With fears of a possible recession escalating and the stock market experiencing considerable volatility, President Donald Trump and his supporters at Fox News and other right-wing media outlets are urging Americans not to worry.
Trump often says that even if stocks and retirement plans go down temporarily, Americans will thank him in the long run when his tariffs lead to an economic boom in the United States.
But former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele attacked that messaging as painfully tone-deaf during a Saturday morning, April 12 panel on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
READ MORE: ‘Nothing to worry about’: Brutal Fox News parody ‘Foxsplains’ Trump tariffs
The Never Trump conservative told co-hosts Symone Sanders-Townsend and Alicia Menendez and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr, “A lot of these conversations….. (are) among the players, without any real consideration of the people. You have the commerce secretary, (Howard Lutnick) talking about: Oh, my mother-in-law will be fine if she doesn’t get her Social Security payment. Donald Trump telling everybody to basically just shut up and take it. It’ll be OK. I tell you it’ll be OK, it’s going to be OK…. Be cool.”
Steele continued, “It’s a very abusive kind of response to some of the real pain that folks are just beginning to experience.”
Stohr agreed with Steele’s points, interjecting, “First of all, it’s the entire global economy that has been rocked for no reason because the U.S. president is railing against trade policies, most of which he set during his first term…. This is about the president standing up and wanting other countries to come to heel, wanting them to bow down to him like a king — and he can feel like the big man and come after wrecking the economy.”
Stohr also told the panel, “He’s not thinking about the American people at all, which is why his only message is: Be cool and ride this out. Meanwhile, tell that to people who, for example, were planning to retire soon.”
READ MORE: ‘Nothing to worry about’: Brutal Fox News parody ‘Foxsplains’ Trump tariffs
Watch the full video at this link or here.
– YouTubewww.youtube.com
