The American political circus continues.
Today, President Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, lashed out at Amazon. The reason? Amazon was considering showing customers how much Trump’s own tariffs have made goods more expensive. This prompted Leavitt to call the initiative a “hostile and political action,” exclaiming:
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?”
It’s almost like being back in Zimbabwe in 2007, where central bank chief Gideon Gono threatened shops if they raised prices in line with costs.
The parallels are striking – Leavitt, much like Gono, seems determined to shoot the messenger rather than address the underlying economic reality. Gono blamed shopkeepers; Leavitt blames Amazon. Different continents, same playbook.
Products disappeared in Zimbabwe, shelves stood empty, but the authorities just kept insisting that the price was wrong – not the policy. One wonders if Leavitt has been studying Gono’s press conferences for inspiration.
And here we stand in 2025, where Republicans during the campaign spent countless hours calling Kamala Harris both a socialist and a communist.
But as they say: “The pot calling the kettle black.”
For who is it really that’s behaving like a state-controlling price control fanatic? It’s Trump, with Leavitt as his Gono-esque spokesperson, pointing fingers at retailers instead of policies.
Threats against private companies, state intervention in the market, attempts to hide the real costs from consumers. This isn’t classic capitalism – it’s socialism disguised as patriotism.
And it probably won’t be long before JD Vance – whom Trump himself has appointed as “tariff czar” – starts running around Walmart and Costco threatening store managers to lower prices, completing the transformation to America’s very own Gideon Gono.
PS: Gideon Gono has, by the way, written an unintentionally hilarious book titled “Zimbabwe’s Casino Economy: Extraordinary Measures for Extraordinary Challenges” – perhaps future required reading for the White House press office?
