MSNBC host warns 'wish-casting' Trump just 'overplayed his hand'
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle said she thinks the markets have been topsy-turvy all week because, in the past, the underlying economy was "a disaster." What's happening now, however, is "completely self-made."
Speaking to Nicolle Wallace on Friday, Ruhle said, "It's why the market this week has been up and down and up and down, because investors are hoping and begging and praying that Trump just scratches this thing. Because if he does, we actually have a good economy. But if he doesn't, he has us on a collision course for disaster."
Wallace asked how the genie gets back in the bottle.
"It was Trump who came out and said, 'I changed my mind,' and the markets got yippy," Wallace said. "While his own officials were testifying. Never switching, never switching. This is the policy."
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Ruhle said that's why there's a "crisis of confidence."
"Who do you believe? Right? His own treasury secretary — when Donald Trump announced the pause — his own treasury secretary said this was always the plan. Really? Was it the plan?" Ruhle asked. "Because Trump just said I was looking at the bond market. I listened to Jamie Dimon. They're telling you different things, and we're watching Wall Street that wants to be optimistic, tie themselves in knots over this idea that Scott Bessent is going to be our savior."
She accused him of going on television and "not being intellectually honest" with Americans. She called it "disarming."
She said it's inconsequential whether Bessent or Howard Lutnick negotiates the trade deals because the foundation of the negotiations "is not rooted in truth."
"Donald Trump's plan is we have to wipe out trade deficits because he doesn't understand trade deficits," Ruhle explained. "You think Vietnam is going to start importing more than we do? It doesn't work that way. I'm not saying they are not unfit. There are some unfair trade practices. If only we could get together with our allies and take on China, kind of like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that they wanted to do at the end of [Barack] Obama's second term. But instead, we're going at it alone."
At this point, she said, Trump "has overplayed his hand. Investors are just hoping that Bessent saves the day. Or maybe Trump lays the blame on a few other guys in the White House and punts them and brings other guys in. But this is wishcasting. And if you're in the business community, big or small, I mean, Nicolle, you think something's going to get solved in 90 days? USMCA, the last trade deal done with Canada and Mexico, took 18 months to complete."
She said that this is one of many reasons why people are "somewhat paralyzed."
See her full comments below or at the link here.
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