Ron Vara Doesn't Exist

Sunday, April 06, 2025

Rachel Maddow explains how Trump's entire tariff policy is based off a book by Peter Navarro in which he uses a fake, made-up "expert" to bolster his claims. That "expert's" name is Ron Vara, which is an anagram of Navarro. ..."It is hard to get your head around how much damage this one man can cause. I think it's even harder to get your head around simultaneously the fact that he can do damage of this magnitude with such a teeny, tiny, teeny, teeny, tiny amount of thought," Maddow said. "You think it would take like a grand plan and some big brains to figure out how to destroy the economy of the richest nation on earth, but that's not how it's working out. Turns out it doesn't take a big idea or a lot of big brains working together."

Posted by lee_the_agent at 01:39 PM | 39 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

WATCH: "Ron Vara is an anagram of Navarro."
@maddow.msnbc.com explains how Trump's tariffs policy came from his economic advisor Peter Navarro, who invented a fake expert in his books to justify it
And now markets are crashing #TrumpTradeWar #AmericanBrexit[image or embed]
" The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) April 5, 2025 at 10:46 PM

Comments

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Stupid people don't know they are stupid. Trump is stupid. Kushner is stupid. Navarro is stupid. And so is everyone who is going all in on the Trump tariff "plan". I put plan in quotes because:

TAPPER: Conservative economists at AEI say that when the Trump administration came up with your tariff rates, you mixed up import prices and retail prices and the entire computation is wrong

BROOKE ROLLINS: I have not read

TAPPER: I'd ask you to check it out

bsky.app

#1 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2025-04-06 11:04 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 3

Trump is destroying the US economy because he believed an imaginary expert.
Posted by lee_the_agent

No, everything is just Trump's post-hoc justifications to make his trashing of the economy seem like it has a rational basis. His only real goal is for the stock market to collapse so his short selling makes him billions of dollars.

#2 | Posted by censored at 2025-04-06 11:21 AM | Reply

This ------- loon has been off the rails for decades. I thought he was in prison?

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-06 01:48 PM | Reply

Navarro feuds with ketamine addicted Nazi.

www.thedailybeast.com

#4 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2025-04-06 01:51 PM | Reply

This crap just gets more absurd every day...

#5 | Posted by Angrydad at 2025-04-06 02:20 PM | Reply

I'm actually surprised John Barron or David Dennison didn't make an appearance.

#6 | Posted by a_monson at 2025-04-06 02:47 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 4

So not an actual "expert".

Just a "concept" of an actual "expert".

#7 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-04-06 02:49 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

It doesn't matter.

There is not a single Republican who walks this earth who will speak out against this.

#8 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-04-06 03:38 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 5

Perhaps someone with more civics knowledge than me can answer this....

Does the minority party have any power to demand that "Ron Vara" appear for testimony?

#9 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2025-04-06 03:42 PM | Reply

I usually say never assume malice where incompetence will suffice, but not in this case. It's as foolish as it is dangerous to assume that Trump is just an idiot who doesn't know what he is doing. He does, and he is profiting off it.

#10 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-04-06 03:47 PM | Reply

#9: The Congressional Joint Economic Committee can read into the official records that they subpoenaed 'Ron Vara' to provide his subject matter expertise on economics to the American people on Capitol Hill: storage.googleapis.com

#11 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-06 03:53 PM | Reply

Honest question for everyone here...

Why do you think the Trump regime skip tariffs on most oil producing nations?

I really haven't found any reasonable answers to this question, on the interwebs.

#12 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2025-04-06 03:53 PM | Reply

"We now live in the Trump era, where the president's terrible ideas are made real by a team of enablers and toadies. Democracy may die in darkness, but under Trump, it's just as liable to die in dumbness."

Bret Stephens, New York Times.

#13 | Posted by SomebodyElse at 2025-04-06 04:22 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

We ... are so screwed. And many many still bleat online "this is what I voted for!"

#14 | Posted by E1g1 at 2025-04-06 04:40 PM | Reply

#12

His biggest donors.

#15 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-04-06 04:58 PM | Reply

Yeah, I know that. I just posted the story, man.

#16 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-04-06 04:59 PM | Reply

Republicans, remember: You asked for this. Given the choice between a dozen solid conservatives and one Clinton-supporting con artist and game-show host, you chose the con artist. You chose him freely. Nobody made you do it.

#17 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-04-06 05:00 PM | Reply

#17 | POSTED BY LEE_THE_AGENT AT 2025-04-06 05:00 PM

You're conveniently ignoring the part where we could have had a president worth reelecting. But no , we had a geriatric patient and a DEI ladder climber who couldn't spell president. It was a ---- show everyday single day. You're blaming republicans for putting forth their best, who may not be "the best" but it's a ------- relief compared to what we had to watch go down every day for an entire 4 years.

Also, anyone parroting Maddow is eventually going to get embarrassed.

#18 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-04-06 05:14 PM | Reply

18, you disingenuous POS.

You wouldn't have voted for Thomas Jefferson if he had a D after his name in 2024.

#19 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2025-04-06 05:29 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

It was a ---- show everyday single day.

#18 | Posted by lfthndthrds

No it wasn't! Until January 20th this nation was in pretty fair shape. The ---- show just started in the last couple of months.

#20 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2025-04-06 05:54 PM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 2

It was a ---- show everyday single day.
#18 | Posted by lfthndthrds

You're a gaslighting cultist.

Swallow it.

#21 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-04-06 06:51 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

18, you disingenuous POS.

You wouldn't have voted for Thomas Jefferson if he had a D after his name in 2024.

#19 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2025-04-06 05:29 PM | Reply | Flag

You poor thing. Did Trump touch you on the no-no spot?

#22 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-04-06 08:11 PM | Reply

You're a gaslighting cultist.

Swallow it.

#21 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-04-06 06:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

That's not doing anything for the fact that democrats either stayed at home or voted for trump all by themselves. Hmmm, I wonder why

#23 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-04-06 08:12 PM | Reply

#18

My post is referring to 2016. Trump was a mistake from the beginning.

#24 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-04-07 08:58 AM | Reply

That's not doing anything for the fact that democrats either stayed at home or voted for trump all by themselves. Hmmm, I wonder why

#23 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Translation: "Why didn't Democrats stop us from shooting ourselves in the face!"

#25 | Posted by Sycophant at 2025-04-07 10:26 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

Hmmm, I wonder why

#23 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Because Propaganda Werks.

Also - "A Lie can travel halfway around the world while the Truth is still putting on its shoes"

#26 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-04-07 11:02 AM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

Is America going to economic hell?
Sure.

Are MAGAs getting their "retribution"?
Sure.

Are leopards eating MAGA faces?
Sure.

Are they happy about that?
Sure.

#27 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-07 11:15 AM | Reply

Did Maddow NAIL the con-artists, Navarro and Trump?

She SLAMMED the door on this con-game that we're suffering through. Trump the moron loves tariffs and has for decades. Why? Because he has the understanding of a child, the curiosity of a piece of wood. And then Ron Vara, this incredible anagram expert created by another con-artist, Petey Navarro, fed Trump's confirmation bias over and over.

Now we all pay. Unless you shorted the market, or knew how to play this game out.
"We're going to become so rich, you're not gonna know where to spend all that money. I'm telling you"just watch!" says the conman/president.

Yay 'Merica!

#28 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-07 11:21 AM | Reply

#18

Trump was a mistake from the beginning.

#24 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-04-07 08:58 AM | Reply | Flag:

I'm sure he was - for people who were relying on Hillary.

Brandon and H.U.H. offered such a recovery...

#29 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-04-07 11:22 AM | Reply

#ETTD The truthfulness of the statement Everything Trump Touches Dies is getting scarier by the day.

#30 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2025-04-07 11:32 AM | Reply

#29 - all you have is deflection from the moron you voted for.

#31 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-07 11:43 AM | Reply

Brandon and H.U.H. offered such a recovery...

#29 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

And Trumpy offers lies. Does Ron Vera exist? No.

Do you care that your mags policies are all based in lies and distortions of the facts? No.

Is Trumpy offering a recovery? No

Trumpy is offing more lies, fear, pain and suffering.

Now don't be weak America!

Just because you are watching your government being destroyed and your retirement savings and investments vanish before your eyes and the cost of everything skyrocketing and our allies abandoning us. There is no need to panic.

There is nothing to fear but maga hate and ignorance itself.

Branden handed Trumpy a fully recovered functional economy and Trumpy already done took a Trump all over it.

Gratz?

#32 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-04-07 11:49 AM | Reply

I'm sure he was - for people who were relying on Hillary.

Brandon and H.U.H. offered such a recovery...

#29 | Posted by lfthndthrds

"I'm Ron Vara and I endorse this statement!"
-Ron Vara, PhD, Hogwarts University, Fox News Contributor

#33 | Posted by Sycophant at 2025-04-07 12:06 PM | Reply

All part of the Greenbay Sweep, I suppose. What is it with you back-shootin' polecats and sock puppets?

#34 | Posted by dutch46 at 2025-04-08 05:52 AM | Reply

Unfortunately, Peter Navarro does exist.

#35 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-04-08 06:34 AM | Reply

Only freedom hating communist loving Democrats fail to grasp that unbalanced trade polices created by China and others is economically destructive for USA workers and fair trade.

Democrats will fabricate, say and do anything and hurt working Americans and our business interests if it hurts Trump. They hate America.

#36 | Posted by Robson at 2025-04-08 08:02 AM | Reply

Only freedom hating communist loving Democrats fail to grasp that unbalanced trade polices created by China and others is economically destructive for USA workers and fair trade.

I don't know anyone like that, fortunately. I know lots of Democrats, too. Lots.

I bet you are excited for the coffee and vanilla farms that are going to boom here in the USA now that we've imposed high tariffs on those nations that supply those to us. Once we figure out how to create that climate and conditions - ain't nothing gonna stop us!

I mean, you sound like such an expert on trade policies, you have to understand how they work. Right?

#37 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-08 08:21 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

"When I go into a store to buy something, I always demand they buy something from me of equal value. It's only fair!" - MAGAbrainiacs

#38 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-08 09:37 AM | Reply

LMAO!
Today was priceless!
Must called Navarro out on X today. In Muskovian fashion, Musk called Navarro "dumber than a sack of bricks" and "truly a moron"

Damn. Musk is right about something.

#39 | Posted by YAV at 2025-04-08 10:49 AM | Reply