Just when I thought that Donald Trump could not get any dumber...

[Jehanne]

Another Ooops (emphasis mine):

General Motors Will Slash Jobs and Trump Is Not Happy

When Donald Trump signed the GOP tax bill and later started a trade war with China, he promised Americans that these actions would create jobs. Not all companies got the memo, apparently, as General Motors announced yesterday that it is closing plants in America and Canada and will lay off 14,000 workers. That wasn't in the script.

Donald Trump was not happy that GM's CEO, Mary Barra, was undercutting his plan to bring more jobs to America. He did help out though, by giving her some friendly advice: "They say the Chevy Cruze is not selling well. I say well, then, get a car that is selling well and put it back in." If Barra hadn't thought about focusing on cars that are selling well and dropping those that are not, now she knows what to do. Oh, wait. The plant closures Barra announced were the ones that made the cars that weren't selling well, including the Cruze, the Volt, and the Impala. So much for a businessman-president.

Part of the problem is the tariff on imported steel that Trump levied earlier this year. He did it to help the workers in the companies that make steel, but forgot completely about the much larger number of companies that use steel, like GM. Now that decision is coming back to bite him.

Republicans naturally attacked GM, rather than Trump's tariffs, as the problem. For example, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) said he was "deeply frustrated with General Motors' decision." There may be more disappointment ahead because the closing of five assembly plants is going to have a big effect on the thousands of companies that make the parts the plants assemble, which is sure to lead to more layoffs in the Midwest. Many of the people laid off probably voted for Trump in 2016, since he claimed he was going to help them. They may be a bit more skeptical come 2020. (V)

General Motors Will Slash Jobs and Trump Is Not Happy