Remember the phrase that became a rallying cry of the American Revolution, “Taxation without representation!”

Well it should come as no surprise that we have done a full circle after nearly 250 years to where we are now experiencing the same phenomenon. Trump’s unilaterally imposed tariffs are actually taxes on each of us. How does this work?

Well it has been endlessly documented so here is a simple description according to the Tax Foundation glossary:

Tariffs are paid when a good or services is imported into a country. If a car manufacturer imports engines that are then used in vehicles, then tariffs on those imported engines will increase the production cost and the cost to the consumer. The costs of tariffs result in higher burdens on international trade which can harm production.

Many businesses have supply chains that cross multiple borders, and each border that is crossed could result in higher costs due to tariffs.

While tariffs are often described as a tax on foreign businesses and do place an economic burden on foreign exporters, the costs are often borne by consumers in the country that is imposing them. Tariffs directly increase the cost of domestic sales by artificially increasing the price on imports.

So the Con Who Would Be King sits in his oval throne room and says, “I want Canada. They won’t agree, therefore I will tariff them. That will show them.” Of course, when the Canadians stopped laughing, they imposed their own tariff’s on American goods. But for them things work out differently. They simply took the American goods off shelves and Canadians happily just stopped buying them.

The net result is just higher costs for us and that’s the actual tax, with Trump all the while claiming he is winning. Meanwhile no one had a say in the matter since the tariffs were imposed wholly by caveat.

But of course that isn’t the end of it. Trump sees any counter to his actions as an attack that he has to attack back against. This means if Canada or Mexico or the EU set a retaliatory tariff, Trump will view that as something he has to respond to. This is the scenario of the schoolyard bully throwing a punch at a kid on the playground. But the kid is quick and ducks the punch and responds right away with one of his own. The bully will shout to the heavens, “He hit me! I’m gonna get him.” To the mind of the bully—or the Trump—no consequences are allowed to exist. Only he can cause something, nobody else. Of course that’s insane. Duh.

America’s new revolt against these “taxes” is already well under way. But instead of tossing tea into Boston Harbor, the first spontaneous step in this one is tossing Tesla’s stock under the bus. And it is just getting started. One note on social media today opined that if Tesla’s stock dropped down tp $114, Musk would be subject to margin calls which could destroy his fortunes entirely. Not sure if this is accurate or not, but it sounds like a good short-term goal. Theoretically this would hamstring the operations of DOGE and even potentially force co-president Musk out of the picture.

Then, Trump would have to get his own tiny hands, his staff and his congressional lackeys involved directly in executing these intensely unpopular cuts to government programs and the government itself. Musk seems only too happy to chain saw away since his wealth makes him seem immune to the consequences—at least in his own drug-addled mind.

Even Trump can see the danger of the winds churning around Musk’s house of cards. He lamely tried to respond to the on-going Tesla protests by calling them illegal. Well, even King George had to consult Parliament to get a law passed to declare a class of actions illegal. Congress is of course expressly forbidden from infringing on the right of free speech and the right to protest by the First Amendment. The fact that Trump hates the First Amendment comes under the heading of too bad—no matter how many media operations wimp out rather than stand their ground.

The Tesla Tea Party is well under way now and there’s no stopping it. Since Tesla’s board has been silent on the matter of their company’s impending collapse things are going to get interesting. Their only hope is to somehow separate the Tesla brand from Elon and they given no hint of interest in doing so.

Meanwhile, back at the tariff’s, Trump has managed to steer the robust and roaring economy that was handed to him straight toward the rocks of recession or worse. The nasty underlying fact is that many of his billionaire golf buddies would be happy for him to cause one. With their bloated cash holdings they are poised to snatch up distressed properties and businesses at fire-sale prices no matter how many lives are harmed. After all, its only business, right.

Tesla is just the first step in America’s new revolution against Trump’s covert taxation of Americans. Who is next?