What My Mother in Paint Rock Knew About Donald Trump

OPINION — My mother, Mary Jim Patton Currie, was born on March 27, 1917. She died on December 20, 2011, at the age of 94.

It’s amazing how much I still talk to her and how much she still talks to me through my memory of her actions and sayings.

When Trump announced his tariff policy, I thought of two of my mother’s sayings:

"I hate dumbness."

and

"You have to live in the real world."

When I was growing up in Paint Rock, Texas (approximately 230 pop. In 2025), Mother told me that Paint Rock once had a population of over 1,000. I looked it up and found that the population was 1,000 in 1930. She told me it once had two car dealerships (Ford and Chevy), a lumber yard, and – when she was a child – even a movie theater where it cost a nickel to watch a movie.

Even when I was a child in the 1950's, it had a wool warehouse and feed store. Before school, I would ride my bike to Oleta's Cafe to read the baseball box scores in the San Angelo Standard Times, because the paper was delivered there. Uncle Floy owned a Red and White Grocery Store in the 1950's, and I'd ride with Uncle Bill as he delivered milk from his cows.

Of course, Mother, Aunt Ruby, Aunt Bernice, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Lois didn't work outside the home, because one salary ($350 a month at the bank for Dad) was enough to support a family.

So, when Trump announced his tariff policy, I thought of Paint Rock, where I still ranch. I consider Trump’s tariff policies the equivalent of Congressman August Pfluger (the Pflugers and Curries are both Concho County families) hosting a town hall meeting and announcing he is introducing legislation that will guarantee the return to Paint Rock of a car dealership and a lumber yard. It’s not going to happen.

It’s like a politician promising in 1930 to save the wagon wheel manufacturing and repair business. Henry Ford took care of that. That ship sailed.

Or like promising to revive the print media and shut down online news sites like San Angelo Live. That horse has left the barn.

Progress, in the forms of transportation and technology, ended many businesses in small towns. Schools consolidated, and many small communities died with those schools. It’s much cheaper to drive to San Angelo for groceries, shopping, making large purchases, and on and on.

Advancements in transportation and technology have disrupted life in small towns just like robots and AI have changed manufacturing in America and around the world, and you can’t bring it back. We live in a global economy. Tariffs disrupt everything and will result in two realities: rising costs for everything we buy and the return of high inflation. It’s common sense.

As Mary Jim would say, “You have to live in the real world.” She would also tell you she lived through the Great Depression that was partly caused by tariffs.

To my mind, however, what Trump is doing actually has nothing to do with our economy or creating jobs. It’s about power – his power. He wants all countries, leaders, industries, and institutions to bow down to his all-consuming power and influence. That is why he is attacking universities, media, law firms, judges, and on and on. Close your eyes, bow your head, and kneel before the Great One. It’s what an insecure narcissist does to seek adoration.

Finally, Trump has a worldview that is one-sided and unethical. Every transaction must have a winner and a loser. His limited mind and morals can’t understand win/win situations.

Let me explain.

I buy and develop lots of land in the Wall ISD. It’s been a successful business model for me. But I also look for a win/win in all transactions. I'll pay a farmer more for his land than another farmer if I can still build the road and infrastructure, make a profit, and get a good deal. That is a win for both of us.

Trump is trying to base economic and foreign policy on winning at all costs no matter whom it hurts. The real world doesn’t work that way – can’t afford to work that way – except for authoritarian leaders who do not believe in democracy. So you can trade the freedom of Ukraine as long as you get profit and power from the deal for yourself. Right and wrong isn’t even a consideration. Morality and empathy are not realistic considerations.

Mary Jim didn’t live to see a Trump presidency, but I can hear her now: “I hate dumbness.”

David R. Currie is a retired Baptist minister, local rancher and small business owner.  He is a former chair of the Tom Green County Democratic Party.