The claim above is

> Almost all the comments acting like this is some truth bombshell, like people in trumpistan all thought raising tariffs magically made the us economy better. This is a straw man, no?

This is a person who is deeply involved in the mechanics of writing legislation supported by GOP legislators. I do not believe that she is uniquely dumb amongst right wingers who have access to the levers of power.

would explaining that Tarrifs are supposed to create comparative competition rather than get other countries pay fees dramatically change her world view?

I do not see why it would.

I agree - she would adopt the stronger position.

I have no idea what you are saying.

Are you saying that my aunt would suddenly change her mind about the nature of the Trump tariffs to understand that they achieve a totally different outcome than she thinks over a totally different time frame?

She already thinks that Trump has saved american manufacturing and that the deficit problem is gone. Why would she change that opinion?

My understanding is that if she was corrected to the proper understanding of Tariffs, she would not change her support of the tariff. Therefore debunking what "dumb people think" is still pointless. Because they aren't really advocating for a particular policy, they are advocating for a direction which is well represented by a whole family of policies - in particular the strong form.

I still don't understand how this relates.

But whatever this is, it seems irrelevant. The original post said that the description of somebody like my aunt was a strawman. It is not.