So today’s shocker on Drudge and CNBC is that Mr. Trump says he’ll force Apple to produce in the U.S.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump warned that he would force Apple, the U.S.’s most profitable company, to manufacture all of its products in the U.S. if he is elected president in November 2016.  Technology blog Gizmodo reports that during a speech at Liberty University in Virginia late Monday, the front runner for the GOP ticket said, “We’re going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries.”

So three quick thoughts on this.  First, people tell me that this is just another one of his “Art of the Deal” negotiation strategies; he knows what he is saying is preposterous, but its the first salvo in the negotiation to get something more closely that he wants.  I was told the same thing recently on his threat to kill the families of terrorists.  Could be true, but not sure this is a helpful approach for a future president to take.  In fact, I’m quite certain its not.  Stick to real estate with this approach.

Second, before people get too wild on “The Donald,” he is only overtly and boisterously doing what Mr. Obama and other politicians routinely do:  threaten businesses with regulation or other punishments if they don’t do what the political class wants them to do–really a sort of soft fascism.  I encourage a reading of Peter Schweitzer’s book Extortion for just a short and easy read summary of some ways this works.  Mr. Trump is only being very overt about what others routinely do.

Third, Mr. Trump does not believe in free trade and free markets, which is my primary economic reason for hoping we get better.  This is not just philosophical or ideological for me–globalization and extending the market through free trade is the primary reason we have lifted one billion people out of extreme poverty since 1990, and why even the IMF believes we may be able to end extreme poverty in our generation.  Mr. Trump would roll that back, for the “good ole USA.”  His comments about China are populist to the core, and don’t reflect the reality that China is an economy that is extremely imbalanced, with their bubble crashing.  The last thing we want is for China to be able to blame us for the implosion that they have brought on themselves for their credit binge.  We have our own problems and ought to get them in order, and China’s currency position has almost nothing to do with that.  But it is good press, so Mr. Trump says it anyway.

So at a time when Mr. Cruz asserts conservatives are rallying to him, we have another bombshell from Mr. Trump to get the press back covering him.  Perhaps one day Mr. Trump will learn the difference between visibility and exposure.*  But unfortunately not today.

* Visibility good, exposure bad.  Visibility is when you get press coverage over something good you say or do.  Exposure is when you get press coverage for saying or doing something ridiculous or scandalous.