Expressing a contradiction can present plain ignorance or cognitive impairment. It may well additionally recommend a speculation or idea that explains the contradiction away. Take into account a present instance.
On the one hand, President Donald Trump argued that he could be a idiot to not settle for from a overseas autocrat the present of a $400-million airplane (“Republicans Increase Issues Over Trump’s Airplane Present as He Heads to Qatar,” Wall Road Journal, up to date Might 14, 2025):
“Solely a FOOL wouldn’t settle for this present on behalf of our Nation,” Trump wrote on his social-media platform. … Throughout an interview with the Fox Information host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night time, Trump known as the proposed present “an exquisite gesture” and disparaged critics as “silly.”
Alternatively, Trump denies the American residents’ freedom to import items produced in China, one motive being that their manufacturing is deemed sponsored by the Chinese language state. He unilaterally levied very excessive and sometimes prohibitive tariffs on these items (he later backed off, however excessive tariffs stay). One instance that Mr. Trump used is dolls, each in his first time period and extra lately (“Donald Trump’s ‘Marie Antoinette Second’: Name for Nationwide Sacrifice Falls Flat,” Monetary Instances, Might 4, 2025), declaring:
“Perhaps the youngsters could have two dolls as an alternative of 30 dolls … and possibly the 2 dolls will price a few bucks greater than they might usually.”
Chinese language electrical vehicles supply an identical instance. Now very aggressive with Teslas, these vehicles had gained a 50% market share of EVs within the European Union earlier than new import tariffs there lowered it to 30% (“Chinese language Carmakers Reset European Ambitions as EU Tariffs Chew,” Monetary Instances, April 28, 2025). The Seagull produced by BYD needs to be out there within the UK for £18,000 afterward this yr, which incorporates obligatory security upgrades and a ten% tariff (plus the VAT of 20%, a gross sales tax imposed on all vehicles bought within the nation, home or overseas). Have been it not for the prohibitive tariffs and non-tariff obstacles within the US, the Seagull would price $24,000 right here (on the present change fee). With out obstacles from a authorities that “owns the shop,” many strange Individuals could be probably . Maybe solely a (non-rich) idiot wouldn’t.
BYD is a non-public firm listed in Hong Kong. In 2023, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned an 8% share. It’s sponsored by the Chinese language state’s industrial coverage, solely extra interventionist than what the Bidens and the Trumps are keen on. (“How China’s BYD Performed Catch-Up with Tesla,” Monetary Instances, July 6, 2022.)
There’s a persuasive ethical argument, apart from a authorized obligation, towards buying stolen items. It presumably doesn’t apply to items sponsored by taxpayers. If it did, there may be numerous items that one couldn’t buy, even in a single’s personal nation. Within the case of dolls and different items produced by small firms or one-man companies in China, manufacturing subsidies are probably not out there.
As for the argument that overseas authorities subsidies generate “unfair commerce,” you will need to perceive that free commerce stays environment friendly—even assuming the importer will get no subsidy from his personal authorities. For a bunch of people (say, a “nation”), free commerce, like financial freedom typically, means their freedom to commerce if they’ll discover a purchaser prepared to pay their worth or if they’ll discover a vendor whose worth they settle for. In a free society, every particular person or personal group decides what to purchase and from whom. That some opponents might be disenchanted isn’t any extra a legitimate objection than the statement that every shopper who buys one thing implies that one other shopper is outbid. On this view, Individuals needs to be free, with out particular taxes known as tariffs or prohibitive tariffs or non-tariff obstacles, to import items from China even when they’re sponsored by the hapless Chinese language taxpayer. To talk like Mr. Trump, solely a idiot wouldn’t settle for an vehicle partly gifted by Chinese language taxpayers. (See additionally my put up “Taking Comparative Benefit Critically”.)
A rustic the place public officers might settle for and even chase probably corrupting items from overseas autocrats, however the place personal people couldn’t settle for items by commerce, seems to be like a free society the other way up.
How then can we clarify the contradiction voiced by Mr. Trump? Ignorance or cognitive deficit can supply explanations amongst others. A compulsive liar is certain to be mired in contradictions as a result of he doesn’t bear in mind his earlier lies and doesn’t care concerning the fact anyway. Or maybe, like Molière’s Mr. Jourdain was doing prose with out figuring out it, Mr. Trump adheres to solipsism—the philosophy that just one’s personal self exists. One other chance within the current case is the implicit or generally express pretense of populism: the chief embodies “the folks,” and any present to him is a present to the folks.
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A bit contradiction to be defined
