Fox Business anchor Charles Payne fumed that the mainstream media was focusing too much attention on the economic “pain” that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs could inflict on average Americans, calling the coverage “mind boggling” and that “we need to rethink all of this.”
With global markets spiraling after the president unleashed across-the-board 10 percent tariffs on all imports, along with so-called “reciprocal” tariffs that appear to be based on “made-up” numbers, the administration and its MAGA media loyalists spent Thursday morning furiously defending Trump’s trade policy — which economists and business leaders fear will spark a global recession.
Following JD Vance’s softball interview with Fox & Friends in which the vice president insisted there was blue-collar “enthusiasm” for Trump’s tariffs, Payne appeared on the president’s favorite morning talk show to double down on the wisdom of setting off a global trade war.
“First thing they talked about, Charles — the number one issue — and that is tariffs,” Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said, referencing the Vance interview. “And one of the things that Lawrence [Jones] was asking about was the pain on the average American, and JD Vance said it can't be fixed overnight. Ultimately, costs will probably go up; there will be some pain. But the big question is, do people get the idea that this is for the greater good?”
Saying that Trump “ran on tariffs” and he “did what he said he was going to do,” Payne asserted that the president is merely keeping his promises, which was to “bring back manufacturing.” At the same time, he groused that news outlets and cable networks were paying too much attention to the negative impacts Trump’s tariffs may have on the American consumer.
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“This is mind-boggling to me that the media is focused on pain, pain, pain,” Payne exclaimed. Listen to me, I heard someone earlier today on another network say countries send us wine, cheese and Mercedes and we give them a piece of paper, as if we are getting the better end of the bargain.”
The Fox Business host then unleashed a tirade on the need to get behind the president’s trade war because it would reset the entire global economy in America’s favor, which he claimed would benefit all Americans down the road.
“This system is unsustainable. It's unsustainable, we have to figure it out. So, if the American people can make a short-term — you know, hey, that beach ball costs 50 cents more, I won't buy it. This is what’s really amazing to me, and unfortunately, I hear it on our network and a lot of networks, that somehow we all want a good GDP, we all want a good economy, but does it have to come at the expense?” Payne huffed.
“Is it patriotic to always stay in debt? Is it patriotic to spend my entire paycheck so that the economy is good? Is it patriotic so that my kids can't afford to go to college, I don't have a retirement, I don't have a decent home, is that patriotic?” he continued. “Is our patriotism tied to Wall Street, or should it be tied to our own personal ability to achieve the American dream? We need to rethink all of this!”
At the top of his Fox Business program Making Money later in the day, Payne would continue to praise the president for unleashing his crippling import taxes by invoking one of Trump’s favorite slogans.
“So, let’s call it what it is. It’s the art of the deal meets the art of trade war,” Payne said at the top of his show, referencing Trump’s best-selling book.
“Every nation, undoubtedly, spent at least the last two months war-gaming potential tariffs in the announcement that came from President Trump yesterday. And I can tell you this, I guarantee you, none of them got it right. None!” Payne exclaimed. “Yesterday, President Trump declared a national emergency to increase our competitive edge, to protect our sovereignty, to strengthen our national and economic security, and in other words, he really, really upset the status quo.”
He would even go so far as to play a clip from the 1987 gangster film The Untouchables to applaud the president for “going the Chicago way” by dropping an “economic MOAB” on the rest of the world, referencing the “Mother of All Bombs.”
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