President Trump, who never gets tired of wrapping himself around an American flag and extolling his supporters as Great Americans, told reporters at the White House on May 21 that the more than 330,000 U.S. companies seeking import refunds are run by people who in many cases hate our country and are unpatriotic.
Why? Because after the Supreme Court declared Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariff regime illegal, these companies began filing for refunds on the whopping $166 billion in import taxes they had paid between April 2025, when Trump announced the tariffs, and February 2026, when the Supreme Court declared them illegal. Being forced to give anyone money back or admitting doing something illegal evidently infuriates Trump.
In each instance, these American companies followed the law; they paid the taxes when they were imposed last year, and they are now asking for refunds after taxes were declared illegal this year. Based on the court’s decision, the only person who broke the law and acted unpatriotically was Trump himself by imposing the illegal tariffs in the first place.
Contrast this with Trump’s most recent “patriotic” initiative. This is his $1.776 billion (a number clearly chosen for its patriotic symbolism going back to the year of our country’s founding) “anti-weaponization” fund. The fund is designed to pay huge sums of money to millions of Americans who allegedly have been targeted by the government for “improper and unlawful” actions. None of the monies would be subject to public scrutiny or congressional oversight, making it a slush fund for Trump.
Do you really think that this fund is designed to compensate immigrants and Americans illegally detained or killed by ICE, or incarcerated felons later proven innocent, or peaceful protestors teargassed and beaten by federal agents? Or, do you believe the fund is undoubtedly designed to compensate the Proud Boys and Trump’s other foot soldiers whom he has already pardoned for desecrating the Capitol on January 6, 2021, along with his political cronies who have broken the law to advance Trump’s agenda?
Clearly, this fund would squander American taxpayer dollars to reward people who are loyal to Trump, to bribe people into offering such loyalty, and to suggest that breaking the law actually could be profitable. Moreover, the agreement in setting up the fund reportedly would bar the IRS from auditing the Trumps or their family business forever for any misconduct preceding the agreement.
As such, Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is not a patriotic endeavor and has nothing to do with loving our country. Rather, it is an extraordinary act of public corruption and money grab from a man who has spent a large part of his second term padding his pockets, as well as those of his family and close cronies, with foreign, public, and private funds.
Ray Ahearn lives in Holyoke.