“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough did not hold back Monday morning while discussing President Trump’s global tariff plan, which has had calamitous effects on the American economy and stock market over the past week.
With a potential, increasingly likely recession looming large, Scarborough warned, “[The] trickle-down effects [of this] are going to be felt by working Americans who can afford it the least, and they’re being told by billionaires that there’s nothing to see here. They’re being told by millionaire talking heads on other networks, ‘There’s nothing to see here. It’s a war that we had to win.’”
“Let’s be very clear here,” Scarborough continued. “This is a self-induced war that we started, all right? This is voluntary.”
Scarborough’s thoughts were echoed by guest panelist Richard Haass, a former member of the George W. Bush administration, in a separate segment. “This is an economic war of choice. This is not something that had to happen. This is what football players would call an own goal,” Haas said. “The president, I have the quote here, he says, ‘Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.’ The problem [is] the patient wasn’t sick. This is economic malpractice.”
You can watch both of Monday’s “Morning Joe” tariff segments below.
“Even if there’s a degree of economic recovery, someday there will be in the markets, a lot of the damage here will be lasting,” Haas added, predicting a massive hit to America’s reputational health as a result of Trump’s tariffs. “The United States will not again ever have the same reputation. The dollar won’t have the same strength. The rest of the world’s willingness to tolerate American debt will be much diminished. This will have lasting consequences.”
Scarborough, meanwhile, kept his focus fixed on Trump and the Republicans who continue to support the president’s plan. “Any power the president has here has been given by Congress. Congress can take it back if they choose. They probably won’t choose to,” Scarborough noted. “I’m really hoping that, again, there will be a moderating influence on these extreme tariff numbers. But right now, it doesn’t look like any Republicans [are] willing to do that.”
“We’ll see what happens. But here’s the thing: Always remember, if you hear anybody today, tomorrow, next week say, ‘Oh, this had to be done,’ No. That’s not true. That’s double-speak. And if you hear Republicans saying, ‘We can’t do anything about it,’ that’s just a lie. They have the constitutional power to decide,” Scarborough concluded. “You’re not going to see that this week. You may not even see it next week. I just want you to know that, when they’re telling you this has to be done, that’s not true.”
