Donald Trump’s tariffs are potentially “politically catastrophic” for the president, journalist Chuck Todd said on Mediaite’s “Press Club” podcast in an interview released Saturday — especially if he continues “rattling constituencies” who will vote based on the outcome.
After Todd was asked if he’s checked his own stock portfolio this week, he joked, “I’m over 50, I’m having to look at it every hour.”
“No, I mean, and that’s this, that’s the dirty little, you know what I took his biggest political problem, is that when you’re of a certain age, you start looking at this every day,” he continued more seriously. “You know, this whole, ‘well people don’t look at the stock market every day,’ Yeah, but the people who are most likely to vote in midterms, they do.”
“They pay attention to if the Social Security office is taking their phone calls. Like, he is rattling constituencies that are the ones that are most likely to show up to vote,” Todd continued. “Right? So it’s just one of those, you’re like, this is why this could be politically catastrophic.”
On Saturday the Trump Administration announced smartphones, computers, semiconductors, and other electronics will be exempted from tariffs on Chinese imports. The exemptions were detailed in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday and effective globally for 90 days.
The New York Times wrote the same day that Apple CEO Tim Cook’s ties to Trump “helped Apple win exemptions on tariffs for its iPhones, smartwatches and laptops.” The announcement followed another made on Wednesday when Trump said there will be a 90-day pause on tariffs that are negotiating new deals with the US.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
