For months I heard ad infinitum about the poor, failing economy. America needed new leadership to turn things around. Now, on the cusp of the inauguration, the priorities have suddenly changed. Of utmost importance is: the flag at half-mast, the renaming of Mount Denali, seizing the Panama Canal, buying Greenland, making Canada the fifty-first state, and mandating the existence of two sexes. What happened to the economy?

Of course, the massive deportation of immigrants is festering in the background. I suspect some rational folk have calculated the cost and the consequences of the issue. Farmers, ranchers, and the service industries are wondering who will pick the strawberries in California, the lettuce in Arizona, the apples in Washington, or the citrus in Florida. Hotels are wondering who will do the daily housekeeping, tend to the grounds, and mow lawns. Who will man the kitchens, bus the tables, wash the dishes? The sermon has turned to “selective deportation” because the farmers and service industries need immigrants, and “selective importation” because Musk needs to import engineers. So much for that campaign promise.

The other agenda item that has paled is tariffs. Thirty-nine years ago, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, his economics teacher(Ben Stein) railed, “Tariffs did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression.” Tariffs and mass deportation make for the classic double-edged sword. US produce rots in the fields without workers, and 90% of the produce America imports from Mexico is taxed with tariffs. Sure, gas may cost five cents a gallon less–a mere dollar a tankful, but we’ll pay $10 for a head of lettuce. What will happen to the economy?

Forty-nine per cent of America saw through the smoke and mirrors, the blustering, the outrageous lies of PT Barnum; sadly 49.5% of his faithful believed. My seat belt is fastened in anticipation of a most interesting ride.