Daily Wire host: “The tariffs and the market tanking are political winners for Trump”
Michael Knowles: “Most people don't care at all that this market is way down. Because for most people, this doesn't really mean anything.”
Published
Citation
From the April 7, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show
MICHAEL KNOWLES (HOST): The market is getting absolutely pummeled. OK? Right off the top, some of you are a little more wild with your investments than others. Me, I'm extremely conservative, which means I miss out on all these great runs of the market, but it also means I'm not sweating bullets when things like this happen. But there is a major, major market correction that has happened. DOW futures has posted back to back losses of more than 1,500 points. The S&P 500 was down 6% on Friday. Nasdaq has entered a bear market. It is rough out there, man. Rough out there in the markets. And yet, Daily Mail, JL Partners just posted a poll. This is a poll of Trump's approval during the tariff week. So Trump announces the tariffs. The market immediately reacts. Everyone on paper is losing a ton of money. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people are losing a ton of money. And yet, during that period, President Trump's job approval rating rose four points. It went from 49% to 53%. So, actually, tariff week, the worst week in recent history for financial markets, that actually was the breaking point for Trump to get over 50%. Now he's at 53.
Since March 7, Trump's approval among young voters, we're talking about 18 to 29, that jumped up 13 points. Well, surely, his approval among Democrats or Independents, that must have gone down. Right? Nope. That actually went up six points. Well, what about some of the most solidly Democrat voters? Like, what about Black voters? Sure. I know Trump did fairly well with with Black male voters and but there's no way he must be getting pummeled with Black voters. Right? No. It's actually up 17 points in a single week.
What about the tariffs? What if you ask people about the tariffs themselves? More people support the tariffs than oppose the tariffs. 39% support, 37% oppose. Something like 25%, 24% don't don't have any idea. In reality, 100% of people have no idea what the tariffs really mean and what all the long term consequences are gonna be, but everyone's pretending like they know what the tariffs are. So, anyway, 24% of people are honest, but among the people who have an opinion about the tariffs, more people support the tariffs than oppose the tariffs.
The tariffs and the market tanking are political winners for Trump.
How do we make sense of this? There is a difference between the chattering class and public perception. There is a difference, in other words, between the media presenting to you what's going on in the world and what's actually going on in the world. And we've known this for a long time. We always talk about the lamestream, left-wing, drive by, stupid, legacy, establishment media. But even with new media, even with the rise of podcasting and streaming still, there is a chasm because virtually everyone I've been listening to has said that the sky is falling in. And I don't mean to downplay it, by the way. There are serious, serious risks to this tariff regime, which we'll get to in one moment. I'm just pointing out the chattering class does not at all reflect actual public perception.
More people like this these tariffs than do not like these tariffs. Most people approve of what Trump is doing right now. Most people don't care at all that this market is way down. Because for most people, this doesn't really mean anything. If they have their money invested in the market at all, even through 401K or something, they're not gonna touch it for a while. It's just numbers on a screen. It'll bounce back. This always happens in the markets. The fifty wealthiest people in the country are getting absolutely destroyed right now. Other than Warren Buffett, I think he's the only one that hasn't posted major losses. Oracle from Omaha really doing an amazing job. But the rest are just getting absolutely pummeled. But guess what? The vast majority of Americans don't care. They don't care if Zuckerberg loses some money.