The Morning Rant

"America First" isn't just a tag line. It distills a very simple idea that has been lost for a very long time. In fact, it is best seen as a warning to the gaggle of politicians and pundits whose every waking hour is consumed by the notion of a new world order that supersedes the normal human condition of nationalism and patriotism.

Put simply, "America First" is the entirely unremarkable idea that the function of the American government is to protect and defend the interests of the American people, American culture and society, and the American economy.

There is no addendum or subsection that requires American blood and treasure to be spent on any other country, unless it furthers the interests of America.Our alliances must be of benefit to America, or they should be discarded. And most of all, The conduct of America should be entirely self-governed, without any subservience to outside interests. The United Nations, the World Health Organization, NATO, the EU, OPEC, and a host of other international organizations constantly seek to force American subservience to their rules and mandates. Even sovereign countries try to hold America and Americans to their laws. The UK recently beclowned itself (even more than usual) by announcing that they will prosecute Americans for violations of the UK's draconian on-line hate speech laws.

And here we have a particularly egregious violation of our sovereignty by the EU, which has a bug up its pompous, superior, elitist ass when it comes to big bad American corporations being better and more efficient than European companies.

From Brasília to Brussels: Trump Should Broaden His 301 Offensive.

Earlier this year, iRobot, the company that made the Roomba, filed for bankruptcy and was sold off to a Chinese supplier. The cause was a decision made in Brussels, three years ago, to block Amazon’s rescue offer. Thusly, an American company was regulated out of existence by a foreign bureaucracy. A Chinese competitor inherited the spoils, which is a fair summary of how the European Union’s (EU) so-called consumer protections work in the real world.

iRobot is no isolated case. The EU has built an entire regulatory architecture for precisely this purpose, with two pieces of legislation: the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), marketed as consumer protection but functioning as industrial policy directed at firms headquartered in the United States.

In fact, five of the seven companies Brussels has designated as “gatekeepers” under the DMA are American. European competitors, on the other hand, are usually spared, and Chinese firms face notably lighter compliance pressure. It’s hardly an accident.

The EU and its mandarins are content to be overtaken by China, invaded by 3rd world Muslim hordes, and bought out by Gulf oil money. But competing with America and Americans? That is a bridge too far.

Europe is probably too far gone, but the Western Hemisphere is not, and an American-led regulatory structure that rewards innovation and hard work, and allows market forces to operate, will create the foundation for the economies on our side of the oceans to dominate.

The triad of Marco Rubio at State, Howard Lutnick at Commerce, and Scott Bessent at Treasury, understands this very well, and they should expand their pressure on our hemispheric partners to change the paradigm of the zero-sum economic game that the EU insists upon playing.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

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