‘So Staggeringly Dishonest’: Trump Treasury Secretary Stuns With Latest Attempt to Defend Tariffs
Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat down with the president’s daughter-in-law over the weekend for a friendly interview on Fox News. Lara Trump asked Bessent to defend Trump’s tariffs against criticism that they are a tax on Americans, which Bessent dutifully did in a clip that soon went viral for all the wrong reasons.
“They will say that the tariffs are a hidden tax on the consumers here in the country. But give us the reality,” Lara Trump asked, referring to critics of Trump’s tariffs.
“If they’re so bad, and the American consumers are paying them, why do we hear the European companies or the Chinese companies complaining about tariffs if it’s all being borne by the American people? It’s just not happening,” Bessent replied.
The Trump White House shared the clip from its rapid response account on Sunday, sparking a wave of criticism from across the political spectrum.
The Dispatch’s Jonah Goldberg shared the clip and replied, “This is so staggeringly dishonest. Not “wrong,” though it is that too, but dishonest because he knows the truth. Indeed, he often says the point of the tariffs is to get people to stop buying foreign goods. That’s what tariffs are — taxes on Americans who buy foreign goods.”
“That foreign producers are mad that we’re taxing their customers out of buying their products is not shocking nor is it proof that we’re not taxing Americans. He knows this and he is simply lying. That Lara Trump nods along is not shocking, I just don’t care enough about her view to know whether she’s lying or ignorant. But Bessent isn’t ignorant, ergo he’s lying,” Goldberg fumed.
“It’s amazing how little respect Trump and Co. have for the entire right-wing media ecosystem that they’re confident they can pull total lies like this over on their base with zero pushback,” hit back conservative writer Andrew Egger.
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