The Idiot-In-Chief’s Guide to Burning Down an Empire

There are moments when politics stops being mere governance and becomes a full-blown systemic risk. Donald Trump’s second term is now at that tipping point: each new incident becomes a longer fuse, another barrel of gasoline, the perfect excuse to torch the global economy — and the very principles that hold the world together.

On Friday, May 23, the president was back at it again. Using his platform, Truth Social, he issued a new ultimatum about iPhone manufacturing: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!” Wall Street reacted with losses of over 1%, and Apple shed more than 3.5% at market opening.

Anyone remotely familiar with Apple’s supply chain knows that the idea of building an iPhone entirely in the United States is about as realistic as assembling an Airbus in your garage. The logistical complexity, the web of suppliers and labor costs would make it economic suicide. I laid this out in April, breaking down the impossibility of shifting production without doubling or even tripling the final price. This isn’t hyperbole: some analysts estimate that a U.S.-made iPhone would cost over $3,000. Trump’s “solution” is so absurd, dumb and simplistic it would achieve a singular result: making the so-called “patriotic smartphone” unaffordable and unwanted by anyone in their right mind.

Why there will be no such thing as a “patriotic” iPhone

The idea of manufacturing iPhones in the United States, a notion promoted by Donald Trump and often framed as a…

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Trade wars make us all poorer, as anyone watching their portfolio these days can attest. Apple’s slump is just one symptom of a broader, reckless tariff escalation: in the same post, Trump threatened a 50% tariff on all imports from the European Union. The result? Panic in the markets, and investors like you, me, watching our pensions shrink in real time. This isn’t just perception: former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen already called Trump’s protectionist crusade “the worst self-inflicted wound by any administration.”

As if that weren’t enough, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill pours more gasoline on America’s economy and social fabric. The numbers speak for themselves: the Congressional Budget Office and the CRFB think tank estimate the bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt and spike the 2027 deficit by nearly 35%. To fund $3.8 trillion in tax cuts — mostly benefiting the wealthiest — Trump’s plan would slash $522 billion in clean energy subsidies, stall credits for EVs and hike household energy bills by more than $270 a year. And that’s on top of gutting $698 billion from Medicaid and $267 billion from SNAP, siphoning resources from the bottom 10% of earners to the top 10%. If the “patriotic iPhone” was ridiculous, this budgetary behemoth, built on little more than impulsive whims, is outright pyromaniacal: sacrificing innovation, public health, and fiscal stability for a populist tax agenda.

But Trump isn’t content with just torching the economy — he’s also taking aim at the foundations of higher education. Since April, the White House has threatened Harvard with losing its certification to enroll international students and demanded the university hand over student data within 72 hours. The final blow came when the Department of Homeland Security formally revoked that ability, forcing thousands of young people to leave the country or transfer elsewhere.

The judiciary responded swiftly: a federal judge blocked the move, denouncing it as arbitrary and retaliatory. Meanwhile, Beijing, Berlin, the UK, Spain, and nearly every academic ally of the United States watch in disbelief as the country that once boasted of “academic freedom” shoots itself in the foot — gutting a priceless asset: diversity. This isn’t just a buzzword, and I know that well from experience: at IE University, fewer than 10% of my students are Spanish (and often not even that). The rest come from every continent, giving us one of the highest diversity scores of all universities in the world. That mix of perspectives fuels rich debate, innovation, and borderless entrepreneurship — I can witness it every day. Stripping visas from foreign students is like ripping the heart out of an ecosystem worth far more than the $2.6 billion in federal funding frozen for Harvard.

The Idiot-in-Chief’s vendetta extends beyond Cambridge, Massachusetts. Columbia has already caved to several demands after losing $400 million in federal aid. The message to any brilliant student or researcher in Munich, São Paulo, or Bangalore is painfully clear: “America doesn’t want you.” And once talent stops arriving, the United States won’t just lose its scientific edge — it may never regain it. We should start considering the possibility that American global leadership is gone for good.

Let’s add it up: tariffs that jack up prices on tech flagships, retaliation against one of the world’s most decorated academic institutions, a stock market that panics every time the president wakes up with another “gut feeling” or unverified opinion — as I noted in my analysis of the “patriotic iPhone.” Who wins? Perhaps only the president’s ego, his businesses, his corrupt cronies, and a handful of lobbyists with executive-order protection. Who loses? Consumers, companies, students, researchers — and ultimately, America’s reputation as a reliable partner.

When you hand a pyromaniac the keys to the fire station, don’t expect him to put out fires. He’ll light bigger ones. If Trump’s first term strained globalization, his second seems set on shattering it — while basking in the flames. His decisions, erratic, egocentric and divorced from any evidence, risk leaving us all poorer — and less free.

It’s worth remembering this every time a tariff is sold as a silver bullet or a student expulsion is disguised as “national security.” Economic and academic realities are stubborn things — and setting them ablaze leaves only ashes. The world has far better things to do with its money and talent than helping burn down an empire.

(En español, aquí)

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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