He gets away with it because a lot of right-wing elites _love_ the idea of taxing consumption rather than income (or, heaven forbid, wealth).
Additionally, Trump, Hassett, etc are still blaming Biden for inflation caused by the tariffs... and a lot of their base would rather believe that than admit that they got suckered by an obvious scam.
Trump, Hassett, etc are still blaming Biden for inflation caused by the tariffs
I'm starting to see this backfire with a lot of "personal responsibility" type old-school republicans to whom I talk. They're getting fed up with the administration just blanket blaming anything bad on Biden. Whether that will translate to actual political change, I do not know. But I found it interesting that I'm hearing the frustration more lately.
Your average American has a 6th to 8th grade reading level. Takes a 12th grade reading level to understand jury instructions. It should come as no surprise that these people literally believed anything he said.
We need to move on from the idea that tens of millions of voters have the ability to critically think. The evidence shows they cannot. They believe whatever they feel is truth and vote their vibes accordingly.
The average reading level of American parents of young children is 7th or 8th grade.
About one in every four Americans (25 percent) is a high school dropout.
About half (45 percent) have gone to college for some period of time, but fewer than one in six (15 percent) have a college degree.
Nearly 50 percent of the Americans surveyed cannot read well enough to find a single piece of information in a short publication, nor can they make low-level inferences based on what they read.
Oh, FFS. You're conflating capability with inclination. Trump supporters are not unintelligent; they have made a choice (conscious or not) to indulge their fears and hubris over making an informed decision. "They believe whatever they feel is truth and vote their vibes accordingly," is correct, but they act this way not because they're incapable of thinking critically, but because they allow a milieu of entitlement, fear, righteous indignation, and misplaced hope to drive them towards easy answers. "Why?" is complex, but it's still unacceptable, regardless.
I have a problem with "Trump voters are idiots" because it lets them off the hook. They need to be held accountable, helped where their grievances are real, and pushed to reconcile their feelings with the facts.
you're assuming media gives a lick about doing more than soundbites. The actual affect will be at best, 2 weeks after this is implemented, but probably 2 months while they actually figure out what legal means they can to infer which packages they can safely claim are foreign, along with actual foreign pharmacies giving 2 shits about todays shipping.
Various pharmacies in Canada will accept a US prescription and send you the medication via mail, usually at far cheaper than what you would pay for the same in the US.
If only it were so simple. Many of CBP's policies are clearly defined by U.S. Congress (most recent example, which actually establishes CBP: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/644/...). That said, Congress appears to have ceded their oversight role by allowing these rules to change without comment.
There's nothing in the CBP rule that prohibits importing prescriptions, although there will no longer be a duty exemption for them. The rule is about suspending the 'de minimis' exemption for shipments valued under $800...
I flagged this and wanted to explain my reasoning.
At the time of writing, the article states something that its own link doesn't support (i.e. it is inaccurate). CBP hasn't "suspended all personal prescription importation." What they've done is removed De Minimis Exemption (i.e. duty free below $800), and that's it. Meaning you can still important personal medication before and after Oct 22nd, what has changed is that now it is subject to normal duty.
Do I think this is bad for people importing personal medication? Absolutely I do, and I oppose it. However, I don't think misstating the argument is constructive nor warranted. You could make the argument using the facts on the ground, and then re-state that in the thread title.
So the story is worthy of discussion, and interesting (even the personal medication POV). But this link and this title aren't "it." Hopefully we can get a higher quality source and title on this topic.
Did another pharma CEO forget a gold ingot at the white house again?
On the contrary, this blocks you from bypassing big pharma.
Better link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/24/2026-12...
It truly boggles the mind how Trump managed to sell tariffs as anything other than a tax on American consumers
You underestimate the stupidity of his supporters.
Many such cases!
He gets away with it because a lot of right-wing elites _love_ the idea of taxing consumption rather than income (or, heaven forbid, wealth).
Additionally, Trump, Hassett, etc are still blaming Biden for inflation caused by the tariffs... and a lot of their base would rather believe that than admit that they got suckered by an obvious scam.
I'm starting to see this backfire with a lot of "personal responsibility" type old-school republicans to whom I talk. They're getting fed up with the administration just blanket blaming anything bad on Biden. Whether that will translate to actual political change, I do not know. But I found it interesting that I'm hearing the frustration more lately.
Your average American has a 6th to 8th grade reading level. Takes a 12th grade reading level to understand jury instructions. It should come as no surprise that these people literally believed anything he said.
We need to move on from the idea that tens of millions of voters have the ability to critically think. The evidence shows they cannot. They believe whatever they feel is truth and vote their vibes accordingly.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/york-fed-economists-confirm-a...
https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/02/who-is...
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/optimal-t...
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/who-pays-...
Source?
Keyword search: “reading level jury instructions”
https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025-liter... (“54% of U.S. adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level”)
Assessing the Readability of Capital Pattern Jury Instructions Assessing - https://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1207&contex... (2013)
"Plain English" Jury Instructions: Why They’re Still Needed And What The Appellate Community Can Do To Help - https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/plain-eng... (2004)
Oh, FFS. You're conflating capability with inclination. Trump supporters are not unintelligent; they have made a choice (conscious or not) to indulge their fears and hubris over making an informed decision. "They believe whatever they feel is truth and vote their vibes accordingly," is correct, but they act this way not because they're incapable of thinking critically, but because they allow a milieu of entitlement, fear, righteous indignation, and misplaced hope to drive them towards easy answers. "Why?" is complex, but it's still unacceptable, regardless.
I have a problem with "Trump voters are idiots" because it lets them off the hook. They need to be held accountable, helped where their grievances are real, and pushed to reconcile their feelings with the facts.
goes into effect 12 days before a midterm election that is already starting to look like a blue tsunami.
It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.
you're assuming media gives a lick about doing more than soundbites. The actual affect will be at best, 2 weeks after this is implemented, but probably 2 months while they actually figure out what legal means they can to infer which packages they can safely claim are foreign, along with actual foreign pharmacies giving 2 shits about todays shipping.
Never interrupt your enemy when they are busy making a mistake.
What does this actually mean?
The people in charge betting they only need to count the "red" ballots this time?
Means you can no longer legally buy far cheaper prescription medicines from Canada, Mexico, India, China etc and ship them to the US.
Their own primer on the topic: https://www.personalimportation.org/understand-the-issue
Various pharmacies in Canada will accept a US prescription and send you the medication via mail, usually at far cheaper than what you would pay for the same in the US.
This prevents it.
Is this even in CBP's wheelhouse or is this another egregious overreach?
this is their thing, yeah.
the C in CBP, "Customs", is specifically this kind of stuff.
If only it were so simple. Many of CBP's policies are clearly defined by U.S. Congress (most recent example, which actually establishes CBP: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/644/...). That said, Congress appears to have ceded their oversight role by allowing these rules to change without comment.
There's nothing in the CBP rule that prohibits importing prescriptions, although there will no longer be a duty exemption for them. The rule is about suspending the 'de minimis' exemption for shipments valued under $800...
I flagged this and wanted to explain my reasoning.
At the time of writing, the article states something that its own link doesn't support (i.e. it is inaccurate). CBP hasn't "suspended all personal prescription importation." What they've done is removed De Minimis Exemption (i.e. duty free below $800), and that's it. Meaning you can still important personal medication before and after Oct 22nd, what has changed is that now it is subject to normal duty.
Do I think this is bad for people importing personal medication? Absolutely I do, and I oppose it. However, I don't think misstating the argument is constructive nor warranted. You could make the argument using the facts on the ground, and then re-state that in the thread title.
So the story is worthy of discussion, and interesting (even the personal medication POV). But this link and this title aren't "it." Hopefully we can get a higher quality source and title on this topic.