Fox Business guest: Trump has “put us in a really bad situation”
Ken Mahoney: “Those same people that voted for him, played by the rules, put away money for taxes, put money away for retirement, are really feeling the brunt of collateral damage of this”
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From the April 4, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
CHERYL CASONE (FOX CORRESPONDENT): I want to get your reaction to the selloff and where you think markets go today.
KEN MAHONEY (CEO, MAHONEY ASSET MANAGEMENT): Well good morning, happy Friday to your viewers. Buckle in here. You know, I liken this to, you know, Trump is on the mound at a baseball game, intentionally walking the first batter. You're like, OK, why is he doing that? And then intentionally walking a second batter, intentionally walking a third batter, and here we are bases-loaded, no outs, Cheryl. I mean, Mariano maybe could, you know, but seriously, I'm not sure he could shut this down. And it's not fair because as Wall Street Journal reported, you know, this is a huge gambit, this is a huge risk, and I'm not sure people voted for this. Um, and it's one thing you run your own company and you want to take that risk, but to America here it's really kind of crazy. And those same people that voted for him, played by the rules, put away money for taxes, put money away for retirement, are really feeling the brunt of collateral damage of this.
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This is the mess that it's created. He's on the pitchers mound. He's got a little to work with, otherwise, they can drive three, four runs in and then its over. So, I hope he can close this out, but he's put us in a really bad situation.
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JOHN LONSKI (FOUNDER, THE LONSKI GROUP): Trump knows damn well that the reason why he was elected president was not to impose tariffs, no. The reason why he was elected president was to normalize the U.S. economy, normalize the U.S. society, get rid of price inflation, and unfortunately the early impact of these tariffs will be to lift prices.
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CASONE: I've got Chris Johnson on set, just really quick. This is where politics meets markets, and it's a pretty rough meeting this morning.
CHRIS JOHNSON (GOP STRATEGIST): Yeah and ultimately, you know, John, I respectfully disagree that President Trump was elected for this. Maybe not the kind of reaction in the markets but he was elected based on a belief that the economy does not work for working people. And the way that he has, for 35 years, talked about wanting to address this and the inequities in the market, he wanted to use trade. And that's what we're seeing happen now. And so, anybody who's watching this happen should not be really surprised that politically this is what he wants to do and he thinks its a winner.
CASONE: Yeah.
LONSKI: No, I think it's a loser. I think it's a loser because in the past we find that tariffs only benefit the few at the cost of the many. That's why we are in uncharted waters, because no previous president, no previous leader, of an advanced economy has turned to tariffs to try to improve economic performance. Those people need help in manufacturing who lose their jobs, but you don't have to do it by imposing this cost on the overall economy.