PROTECTIONISM VERSUS THE PROTECTION RACKET 

ONCE AGAIN, MY WATCHING ’30s and ’40s GANGSTER FLICKS helps me recognize actions of our Queens Felon.

Protectionism, Its Pros and Cons. Wikipedia defines “protectionism” as the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations.”

“Proponents,” Wikipedia says, “argue that protectionist policies shield the producers, businesses, and workers of the import-competing sector in the country from foreign competitors and raise government revenue.”

By contrast, “Opponents argue that protectionist policies reduce trade, and adversely affect consumers in general (by raising the cost of imported goods) as well as the producers and workers in export sectors, both in the country implementing protectionist policies and in the countries against which the protections are implemented.”

Wikipedia says, “Protectionism has been advocated mainly by parties that hold economic nationalist positions, while economically liberal political parties generally support free trade.”

British Liberal Party poster from around 1905. Image from Wikipedia (which also displays an anti-free-trade postcard with “Getty Images” protection). 

Well, that certainly sums up the subtleties of protectionism.

The Protection Racket, Defined. Wikipedia defines, “A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from violence, robbery, ransacking, arson, vandalism, and other such threats, in exchange for payments at regular intervals…. Protection rackets can vary in terms of their levels of sophistication or organization.”

Or, for that matter, whether outside or within sanction…. To wit, the Queens Felon’s trumped-up protection of universities against D.E.I. His protection of law firms from ideologies contrary to that of the administration’s. And his protection guarding people from the hazards of due process.

International Threats. A variation unknown to gangster flicks is extending the scheme internationally: “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil,” Executive Order, July 30, 2025.

The following are statements gleaned from this document (with a selected news item appended). 

Trump’s Pronouncements, My Italics: “Members of the Government of Brazil are also politically persecuting a former President of Brazil, which is contributing to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Brazil, to politically motivated intimidation in that country, and to human rights abuses.” 

“… conflict with and threaten the policy of the United States to promote free speech and free and fair elections at home and abroad, and violate fundamental human rights.”

“For example, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has abused his judicial authority to target political opponents, shield corrupt allies, and suppress dissent, often in coordination with other Brazilian officials.”

“… jailed individuals without trial for social media posts, opened unprecedented criminal investigations… chill and limit expression in the United States, violate human rights, and undermine the interest that the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies at home and abroad.” 

I am reminded of a much earlier pronouncement about “casting the first stone.”

Tom Phillips reports in The Guardian, July 30, 2025, “Trump Accused of ‘Attack on Brazilian Democracy’ After Sanctioning Bolsaro Trial Judge.” Details are offerred: “Allies of Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have accused Donald Trump of launching ‘a direct attack on Brazilian democracy’ after the US treasury slapped sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge widely credited with helping save Brazilian democracy from a 2022 rightwing coup.”

Hmm… Does this remind you of chaos following our own 2020 presidential election?

Phillips continues, “The highly controversial US move was announced on Wednesday by the secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent, shortly before Trump followed through on a threat to hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs by signing an executive order ‘to deal with the recent policies, practices, and actions by the government of Brazil.’ ”

“Trump,” says Phillips, “has partly attributed those tariffs to his outrage at the supposed political ‘witch-hunt’ against his far-right ally the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula.”

Retribution is certainly an important aspect of old gangster flicks, but I don’t recall their being applied internationally back then. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025