What should I do if I lose money in stock market investments? Trump's advisers say that if you don't sell stocks, you won't lose money.

What should I do if I lose my job? Treasury Secretary Bessent said laid off federal employees can now go into factories and take jobs created by the tariffs.

For Americans in the "Tariff Era", life became full of dark humor.

Tariffs make people tired, anxious, and fearful, but they also make people excited and restless. In record time, “tariffs” have ceased to mean any real-world economic policy for right-wingers and become yet another source of free-floating psychosexual dysfunction, says one red-state blogger.

But the cost of tariffs cannot be ignored, and many people are not even sure whether they can pay workers tomorrow. Some people are starting to prepare to close factories, some are looking for new suppliers, and some are simply giving up the import business and turning to the local market. It's not that they didn't make plans, but that the plans simply can't keep up with the changes in Trump's policies.

After dropping the bombshell about the new tariff policy, he turned around and went to Florida to participate in the LIV Golf Championship. A few days later, he also posted a video of playing golf on Truth Social.

Although Democrats are trying to make a fuss out of public dissatisfaction, it is clear that they underestimated Trump's resilience in dealing with criticism. Over the years, Trump has proven with his actions that he doesn’t care what others say. The only thing that matters is whether he can do what he wants.

Trump may have the answer to where this tariff war will take Americans, but he doesn't care at all.

01 Crazy, crazy

"Is he crazy?" "Does he know what he is doing?" Many Americans expressed similar anger online.

Although Trump has done many jaw-dropping things in the more than two months since he took office, throwing this "nuclear weapon" that detonated global trade still caught many people off guard.

Fearing higher costs of living, many people’s knee-jerk reaction was panic buying, with people rushing to grocery stores, car dealerships, malls and big-box discount chains the weekend after the tariffs were announced to try to get ahead of the new tariffs.

Sally Santos, 28, said she stocked up on necessities — water, soap, mouthwash — at a Costco Wholesale store in a coastal community in Los Angeles County.

iPhone has also sparked panic buying. An Apple store employee told the media that the store's traffic is now the same as it was during the holiday shopping season, with many customers lining up to ask about future price increases.

Apple was the first to feel the chill of tariffs. Indian media reported that in late March, in response to tariffs, Apple arranged five planes loaded with iPhones to be shipped to the United States within three days to stabilize future price fluctuations.

In addition, American families are also very sensitive about toys. 77% of toys in the United States are produced in China. In addition, the profit margin of toys is very thin, and there is almost no room for bargaining. For many practitioners, high tariffs "only lead to death." A toy store owner told the media that he had spent $400,000 to stock up on inventory, and once it was sold out, he might have to close down. The founder of Underdog Games also said on X that Trump's tariffs will make small toy companies unable to recover, and most of them will not survive this year.

In other areas, price increases have become an established fact. Although Trump's auto tariffs do not directly target used cars, data from the car purchase website CarGurus shows that the prices of used cars of almost every brand have risen in the past 30 days. One commentator pointed out that "this is a perfect example of how tariffs can increase the prices of other goods that are not directly taxed."

A florist wrote on Reddit that most of her flowers are imported from abroad, 30% of which are from Canada. Although she has tried to purchase from local farmers as much as possible and adjusted the price of hosting weddings, the business prospects are still uncertain. In order to reduce the risk, she even began to try to grow flowers herself, but the results were not good.

Under the post, some people suggested that she raise prices and constantly test the upper limit of prices that consumers can accept, and said that "the longer you delay the price increase, the more painful the consequences will be." However, this also caused controversy. After all, consumers do not want to bear this pressure.

In a vicious circle, allowing businesses and consumers to argue about price boundaries may become the norm in the future.

Even more serious are the factory owners who are about to be crushed by tariffs. The owner of a small manufacturing company did not know what to do because he received a high tax bill from DHL Express. They recently ordered aluminum parts worth $3,380 from China. The goods entered the United States on March 31st, but they were required to pay $2,483.21 in "import taxes" or the goods would be returned to China.

This tax price sounds crazy, but by looking up the tax number, you will find that these fees are all "justified" - first, a new tariff of 25% is imposed on all goods from China; second, a separate tariff of 25% is imposed on aluminum products starting from March 12th; third, an additional tariff of 20% is imposed on goods imported from China, which took effect on March 5th; and finally, a basic tariff of 2.5% is imposed on other aluminum parts.

There are many people who have encountered similar situations, and some factory owners' business lines are almost on the verge of bankruptcy. In the comment section, many people sarcastically said, "You should just make it yourself, and hire a non-existent workforce in a factory that was demolished 40 years ago."

02 Trump's Manly Tariffs

There are also MAGA factions that turned against the tariffs.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who swiped "Trump" hundreds of times on his X during last year's election, recently announced that he has become a Democrat and attached a rainbow flag emoticon. His transformation is closely related to the word "tariff".

Shortly after Trump announced the tariff increase, Nintendo suspended pre-sales of Nintendo Switch 2 in the United States, which directly affected GameStop's sales. But this is just the beginning. The cost pressure brought by tariffs will surely further impact the entire gaming industry. He mocked that he "can't wait" to buy a "US-made iPhone priced at $10,000."

There are many businessmen like him who go back on their word.

As early as 2016, Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, cheered for Trump and said that he "didn't care whether Trump was a racist or a sexist." But when the new tariff policy caused him to lose $7 million in stock and cryptocurrency investments, he suddenly woke up and said that he really didn't understand Trump.

Of course, for MAGA, who have not yet experienced it firsthand, these remarks are tantamount to treason. In the comment section, many people shouted at him to shut up and said that people should be more patient and that Trump has his own plan.

"Short-term pain, long-term glory" is the declaration of Trump's supporters today. Many people firmly believe that tariffs will bring "a fair competitive environment" back to the United States.

As for the impact that tariffs will have on ordinary people's lives, they simply said: "Just buy American products."

Ignorance of basic common sense has become a language symptom of the Trump era. But this is not the only symptom. Because Trump's new tariff policy is not only a set of economic policies, nor is it just an international game strategy, but has evolved into a set of carefully designed cultural weapons.

Recently, on a Fox show, columnist Bhatia Ungar-Sargon bluntly stated that tariffs may be the key to saving the United States' "masculinity crisis." She even called Trump's tariffs "Trump's manly tariffs."

She mentioned that the overseas outsourcing of manual labor jobs has made many American men feel lost in purpose and self-worth, and Trump, through these tough policies, caters to their desire to "restore their strength." This also explains why so many young boys are willing to vote for him.

But the desire for a tough stance has also spawned resentment over traditional gender norms.

On X, a MAGA supporter, in an extremely frivolous tone, compared tariffs with a randomly captured Tiktok girl dancing video, saying that he would rather vote for tariffs than for them. Someone with similar interests took the opportunity to joke, "I never thought that such a dream girl would not bring Harris victory."

From this we can see that support for Trump’s tariffs is also an emotional response to changes in modern society, and implies an anxiety to “strike first.”

However, the question is, can such a "tough" policy alone really solve the sense of loss, or will it only exacerbate social divisions? The answer is obvious.

03 Trump’s Political Psychology

To this day, Trump is still working to include more goods in the tariff war. On April 8th, he announced that the next tariff target would be imported medicines. At the same time, he also announced that the tariffs on China would be increased to 104%.

For many people, this is like a nightmare that will never end. But at the moment, apart from playing crazy memes online and following Trump's "madness", there seems to be no other way to vent.

Trump has only been in office for more than two months, and no one knows what the next four years will mean for the United States and the entire international community. Fear comes from great uncertainty.

"It's impossible to even develop a response plan because there's no telling which 'if' will happen, or when it will happen, if it ever happens," wrote Canadian author Nathan Moon.

In recent days, whenever Moon looked at the map and found the United States so close, and saw Fort Bragg (the largest military base of the U.S. Army) so close to where he was, he felt uncomfortable, as if he was on the edge of the empire.

To this day, many people are still trying to understand Trump's logic and why his loyal supporters are not afraid of what is happening around them.

The rise of Trump has ushered in a new phase in the political psychology research on the behavior of national leaders.

Even though many studies have pointed out that he has narcissistic personality disorder, any attempt to understand him is just scratching the surface.

On April 9th, Trump delivered a speech in Washington. Facing the controversy, he said with his usual disdain, "Let me tell you. These countries called me and kissed my ass. They are eager to make a (trade) agreement."

Then he began to imitate that particularly humble tone, saying sarcastically: "Please sir, let me make a deal, I will do anything, I will do anything, sir."

Many Americans may have become numb. After all, Trump has repeatedly used shocking words to prove that national leaders can be so "unruly."

But for many people who are still adapting to new trends in the United States, it takes time to digest these words and prepare for the chain reactions that may follow.

No matter how power in the international system changes, the United States is a powerful country. No matter how "grassroots" Trump's leadership style is, others have to accept it, and the chaotic game has just begun.

No matter how the "normal" changes under Trump, it is not the core of this story. What really matters is how ordinary people continue to live and find their own direction in such a situation.