Conservative radio host Erick Erickson put some of his fellow Republican pundits on blast this week and accused them of shameless “intellectual dishonesty” in defending President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“I am so unbelievably frustrated with the level of intellectual dishonesty of so many people on the right. When I see these guys out there who, when the stock market fell, when Joe Biden was president by a percent or two blasting Joe Biden, and now the stock market is back to where it was in 2023, they’re like, it’s no big deal. It’s all digital. It’s all fake screw your retirement,” Erickson began, adding:
You don’t need to retire anyway. This is good for us. The level of mendacity and dishonesty, the number of people who circulated Larry Fink from BlackRock today, quote, ‘Saying it was a buying opportunity’ and they deleted the part that it’s a buying opportunity after he expects the stock market to fall another 20 percent because we’re in a recession and it’s going to get worse.
I just I find that level of mendacity, and lying, and dishonest to be utterly appalling, particularly among people you would think would show a modicum of intellectual honesty. Just for the sake of consistency, but they’ve got no shame! It’s propaganda!
You may disagree with me, but don’t ever think I’m not telling you something that I don’t believe. I always tell you what I believe and what I think, and I can be wrong, and I have a very good record of telling you when I am wrong. What I find so frustrating, there were the number of people who like to point out what I’ve been wrong, who never ever will admit they’re wrong.
In fact, what I suspect is going to happen is we are going to have a recession, and I suspect when we get into the recession, and it becomes real and apparent. People who said we’re not gonna have a recession will deny that the recession is because of the tariffs.
He ended with an indictment of our political discourse in general, explaining why many of Trump’s supporters will never blame him for the consequences of his actions, “Everything that’s happening is predictable and when those predictions happen, people instead decide it’s some sort of conspiracy. It’s some sort of great conspiracy. The globalists are conspiring to hurt Donald Trump. No, what’s happening and playing out is exactly what everyone predicted would play out if you imposed tariffs. It’s not some sort of conspiracy.”
Jon Stewart recently cut together a highlight reel of pro-Trump pundits commenting on the stock market tanking as a result of Trump’s tariffs. He included:
Fox News host Laura Ingraham: “Don’t panic. Calm down. Everything is going to be okay.”
Fox Business host Charles Payne: “I would not worry at all.”
Fox News host Jesse Watters: “The Dow is actually in the same place it was in August.”
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk: “Do me a favor, don’t look at your stock portfolio.”
Fox News co-host Jeanine Pirro: “You know what? I don’t really care about my 401(k).”
MAGA influencer Benny Johnson offered perhaps the most widely mocked commentary, which Stewart also poked fun at, telling his audience, “Losing money costs you nothing.”
Watch the clip above.
