‘We are not kidding’: CNN’s Dana Bash needles Trump over penguins embroiled in trade war
CNN's Dana Bash on Thursday mocked President Donald Trump for leveling tariffs against an island that are inhabited solely by penguins.
"No one is safe from President Trump's new tariffs, not even penguins," she said. "A remote island near Antarctica that is home to mainly penguins, no humans, is now subject to a 10 percent American tariff. This is not a joke. We are not kidding. These penguins, who do not trade goods or services with the United States as far as we know, are on the receiving end of a new tax."
Bash said that there were serious questions, however, raised by Trump's decision to launch a trade war against a penguin island.
"In addition to it just being ridiculous, there is the question of how did this even happen?" she wondered.
Trump's tariffs actually included two places, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, that are Australian territories near Antarctica and have no human inhabitants.
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NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith said that the inclusion of the penguin island in the tariff package was an indication that "essentially, this was put together very quickly even though Donald Trump has been talking about this very thing for years."
Conservative panelist Jonah Goldberg argued that the slapdash nature of the tariff rollout would spell big political trouble for Trump going forward.
"We heard [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick, just before the show, came on saying... 'Trust Donald Trump to run the global economy,'" he said. "And there are lots of people, small businesses. they're going to go out of business. There are small businesses that are going to suffer. There are lots of consumers who are going to have to pay more at the grocery store. And we're supposed to trust them to run the global economy, and they're taxing penguins. And it goes to the credibility of the administration."
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‘Indescribably crazy’: Trump heads to golf tournament after ‘blowing up’ world trade
Declaring a “national emergency that threatens our security and our very way of life,” President Donald Trump, after markets closed on Wednesday afternoon, announced sweeping tariffs on nearly every nation across the globe—tanking stock market futures in the U.S. and abroad, unleashing global “chaos,” and pushing the so-called “fear index” to “extreme.”
Hours after what he dubbed “Liberation Day,” the president, on Thursday afternoon, will land at Miami International Airport and head straight to his Trump National Doral Golf Club for the LIV dinner, ahead of this weekend’s golf tournament which he is expected to attend.
As global leaders prepare to make contact with President Trump to stave off what may become a “global trade war,” he will not be in the Oval Office, but in Florida—likely hitting the greens for the remainder of the week, something he himself accused federal workers of doing back in February. (At the same time, the House of Representatives has shut down, stalled by internal Republican divisions.)
Some critics are blasting Trump’s decision to head to his golf club during this “national emergency,” which he has a long history of doing.
And as Thursday morning unfolded, CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter posted a screenshot of CNBC’s coverage of the “global selloff.”
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Business media company Morning Brew offered this graphic of how the stock markets are reacting.
Economists and economic experts are stunned by Trump’s massive tariffs, deemed “worse than the worst case scenario,” according to multiple financial experts.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, who spent decades in finance and financial journalism, criticized Trump tariffs.
“Folks who were unhappy with the economy did NOT vote for tariffs. They voted for Trump’s promise to lower inflation. His choice of action – tariff implementation will INCREASE inflation,” she noted.
And calling it “another large step toward a new old era of trade protectionism,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board blasted “Trump’s New Protectionist Age.”
“Blowing up the world trading system has consequences that the President isn’t advertising,” they warned, adding they could result in “shrinking world trade and slower growth, recession, or worse.”
They also declared that “Trump’s tariffs look ‘reciprocal’ in name only,” which brings up the question of how and why Trump imposed these tariffs.
“Economists and U.S. trade partners are raising questions about how the White House calculated the tariff rates it claimed other countries ‘charge’ the United States,” CNBC reports.
Meanwhile, economist Justin Wolfers explained why he says Trump’s thinking on tariffs is “bananas,” and “indescribably crazy.”
“Take a simple example,” offered Dr. Wolfers, a public policy scholar and professor of economics. “I run a trade deficit with Trader Joe’s buying their meals, while they buy none of mine. My trade deficit as a share of my imports is 100%. By Trump’s trade logic, this deficit is evidence they’re imposing 100% tariffs on the meals I try to sell them.”
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“The White House ‘reciprocal’ tariff bears no relation to actual tariff barriers,” he adds. “It’s equal to half of the trade deficit (as a share of imports). This is indescribably crazy.”
Pointing to the “calculations” from the U.S. Trade Representative, Wolfers adds, “Obviously this is nonsense. Even crazier is that they’ve written what they think is a defense of this. I know not everyone speaks economist algebra, so lemme translate: This is muddled nonsense.”
Others, too, have criticized Trump’s method and calculations.
“Trump’s tariff chart was ‘illogical and absurd,’ full of ‘factually incorrect’ numbers about what other countries charge the U.S.,” tech analyst Dan Ives “of Wedbush Securities wrote to clients this morning,” Stelter also reported.
“Trump doesn’t seem to mind the optics of Trump abandoning the White House to skip town early for his golf club after setting the world ablaze with the tariff announcements,” MeidasTouch News writes.GOP senator snaps at ‘mistaken’ Trump as Todd Blanche turmoil heats up
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) fired back at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying opposition to his IRS tax settlement runs far deeper than just two senators.
At 11:15 AM, Trump wrote on Truth Social that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was "a STAR" with the potential to be "one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."
He blamed Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — "both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action" — for blocking the confirmation.
Just seven minutes after Trump backed down, Cornyn rubbed salt in the wound by responding to Trump on X.
"POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis," Cornyn wrote on X.
The standoff forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrap a scheduled Thursday vote on Blanche's nomination, a setback for one of Trump's top Cabinet picks, MS NOW reported.
"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote on Truth Social, threatening to pull the nomination entirely and resubmit it once both senators leave office.
Earlier Wednesday, before Trump's post, Cornyn and Tillis had told Politico that someone inside the White House — not Trump himself — was blocking a deal.
"I don't know who it is — I'm just trying to get them out of the way so we can get the president his AG," Tillis said.
"If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but, apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House," Cornyn said, adding that he did not know who was responsible. "I don't know who, but it doesn't need to be this hard."
"Why don't you call over the DOJ and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for," Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon, as negotiations with the Department of Justice dragged on, MS NOW reported.
"What I've advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we're not prepared to vote yes yet," Tillis said Wednesday night, confirming neither senator had moved.
