What did Donald Trump do today?

He publicly rebuked his own staff who were trying to make his proposed tariffs sound less disastrous.

Trump's immediate post-election announcement of a renewed, expanded trade war against the United States' three biggest trading partners drew immediate criticism from exactly the voters who had just put him back in office. The obvious inflationary impact that a sudden tax added onto the goods paid for by American consumers would have has not gone unnoticed, and led to stories of "buyer's remorse" from an electorate that seems to understand that Trump was lying (or deeply confused) when he said that other countries would pay those costs.

In an apparent effort to soften the political fallout from what would be, in effect, a massive sales tax increase, Trump aides went to the Washington Post with a different story. They claimed that Trump had no intention of doing what he'd said he would do—25% tariffs across the board—but instead would target them only at "certain sectors deemed critical to national or economic security."

In other words, according to the unnamed "people familiar with the matter," Trump's actual plans would be much less drastic, if somewhat short of his campaign rhetoric.

Within hours, Trump went on his private social media network to refute the entire basis of the story. 

The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don't exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it's wrong. It's just another example of Fake News.

 
What exactly Trump knows about what is happening inside his own administration is mostly a function of what his staff chooses to tell him. There is a long history of aides reshaping his desired policy without Trump knowing or caring what they're doing, only to have him erupt in fury while at the same time claiming that the supposed sources are made up.

Why does this matter?

• If your own hand-picked loyalists are trying to sabotage your plan, that's a very strong sign that it's a terrible plan.

• Stories are not "fake news" just because they make Donald Trump look bad.