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The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal blasted President Donald Trump in an editorial for "suggesting that voters are idiots" for not buying into his tariffs while promising Americans a $2,000 tariff stimulus check, The Daily Beast reports.
The conservative newspaper's editorial board scorned Trump's use of a "hail Mary" to "blunt the harm" of his sweeping tariffs.
“We’ve advised Mr. Trump from the beginning that tariffs would do economic harm, and so they are. They’re also doing political damage to the GOP, which is why he’s floating rebates that contradict his other tariff claims. One other suggestion, Mr. President: It’s never a good idea to call the voters ‘fools,’” the board wrote.
On Sunday, Trump wrote on social media that "people that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” proposing that “a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone."
Like many critics who came out against Trump's Truth Social proposal, the WSJ editorial board "noted that issuing $2,000 checks to potentially hundreds of millions of people would significantly add to the already ballooning national debt," reports The Daily Beast.
The idea, the Daily Beast notes, also "contradicts remarks made by Solicitor General John Sauer before the Supreme Court last week during a hearing on whether Trump’s tariffs were legally imposed," saying, "They’re clearly regulatory tariffs, not taxes,” Sauer said. “They are the exercise of the power to regulate foreign commerce.”
The WSJ editorial board slammed that idea, writing, "If tariffs are most effective if no one ever pays them, then how are they going to raise the revenue Mr. Trump needs to pay those rebates? The truth is tariffs are taxes, but Mr. Sauer didn’t want to admit this lest the Court conclude that Mr. Trump is usurping a core constitutional power of Congress. Which he is."
“Mr. Trump is essentially promising to repay Americans $2,000 of the border taxes they’re paying in higher prices. But if tariffs are a free economic lunch, and their benefits abound, why offer a rebate? Shouldn’t voters be thrilled about tariffs even without a rebate?" they asked.