rationalization

In a second story from the BBC about Trump’s tariff regime, his supporters shared similar rationalizations and motivations, like this from A 71-year-old woman from Michigan who supports Trump:

It is, in effect, a plan for the rationalization of the American social and political order based on an unwavering faith in modern technology and AI to eliminate inefficiency and waste.

Taken together, these various Trumpian hot takes weren’t serious rationalizations; they were desperate attempts to throw rhetorical spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks.

Most everyone has, at one point or another, tied themselves in rationalization knots to avoid uttering the phrase, "I was wrong."

The truth is that Trump’s rationalizations don’t stand up to scrutiny.