In his well-received speech before a joint congressional session broadcast nationwide in March 2025, President Donald Trump said he had brought about “the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country”— and all in the first 43 days of his administration.

But, crashing the world’s largest economy and leaning into a potential worldwide economic collapse, so like the contributory factors of the 1930s, is only “the greatest” if reckless, thoughtless damage is considered successful policy.

And if undermining trust in the stability of the United States and its embrace of the rule of law, the loss of its global trust among the free nations, and its role as leader of the free world for the past 80-plus years were anything but damning to his claim.

That claim, that boast before Congress, was already undermined by Trump’s erratic, revenge-inspired presidency, and did not need nor benefit from what was to come with his war against America by the expansion into trade wars that still threaten to disassemble the fragile peace among powerful nations, and their economies.

It did not have to happen. This debacle, the Trump folly trade wars against our friends and allies, was, and is, an entirely self-inflicted wound on our nation. By the time Trump blinked and stopped the expanding crisis he alone had created, the signs of disaster were all around. Consumer confidence has reached a 12-year low, layoffs had already begun in the auto industry, the stock market sell-off had cost everyday Americans significant chunks of their savings, government layoffs in crucial services and skills had eroded public services.

And then came the rest of the story… the bond market panic that threatened to let the genie out of the bottle with no possible return happened suddenly and yet with expectation, given all the surrounding indicators of Trump’s epic policy failure.

U.S. bonds have been a “safe haven” for investors worldwide who were concerned with their national markets or the broader international economic concerns of a particular moment in time. U.S. bonds have been the chicken soup for concerned investors everywhere. 

But this Monday, some of the largest and most trusted buyers and holders of U.S. bonds, trusted friends like Japan, began selling and selling, divesting themselves of these long-trusted U.S. investments.

That finally convinced president Trump that ignoring the obvious failure of his tariff fantasy for even a few more days was about to destroy our economy. And then he blinked and retreated with his 90-day pause.

Unfortunately, the crisis is not over; it has only been averted for the moment. There will be long-term, sustained damage to the country in the form of a loss of confidence in the previously rock-solid U.S. bonds and, equally likely, in the U.S. dollar. Moreover, given the erratic nature of Trump, his under-utilized use of fact-based knowledge, and his impulsivity, the 90-day pause will leave all nations to contemplate that t his president may still wreck our economy and those of other nations in the days ahead.

The indicators are still reminders of the danger of Mr. Trump. Consider, for example, that we are still levying 25 percent tariffs on our most favored trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Just last week, Trump said of our Canadian neighbors, “they cheat,” yet another evidence-free attack on a country that has been our best friend for over two centuries.

Mr. Trump’s supporters will praise his “wisdom” in this brief retreat from insanity. They will call it the Art of the Deal. It is not. 

This is an example instead of the folly of a man driven by hatred and power.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.