James Carville Torches ‘Power Mad’ Trump Over ‘Ego’-Driven Tariffs: ‘There’s No Policy Behind It’
Democratic strategist James Carville chalked up President Donald Trump’s trade policy to his “ego playing itself out in public,” insisting it’s more about personal control than any actual substantive concerns.
Wednesday marks what Trump has repeatedly referred to as Liberation Day, as he plans to impose steep tariffs on imports from countries that he argues have been unfair to the United States. He’s also accused Mexico and Canada of allowing migrants and drugs to freely flow across their borders. Trump’s tariffs have led to some uncertainty in the stock market as countries have threatened retaliatory actions.
Carville joined Ari Melber on MSNBC’s The Beat this week, where he praised Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) for his marathon Senate floor speech and predicted Democrats will prove “how in touch” they are with voters between now and 2028.
Carville noted that there has even been conservative pushback on Trump’s tariffs, citing criticism from The Wall Street Journal.
“I think voters are getting very, very apprehensive about this. No one can figure these tariffs out. When The Wall Street Journal editorial page, as you and I know and everybody who watches this thing knows, they’re some of the most conservative people in the country,” Carville said.
Melber asked if the tariffs simply equate to “taxes on working class people,” and Carville argued Trump is more interested in holding power over other world leaders.
“He loves having foreign people call and say, ‘Hey, can you exempt, you know, Finnish steel from these tariffs’ or whatever it is, and it’s all just a play. There’s no policy behind it. It’s just his ego playing itself out in public,” Carville said.
Check out the exchange below:
JAMES CARVILLE: I think voters are getting very, very apprehensive about this. No one can figure these tariffs out. When The Wall Street Journal editorial page, as you and I know and everybody who watches this thing knows, they’re some of the most conservative people in the country.
ARI MELBER: I mean, are they tariffs or are they just taxes on working people?
CARVILLE: They’re just Trump going power mad. He gets in there and he figures, I don’t have to get approval from Congress, I don’t need to bring it to the cabinet, I can just do this. And so the the idea that he can just do something on his own unilaterally has great appeal to him. And then, of course, everybody’s got to call him to get — because you can exempt people. And so he likes getting you up. He loves having foreign people call and say, hey, can you exempt, you know, Finnish steel from these tariffs or whatever it is, and it’s all just a play. There’s no policy behind it. It’s just his ego playing itself out in public, and it’s going to hurt a ton of people that you can’t imagine.
Watch above via MSNBC.
