Local opinion: After three months of chaos and retribution, how do you like Trump now?

He declared bankruptcy six times at his casinos, leaving billions of dollars of debt on the table for someone else to pay. It’s never his fault, remember. That was then, this is now. So, of course, beyond any uncertainty, he knows what he is doing today with this tariff thing, right? He’s got some sort of a plan, right? He wouldn’t lie to us, right? Bankrupting a casino is hard, like bankrupting a Coca-Cola bottling plant or a liquor distributor in America. How many of them have you seen go bust?

His supporters say they don’t like his morals or much of the silly stuff he says. But they claim he’s a great businessman and successful beyond their imagination: Trump, the geriatric guy with the golden bowling trophies splayed on the Oval Office fireplace mantel. This foppish TV character is taking us and our economy down Primrose Path for a new beginning filled with his brand of joy, happiness, and disastrous consequences. We are all on a slow boat to China as he rocks and rolls the economy into a full-blown recession. Yet, he promises that greatness is just around the corner. After all, he is a great leader, an amazingly reliant, and resilient businessman — not to mention a scratch golfer, right? Wow, let the good times roll.

So, stop worrying about your 401K, he’s not. The markets will come back, OK, maybe not for a while. Meanwhile, prices will come down at the grocery store sometime. Yeah, Trump said that would happen on day one of his presidency. Oops. Well, it could occur after the car companies finish building all those new factories across the country with robots over the next five to ten years. Robots don’t need health insurance or paid vacations. AI is the future of car manufacturing, not jobs, and workers from his UAW allies.

So, it’s all in his game, “Trump’s Fantasy Follies.” Every American has a front-row seat guaranteed to get splattered by his feckless leadership. The consequences are staggering. His tariffs have already cost Americans trillions, the most significant working-class tax increase in American history.

And President Donald Trump is an extortionist, extorting the countries of the world with global tariff sanctions. He is acting like a mob boss, shaking down and beating up Main Street business owners, demanding money for protection. Watch Trump grow more dangerous as the nation and the world hold force against him as his flawed tariff scheme categorically fails. The economy will worsen, trade wars will become prolific, and retaliation from around the globe will emerge as a US recession looms large by summer. People will slow their spending; less income equals less expenditure, slows the economy. When not spending, there will be less hiring and rising inflation. This is dangerous stuff. Trump is at war with the entire world, friend or foe, rich or poor, except for his buddy, Vlad Putin, and Russia, where Trump spared his “friend” tariffs. Wonder why?

The bottom line is that Trump pathetically does not understand fundamental economics, especially when he can’t claim bankruptcy after his business decision failures. And then there is this. “The Donald” cannot be told that he is wrong. Oh, my God, no. Yet, he is dead wrong with his tariff strategy. It’s all about his glory, his money, properties, wives, houses, golf course country clubs, golden trophies, and the claim to be chosen by God to lead.

So, what if he is wrong about all this? In less than three months in office, Trump has acted with erratic, arbitrary executive power that has never been experienced in American annals. He has disregarded court orders and bypassed Congress to crush opposition to his agenda. Republicans on Capitol Hill are hostage to the outcome, fearing his dogmatic wrath over Trump’s unprecedented political coup and economic demolition strategy.

Trump campaigned on a promise to be a “dictator on day one” and wage retribution against his political enemies. He told us, “I am your warrior; I am your justice.” Adding “For those who have been wronged and betrayed…I am your retribution.” Americans are getting what he promised.

How do you like me now? — Donald J. Trump.