Joe Scarborough simply cannot believe that President Donald Trump is openly shrugging at the economic damage being done to the U.S. by his tariff policy.
Monday’s edition of Morning Joe saw Scarborough discuss the president’s lack of concern over the spiraling cost of goods in the wake of his trade war, after he recently suggested that children should “make do” with fewer toys after imposing a 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports.
Scarborough, a former House Republican, said: “What is remarkable and what we have not heard other presidents say is, uhh, maybe we’ll go into recession. Maybe your kids need to get by with less at Christmas, maybe you need to get by with less.”
Referring to a previous chat with The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, Scarborough said: “The one thing Goldberg said while he’s in the White House, he said, you can see it in his eyes. You can read it, like, he believes in tariffs. He’s believed in tariffs since 1987, he’s moving forward with tariffs.”
He added: “I’ve never heard any president say that ever, which may also lead to what you’ve heard from inside the White House, what I’ve heard from inside the White House and what he said yesterday. He’s not running again, he’s not running in 2028, so he’s willing to play this out, and if there’s some short-term pain, he’s fine with it.”
During a Cabinet meeting last week, Trump said China “made a trillion dollars with Biden, selling us stuff. Much of it we don’t need.”
He then brushed off concerns from retail CEOs that his policies will lead to empty shelves in toy stores and said: “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.”
“We don’t have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don’t need, for junk that we don’t need,” he added.
Scarborough reacted to the president’s comments with disbelief.
“It is absolutely fascinating,” he said. “They’ve been very straightforward. The president’s been very straightforward, saying you may have to get by with less, yeah, maybe we’ll have a recession. We’ll see how that plays out on the campaign. Elon Musk said we’re going to have to go through a rough time, there’s going to be—I’m sure he didn’t realize that he was going to lose $125 billion to $150 billion, personally going through that rough time. But this is something they’ve all predicted.”
He added: “Scott Bessent said something that suggests that maybe Scott Bessent doesn’t have his, like, you know, you know, finger on the pulse, fingers on the pulse of America when he said, cheap consumer goods is not a God-given right.
“Mr. Bessent, it may not be, Secretary Bessent, but the American people think it is. So we’re coming to a time where there is going to be a real test if shelves are empty.”
The U.S. imports around 80 percent of its toys from China, leading economic experts to warn of a “War on Christmas” this year as the price of children’s gifts is set to skyrocket.
NBC News claimed “the entire industry will face higher costs due to worldwide shipping container shortages as production in China for all products slows down.”
