Save the Steelers

Cut Mason Rudolph and Miles Killebrew

I used to be a loyal Steeler fan. This is like losing one’s religion. This is so bad that I may have to start rooting for the Ravens, the Browns, the Bengals....any team but the Steelers.

This is deja vu all over again. I am beamed back to 1977. Youngstown Ohio was the 5th largest steel producer in the world. Its largest employer Youngstown Sheet and Tube was, in essence, bought out by the Japanese. Not a Japanese comnpany, but Japan the country.

"Black Monday," September 19, 1977, marked the day the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company announced the closure of its Campbell Works, triggering a devastating economic and social impact on the Mahoning Valley. This event is still remembered as a turning point in the decline of the steel industry and the Rust Belt.

Youngstown had been depicted by Life Magazine as "Murdertown USA." But the clolsing of the Campbell Works aggravated and exasperated the situation. It became the unemployment capitol, the depression capitol, the suicide capitol, etc.

Economists say that Trump’s magical thinking about tariffs has cost America 136,000 jobs in manufacturing compared to 2023. It will get worse -- a lot worse.

Meanwhile, extorter in chief Trump made a victory trip to Pittsburgh where he told a crowd at the U.S. Steel plant that he was doubling tariffs on imported steel, making the announcement as he celebrated the multibillion dollar deal between the iconic American steelmaker and the Japanese company Nippon Steel.

"We are going to be imposing a 25% increase. We're going to bring it from 25% to 50% the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States," Trump said. "Nobody's going to get around that."

He described a "planned partnership" and a major win for American manufacturing — even as the details of what's actually in the agreement remain far from clear.

The crowd, oblivious to history, applauded. He later made a number of other appearances.

The one that disturbs me the most is he appeared with some current and former Steelers who awarded him a jersey and declared that Steeler country is Trump country.

As a lifelong Steeler fan, this hurts the most.