Trump exposing 'disdain for his own voters' with new scam: Nobel economist

A woman wearing a MAGA hat at a "Latinos for Trump" event in Kissimmee, Florida on January 16, 2020 (Image: Shutterstock)

President Donald Trump's latest tariff "scams" are once again confirming his "disdain for his own voters," the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman told The New Republic, showing how little regard he has for their intelligence.

Krugman appeared as a guest on the latest edition of the outlet's "Daily Blast" podcast, where host Greg Sargent pressed him about Trump's latest moves regarding tariffs, including the announcement that 300,000 metric tons of imported beef would be allowed into the U.S. without a tariff rate in order to combat soaring prices. He also claimed to have reached an agreement to sell the beef at 25 percent below the market rate to theoretically lower prices even more.

Krugman noted several issues with this plan, which he called "really weird" and "incoherent," including the fact that the White House would not confirm where the beef is being imported from. It is also unclear who the market rate discount has been negotiated with and how supermarkets are supposed to know which beef is the discounted import product.

Beyond those issues, Sargent also noted that the move seemed to be another tacit admission by Trump that his tariffs raise prices for U.S. consumers, despite his past insistence that the exporting countries pay the price for them. Krugman agreed, arguing that the move showed both the president's "contempt" for his supporters, as well as his own fundamental misunderstandings about tariffs.

"I mean, every bit of the policy from the beginning has been contempt—belief that people will not understand what I’m doing, which is helped by the fact that he himself doesn’t understand what he’s doing," Krugman said. "How can you say, 'foreigners pay the tariffs, and, by the way, I will help you by making them not pay the tariffs?' This does not sound to me like any kind of thought-out policy. This is thrashing. And I would ask, by the way — even if I don’t see how this actually helps consumers — but, you know, what is it, nine weeks till the midterms? The idea that this is going to change people’s views about Trump economic policy, aside from the fact that you’re going to have a few thousand really pissed-off beef producers — how does this even work politically?"

He continued: "He’s trying to claim that he’s doing something for consumers. And there’s a lot of hamburger-eating MAGA voters, who he hopes won’t remember that he’s talking out of two sides of his mouth on what tariffs do to prices. And then there’s also—he’s, I guess, taking for granted — I mean, this is not good for the farm sector, which is very, very Trumpy, or was — and he’s basically saying, 'you’ll vote for my people regardless.' And, you know, he might be right, but at this point I’m starting to wonder about that."

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