The legacy news headlines are excoriating Trump’s proposed tariffs. One wonders whether they will attribute equally-weighted praise to Trump when his resolute bargaining posture benefits America. Actually, there's no need to wonder -- they won’t, but at least there are more non-traditional media seats now in the White House Press Room.

In an impromptu pow-wow with the media at Andrews AFB this past Sunday, President Trump telegraphed there may be some tariff-inflicted “pain” on American businesses and consumers as he insists that America must get a fair deal from our biggest trading partners -- China, Mexico, and Canada.

Moreover, they must be proactive in stopping illegal aliens from crossing their borders into our sovereign territory, and they must clamp down on cartels and fentanyl distribution syndicates. There’s still a lot of deal-making to consummate, but preliminary evidence is that the pain is dulled, and, at least so far, is worth the price.

In fact, as cooler heads prevail, the “price is right.” Stock market indexes and crypto markets were plummeting in early Monday action, then a funny thing happened -- President Trump had a bit of a chat with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. Details remain sketchy at this early hour, but the upshot seems to be that Sheinbaum is appropriately yielding towards the superior leader of a superior country.

I mean honestly, this is something to rejoice and celebrate: Sheinbaum agreed to immediately send 10,000 soldiers to Mexico’s border to thwart drug trafficking. “Immediately” -- you gotta love it. Obviously, it should never have deteriorated this much; nevertheless, the supposed “pain” may wilt as fast as Sheinbaum’s initial obstinacy. Maybe she recognizes there’s a “new tariff in town,” to borrow a pertinent phrase.

Markets have other worries this week as a preponderance of S&P companies report their earnings. They will continue to fluctuate, but the panicky downward spiral (gleefully reported by the MSM with “told ya so…” type headlines) is gradually reversing as asset indexes have, at a minimum, stabilized.

The “Art of the Deal” is beautifully basic, and magnificently congruent with human nature; perhaps that’s why the methodology works so well. President Trump is resolute, but also quite reasonable and flexible. As the negative financial press and MSM fearmongers had their Trump tariff tantrums, markets presented the opportunity to buy low, then sell high. But you had to move quickly -- the markets recovered and then some by early afternoon Monday. That’s largely thanks to President Trump’s ability to demand high, then potentially accepting somewhat less -- if the overall momentum is favorable toward America.

Image: Gage Skidmore