­
News | The Reporters

Ted Cruz Flatly Rejects Larry Kudlow’s Defense of Trump’s Tariffs on Fox: It’s ‘A Tax On Consumers’

by | Apr 3, 2025 | Mediate

In a rare move on Fox Business on Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) flat out rejected some pro-Trump spin from host Larry Kudlow – a former Trump economic advisor.

Cruz, who is a reliable pro-Trump voice in the media, told Kudlow he was against tariffs and hoped that they would be quickly unwound. Kudlow offered a scenario in which the Trump tariff revenue could be given back to taxpayers in what he called a “dividend.”

“Now on the tax cuts, I don’t know if you heard any of this show. Because of Mr. Trump’s reciprocity policy that he announced yesterday, the White House is saying there could be $600 billion in revenues from the tariffs,” Kudlow began, outlining his plan:

I am proposing that those revenues be put into the budget resolution and the reconciliation bill and that you cut taxes even more to help the middle class who have been shouldering the burden of falling real wages for about 25 years because of unfair and unjust trading practices. If you have $600 billion, Senator, those are the estimates.

I mean, out 10 years is a gigantic number. We need a fresh, we need, you need tax cuts, middle-class tax cuts. Corporate tax cuts? I mean, I’m calling it a tariff dividend for taxpayers. What do you think? I want you to carry this ball for me.

“So Larry, you know I’m always in favor of more tax cuts and bigger tax cuts, and I’m fighting to make this tax cut as big and bold as possible. Look, I think it is a mistake to assume that we will have high tariffs in perpetuity. I don’t think that would be good economic policy. I am not a fan of tariffs,” Cruz said, adding:

And the announcement yesterday, look, time is going to tell in the next month or two or three what happens if the result of yesterday’s announcement is a lot of our trading partners across the globe dramatically reduce the tariffs they charge on U.S. goods and services, and the consequence of that is the U. S. government dramatically cuts the tariffs that were announced yesterday.

That would be a great outcome. That would good for America. If the result is our trading partner jack up their tariffs and we have high tariffs everywhere, I think that is a bad outcome for America, tariffs are a tax on consumers and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers so my hope is these tariffs are short lived and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe.

“So you don’t want to put any more money, you don’t want to hand any money over to the consumers. The workforce has been hurt by these unfair trading practices,” Kudlow replied.

“Cut taxes, cut taxes, I agree with you. I don’t know that you could get too aggressive for me in cutting taxes. I just don’t want to simultaneously embrace raising taxes on consumers. And so I like half of your idea, but not necessarily the other half,” Cruz said, standing is ground.

“All right, half ain’t bad,” Kuldow conceded.

Watch above via Fox News.

The post Ted Cruz Flatly Rejects Larry Kudlow’s Defense of Trump’s Tariffs on Fox: It’s ‘A Tax On Consumers’ first appeared on Mediaite .

Trump Says Conspiracy Theorist Laura Loomer ‘Makes Recommendations’ and ‘Sometimes I Listen to Those’

by | Apr 3, 2025 | Fox News, Mediate

President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force on Thursday that he often listens to advice from far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.

Trump denied reports Loomer played a role in his administration’s decision to fire three National Security Council staffers after she laid out grievances against them.

Loomer was present during a Wednesday Oval Office meeting along with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Per numerous reports, Loomer accused the officials who were let go of being “neocons.”

Axios reported three people were dismissed when Loomer said they “slipped through” a vetting process to ensure no George W. Bush-era Republicans ended up working for Trump.

The New York Times reported , “Ms. Loomer walked into the White House with a sheaf of papers, which amounted to a mass of opposition research attacking the character and loyalty of numerous N.S.C. officials, two of the people said. She proceeded to excoriate them in front of their boss, the national security adviser Michael Waltz, who was also in the meeting.”

Aboard Air Force One, Trump confirmed some staffers had been fired. He denied Loomer had anything to do with the firings during a conversation with numerous reporters.

“Yeah, so Laura Loomer is a very good patriot,” Trump said when asked about the meeting. “She’s a very strong person and I saw her yesterday for a little while she has – she makes recommendations of things and people, and sometimes I listen to those recommendations like I do with everybody. I listen to everybody and then I make a decision. But I saw her yesterday she was at the ceremony. She’s – she’ll always have something to say – usually very constructive.”

Trump said Loomer made some job recommendations but denied he fired anyone on her behalf.

“She recommended certain people for jobs,” Trump said. “Well, she’ll recommend [firings] too, but yesterday she recommended some people for jobs.”

Trump was also asked who Loomer had recommended for White House jobs.

“Well, I don’t want to say that,” he replied. “But she’s recommended some good people over the years. She’s been in the party a long time, she’s done a good job.”

Watch above via Fox News.

The post Trump Says Conspiracy Theorist Laura Loomer ‘Makes Recommendations’ and ‘Sometimes I Listen to Those’ first appeared on Mediaite .

‘Pretty Exciting, Right?’ Trump Shows Off $5 Million ‘Gold Card’ With His Face On It He’s Selling to Wealthy Foreigners

by | Apr 3, 2025 | Mediate

President Donald Trump showed off his “Gold Card” on Air Force One to reporters on Thursday, proudly displaying the $5 million card with his face on it that can buy U.S. residency.

“For $5 million, this could be yours. That was the first of the cards. You know what that card is? It’s the Gold Card, the Trump Card, Gold Card,” Trump boasted.

“Who is the first buyer?” asked an off-camera reporter.

“Me,” shot back Trump.

“The second?” pressed the reporter.

“I don’t know, but I’m the first buyer. It’ll be out in about less than two weeks. Pretty exciting, right?” Trump boasted.

“Are you ready for some questions?” asked another reporter.

“Anybody want to buy one?” Trump quipped.

Notably, Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced in late March the “sale of 1,000 Gold Cards this week, raising $5 billion in a single day,” according to Forbes. The report added :

Priced at $5 million each, President Trump introduced these Gold Cards in February 2025, as an opportunity for wealthy foreign citizens to work and live in the United States, granting them permanent U.S. residency and effectively replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.

Trump went on to take questions and was immediately asked about the impact of his tariffs . “We’d love to get your reaction, sir, to what’s going on in the financial markets today.”

“Well, I mean, it’s to be expected where this is a patient that was very sick. We inherited– we really inherited a terrible economy, as you know, with a lot of problems, including loss of manufacturing and plants closed up all over the country. You know, we’ve lost 90,000 plants since NAFTA, if you think of that. Ninety thousand. It’s not even believable. Had about 6 million jobs. And so it’s a sick, it was a sick patient that went through an operation on liberation day. And it’s going to be, it’s gonna be a booming country, a very booming country. It’s going be amazing actually. We see it because we have trillions of dollars committed to come in,” Trump replied.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

The post ‘Pretty Exciting, Right?’ Trump Shows Off $5 Million ‘Gold Card’ With His Face On It He’s Selling to Wealthy Foreigners first appeared on Mediaite .