Ex-Trump Aide Hammers Trump Over ‘Embrace’ Of ‘Democrat Policy’
Former Trump White House official Marc Short hammered President Donald Trump over his “embrace” of what he called an old “Democrat policy,” mocking the president’s assessment of tariffs and “emergencies.”
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this Wednesday in a case challenging Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs based on the invocation of emergency powers.
On Monday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper asked Short and Arshi Siddiqui to weigh in on the issue, and Short outright roasted the president’s views on tariffs and so-called emergencies:
TAPPER: On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to take on whether or not the tariffs are constitutional, given the fact that it says in the Constitution that Congress is supposed to be doing them. Here’s what President Trump said when asked about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens to your economic plan if the Supreme Court invalidates your tariffs?
TRUMP: I think our country will be immeasurably hurt. I think our economy will go to hell. I think it’s the most important subject discussed by the Supreme Court in 100 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I don’t know about that, but it is a pretty big case. Key Republicans, including your former boss, former Vice President Mike Pence, have split with President Trump on the tariff policy. What — what do you think is going to happen?
SHORT: Well, too few have split with him on this, honestly. I mean, this is a protectionist Democrat policy for many years the President has embraced. And the reality is he says America would turn to a third world country– for 249 years of our republic. No president has used this authority. So I don’t know if that means we’ve been a third world country for 249 years.
And the reality is when you’re saying that under IEPA, you have the authority to blanket tariffs anywhere. I mean, does that include that you’re now saying that if Canada runs ads with Ronald Reagan, that’s a national emergency?
TAPPER: I guess.
SHORT: Does that include these national emergencies? And so, and — and is it because you don’t like they’re prosecuting Bolsonaro in Brazil? We’re basically using any umbrella here. And of course, that’s never what our founders intended. This — this authority belongs to Congress.
TAPPER: Arshi?
ARSHI SIDDIQUI: Well, Marc, I mean, I think Democrats will join with Republicans. And we’ve seen this in the Senate. So I think there is a real opportunity for Republicans to really take a stand here because American families are paying the price. And so we saw some of that in the Senate. But certainly you could even see, you know, health care isn’t going to work in the shutdown negotiation. I mean, there are other issues on affordability that can.
Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.
