He didn’t flinch when the commentators cried catastrophe; he leaned into the chaos and called it intentional. The tariffs became less about punishing rivals and more about exposing a rigged game where a tiny slice of America rode the stock market while everyone else rode the bills. If the system only listened when Wall Street screamed, then making it scream was the only way to force change.

As money fled into Treasuries and pressure mounted on the Fed, the outline of the strategy sharpened. Cheaper borrowing, a stronger dollar at home, and a new incentive for factories, farms, and supply chains to return. It was brutal by design, like resetting a broken bone. Whether history calls it madness or genius will depend on what comes next: a deeper collapse, or a rebalanced economy built on the wreckage of the old one.