Trump ‘Just Loves This Shit’: Senior White House Advisors Tell CNN Tariff Trade War Is Like ‘Air For Him’

CNN anchor Dana Bash spoke with White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny on Friday about some of his latest reporting on the mood inside the White House.

“You and our colleagues at the White House have been doing, of course, another day, another round of really great reporting,” Bash began, adding:

And in this new story, you talk about speaking to senior White House advisors about how Trump is feeling right now. One in particular said the following, said, quote, ‘He just loves this shit.’ That’s a quote. ‘Talking deals with the most powerful people in the world when he’s got all the cards and leverage is like air for him.’

I mean ‘air for him,’ but certainly I’m not sure if air is– or maybe it’s more the gasping for oxygen that a lot of consumers are feeling and Americans are feeling right now.

“Without a doubt. And that is one of the challenges and one of the things that if you talk to economists, you talk to Republicans who really want this administration to succeed, they wonder at the end of this week, what is the president thinking?” Zeleny replied, adding:

What is he doing? What does this self-inflicted wounds actually lead to? But that story, as you mentioned, really indicates the team of economic rivals that are guiding the president on this.
We’ve seen it play out in real time all week long. I think when we look back at this week we will see that the bookend of the people you see on your screen there. Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary, he clearly was warning the president to find an off-ramp on this. Peter Navarro clearly was wanting the President to hold firm.

But we’re not at the end of the trade negotiations or tariff negotiations. We’re at the beginning of a brand-new chapter. That 90-day pause means until July 8th. So circle that date on your calendar, all the advice from these advisors and others, who the president listens to between now and then will certainly play a key role going forward and how this all works out.

Watch the clip above via CNN.