When Donald Trump announced his bizarrely named “Liberation Day” plan to impose his Trump taxes – aka tariffs – on the world, he promised that it would produce billions of dollars in revenue as the deals he would make would be signed at an impossibly accelerated rate, at one point saying that there would be “90 deals in 90 days.”

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Needless to say, that was just more of the hollow hyperbole that Trump disgorges in place of actual substance or facts. Forty-six days later, Trump has announced only one deal, so he’s 45 deals short. Nevertheless, he has spent the last few days boasting about his failure to fulfill his trade deal promises. Only Trump can brag about failing.

SEE THIS: Trump Brags that He Failed to Sign a Single Trade Deal Since His ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Began

On Thursday morning Trump finally announced a trade deal. It was with the United Kingdom. And in Trump’s mind it was a monumentally historic achievement. He called it a “full and comprehensive,” deal, but also contradicted himself, saying that the details will be “written up in the coming weeks.” When asked about specifics such as beef and movies, he said they would be negotiated separately.

Trump also claimed that “America will raise $6 BILLION DOLLARS in External Revenue from 10% Tariffs.” What he isn’t saying is that that money will be “raised” by Americans paying more for the tariffed products that Trump’s policy has created. What’s more, he isn’t being honest about the benefits of the UK deal. As economics professor Justin Wolfers notes…

Trump's "big" trade deal is with the UK:- It's a framework not a deal- They're our 11th largest trading partner- They're only 3% of US trade (97% to go)- They *already* charge average tariffs of only 1% (limited upside)It's a photo op, not a macroeconomically significant moment.

— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) 2025-05-08T11:35:11.717Z

Despite these facts, Trump’s cult devotees are drooling over him as if he were the second coming of their lord. Leading the pack of Trump apostles is his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, who is infamous for his callous insensitivity toward America’s moms and other Social Security recipients. During Trump’s announcement of the UK deal, Lutnick gushed that…

“I want to make this clear. This was the president’s deal. People think, ‘Oh, that’s not the way it works.’ I have the best dealmaker to my left. If you don’t think that we take advantage of him calling the Prime Minister and getting that deal done, you don’t understand who’s the president of the United States. So he’s the closer. He gets deals done that we could never get done because he understands business, he understands deals, and that’s why we’re here today.”

Lutnick: "I want to make this clear. This was the president's deal. People think, 'Oh, that's not the way it works.' I have the best dealmaker to my left. If you don't think that we take advantage of him calling the PM & getting that deal done, you don't understand who's president. He's the closer."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-05-08T15:07:19.152Z

REALLY? Trump’s understanding of business and deals is limited to his experience of having declared six bankruptcies, and his having been found guilty of 34 felonies related to his financial malfeasance. As for being the “best dealmaker,” he still hasn’t resolved the Israeli/Gaza war or the Russian/Ukrainian war that he said he would end within 24 hours if he was elected.

Another example of Trump’s business acumen came during the UK deal announcement when he said that toy maker Mattel – who said that they will have to raise prices due to Trump’s tariffs – is “the only country I’ve heard that said, ‘we’re gonna try going someplace else.’ Let ’em go and we’ll put a 100% tariff on their Barbies.” That’s right, he said that Mattel is a country. And for his apologists who would dismiss it as a trivial verbal gaffe, he also said he would slap a tariff on them. Which is not something you do to companies, but only to countries.

Trump is utterly INSANE!He calls Mattel a country, and threatens to impose a 100% tariff on it, which would be illegal (you can't tariff a single company).

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-05-08T16:32:18.804Z

This is the level of competence that Trump has brought to the presidency. And it is evident in everything from trade, to economics, to immigration, to foreign policy, to the climate crisis, and more. He has an incomparable way of misunderstanding everything, and then lying about what he failed to grasp. And his embarrassing performance at this trade deal press conference is just the latest affirmation of his flaming incompetence.

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