navarro is one of the few Trump associates who survived the first and second administrations and must have President Trump’s complete trust and confidence.
I would bore everyone if I proceeded to dissect Dr. Navarro and the dismal science of economics fully. To be succinct, Dr. Navarro uses sensationalistic and false facts throughout his writings to assert his economic trade policy. Interestingly, many of his facts and conclusions are attributed to an economist named Ron Vara.
No one had ever heard of Ron Vara, and for good reason. Ron Vara does not exist. It is an anagram of Navarro’s last name.
After Ron Vara was exposed as a fraud, Peter Navarro had a choice. Would he acknowledge his academic fraud and accept the consequences? When confronted with undeniable facts, most ethical humans fess up and try to move on. Dr. Navarro did not follow this course. Instead, he said that Ron Vara was just a joke; it was a bit of satire.
It is no wonder that the fake Ron Vara persona and Peter Navarro fit so comfortably in the MAGA landscape. Pseudo-expertise is the primary modus operandi of all MAGAs. Even the millions of MAGA supporters acknowledge the use of the “it is just a joke” deflection while confronting contradictory or fake facts. MAGAs use their quick-and-dirty truth monitors to discern their “truth.” Another way to say this is that a MAGA “truth” always agrees with their gut instinct. Ron Vara and Dr. Navarro elevated their self-images so that they [we may have a new pronoun conundrum, which pronoun do we use for a real person and his fake self?] would revert to name-calling if a truly qualified economist disagreed with one of their pronouncements. Peter and Ron have closed their illogical loop by calling their critics “the globalist elite.” Instead of debating the issues with a true expert, they have an interview with a compliant news organization that will ask them scripted questions. Peter and Ron proudly wear the lapel label of an outsider because they are one…far outside.
Finally, no one doubts that most countries have trade imbalances, problems retaining manufacturing, monetary issues, and other associated problems. As the world’s strongest economy, America should work assiduously to maintain and expand its economy. However, using half-baked, emotional theories and research from fictitious experts will inevitably lead to disaster.