Nick

Trade lawyer

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 I said “the most powerful industrial economy the world had ever seen.” Fact check: true. Sure is some coincidence that it happened behind a tariff wall of 40%, especially if you think tariffs are highly injurious to industry

[Nick @badvalorem]

It’s funny to warn Republicans against “parroting the GOP’s 1880 platform.” When Republicans were the pro-tariff party, roughly between 1860 and 1932, Republicans won 14 of 19 presidential elections and controlled both houses of Congress during 64% of that span.

Whatever you think about the current administration’s policies, the voting public absolutely supported tariffs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the Republicans accordingly built a 40% tariff wall. Republican presidents attributed America’s unbelievable prosperity to those tariffs. Here’s Calvin Coolidge, who I’m told libertarians admire:

[𝙱𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚗 𝚁𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚢 🗽🇺🇸 @FreeTradeBryan]

💯 from @davidharsanyi "Republican 'elites,' says the president of the Heritage Foundation, 'still lash out any time a conservative refuses to parrot the party’s 1980 or 2000 platform.' Well, it beats parroting the GOP’s 1880 platform. It is certainly better than parroting the three failed presidential runs of Roberts’s hero and the paleo patron saint of paleoconservatism, Pat Buchanan."

[Nick @badvalorem]

@MBaurov U.S. manufacturing labor productivity is substantially higher than both China and Vietnam. Look it up. They compete on lower labor costs, we compete on more value added per worker.

[Nick @badvalorem]

You’ve offered a new goalpost in basically every post you’ve made. First we weren’t the leading industrial producer until WWII, then WWI, then it was per capita vs absolute, then it was Teddy Roosevelt’s progressivism, now it’s immigration and lack of environmental regulation. You’re all over the place. Read more about the period and decide what you believe

[Nick @badvalorem]

While I agree that the competitive challenges for the US today are different than in the past, your point about 19th century labor costs is not accurate. US labor cost was significantly higher than both the UK and Germany. Check out the work of Robert Allen. The American advantage, then as now, was higher productivity, not lower wages.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 Yeah American industrial production was in the doldrums until the progressives raised income taxes. I wish you knew how foolish you sound

[Nick @badvalorem]

Corruption was actually the single most important voting issue according to multiple exit polls. Although the 2025 tariffs were a drag on Republicans and are opposed by a majority, the Iran War and the resulting energy price increase were a more important election issue and had a larger impact on cost of living than tariffs. The tariffs remain popular with a clear majority of Republicans.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@S1AL Thanks very much.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 We became the largest industrial producer in the world per capita somewhere between 1900 and 1910. Anything else?

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 The US became the largest industrial producer in the world in about 1890.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 I think you should drop your commentary on the subject because you’re embarrassing yourself

[Nick @badvalorem]

@S1AL Would love quotes if you have them.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@JonDavidson7111 And the most powerful industrial economy the world had ever seen, but who's counting

[Nick @badvalorem]

So when they voted for him it wasn't because of the tariffs but when they voted against him it absolutely was because of the tariffs? Very persuasive. You should try just accepting that this is a live political issue and the public is persuadable on both sides and this will continue for multiple election cycles. Best of luck.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@BadWILaws Why do you think the vote in 2016 and 2024 didn’t settle the issue but the vote in 2026 did? It couldn’t have anything to do with supporting your preferred policy, could it?

[Nick @badvalorem]

@BadWILaws Yeah, I can’t remember the last time when Republicans voted for a pro-tariff platform. Must have been ages ago.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@DaneFreshie There’s no shame in being maniacally focused on a single topic, only in being wrong

[Nick @badvalorem]

@Charles_Benoit I can’t double quote tweet if I’m already replying to something, but yes, credit to you for the Coolidge quote.

[Nick @badvalorem]

@WaywardRabbler Great Britain’s disastrous commitment to free trade all the way down to total deindustrialization is the most effective warning possible

[Nick @badvalorem]

@SaysSimonson Wait till you find out what I had for dinner

[Nick @badvalorem]

Ancient Rome was like mid-period Dead Can Dance

[apollo @apollophanes]

Ancient Roman music is the most unsettling shit I’ve ever heard in my life