Jesse Watters with a graphic of Trump dancing and a caption reading, "Make America Wealthy Again"

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Right-wing media tell Americans to embrace the tariff pain, wait for a “golden age”

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Noah Dowe

Research contributions from Pete Tsipis, Jane Lee, Isabella Corrao, Alicia Sadowski & Alex Kaplan

Published

Right-wing media are predicting a “golden age” as President Donald Trump's so-called “Liberation Day” hits some of the United States’ closest trading partners with sweeping tariffs. 

Economists are warning about recession, inflation, and job loss as a result of Trump’s tariffs, but right-wing media are largely ignoring these predictions as they endorse the White House’s economic agenda, downplaying the negative stock market and telling their audiences to anticipate a return of American manufacturing. 

While some right-wing personalities have voiced concern over the tariffs’ potential harms, much of the commentary has held that the U.S. must embrace “short-term” pain in order to get long-term benefits, that tariffs will bolster the U.S. economy and raise revenue, or that the tariffs are just a “negotiation weapon.” 

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  • Economists: Trump’s tariffs will disrupt the economy, raise consumer prices

    • Trump enacted a wide array of tariffs, dubbing April 2 “Liberation Day,” and the stock market plunged. The tariffs included a blanket 10% tariff on all imports and higher targeted tariffs on countries the president says are using unfair trade practices. The stock market plunged on April 3 and 4, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all sustaining big losses. [The Hill, 4/3/25; CNBC, 4/4/25]
    • Economists say the Trump tariffs are equivalent to a massive tax hike for Americans. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jessica Riedl called the tariffs “the largest peacetime tax increase in [American] history outside of World War II.” According to CNN, JP Morgan analysts have said that “this year’s cumulative tariff hike should be viewed as a US tax increase of roughly $660 billion.” [Media Matters, 4/1/25; CNN, 4/4/25]
    • Experts say the tariffs could lead to higher inflation, job losses, and ultimately recession. CNN reported that due to higher importing costs, prices will rise on a host of consumer goods, likely including clothing and electronics, resulting in $2,100 more per year for the average American household. Goldman Sachs has predicted a higher unemployment rate of 4.5% by the end of the year and increased its predicted likelihood of a recession hitting within the next 12 months to 35%. [CNN, 4/3/25, 3/31/25]

  • Right-wing media said Americans may hurt in the short term, but there are long-term benefits

    • Conservative Political Action Conference Chairman Matt Schlapp admitted that “families are going to pay a little bit more in the short term,” adding that “hopefully in the long run, we're going to have a renaissance … a golden age.” Schlapp continued, “To the hard left, we can't overregulate and oversaturate our economy with foolishness like the Green New Deal and everything else if America wants to be competitive again.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 4/2/25]
    • Podcaster Charlie Kirk said tariffs are “like taking cough syrup. It doesn't feel good, but it is good for you.” Kirk: “You are seeing a historic reorganization of the global and the American economy, and it's gonna come as a shell-shock. And there will be market volatility. There will be turbulence. It's basically like taking cough syrup. It doesn't feel good, but it is good for you. It's necessary.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 4/3/25]
    • Fox Business host Dagen McDowell said, “For us to hit back via tariffs, this will be, in the short run, disruptive.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 4/2/25]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters downplayed a bad stock market, saying, “Tomorrow when you look at the Dow, it might not feel so liberating. But neither did the day after D-Day. Eventually we won.” Watters also claimed, “Wall Street is going to be fine. And everyone's investments are going to be fine long term. This is an administration focused on Main Street, not Wall Street. The same people complaining about tariffs never complained once when the middle class got savaged by other countries.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 4/2/25]
    • Fox host Laura Ingraham warned congressional Republicans and judges not to block tariffs: “Let's see how the markets settle out over the next six months.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 4/2/25] 
    • Fox Business host Charles Payne: “Do not panic here — that’s my message to America.” Payne added, “I think the American public, we’ve been making a huge mistake to watch the stock market. … I would not worry at all.” [Fox News, Hannity, 4/2/25]
    • Fox Business host Larry Kudlow suggested tax cuts would “soothe the way towards any short-term damage from the initial effects of the tariffs.” Kudlow: “Individual income tax cuts, corporate tax cuts, even cutting the Social Security payroll tax. And, by the way, these kinds of additional tax cuts, on top of the Trump tax cuts already out there, would help, I think, to ease the way or soothe the way towards any short-term damage from the initial effects of the tariffs. [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/2/25]
    • Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt called the tariffs “a painful change,” but said “flipping” the economy “in the right direction is difficult to do.” He added, “I mean, this country, our economy is like the Titanic. Flipping it in a different direction is difficult to do. It takes time to get it done. And in that time you're going to have some suffering.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 4/2/25]

  • Right-wing media claimed tariffs will benefit America’s economy

    • Larry Kudlow argued the tariffs plan “makes a lot of sense” because they may lead to more factories built in America, especially if “we get these tax cuts through as rapidly as possible.” Kudlow claimed the U.S. “has been on the short end of the stick, tariffs, nontariff barriers, currency depreciation, you name it.” He added, “Mr. Trump is placing significant tariffs, baseline tariffs, and reciprocal tariffs on nations who are most offensive to us, and if you make their goods more expensive at home, then hopefully Americans will buy America, produce America, build factories in America. That's the plan.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/2/25] 
    • Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway claimed Trump’s tariffs are “going to make America wealthier” and “give us more opportunities in the long term.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/2/25] 
    • On Kudlow, Breitbart’s John Carney claimed that the revenue from tariffs is going to mean “you could go in and eliminate entire taxes” and that slashing capital gains taxes would offset “any possible drag from this.” Carney argued, “You could have capital gains taxes go to zero. That would create an investment boom in the United States, completely offsetting any possible drag from this.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/2/25] 
    • Jesse Watters said the U.S. “can’t afford not to have tariffs.” Watters argued, “They say that we can't afford tariffs. We can't afford not to have tariffs. If you look at the last 40 years, the people making the bottom 50%, they've increased no wealth. The top 50%, top 10% have seen an absolute explosion in wealth. And what was the context there? No tariffs. Massive spending and open borders.” [Fox News, The Five, 4/2/25]
    • Fox News host Sean Hannity said Trump’s tariffs will be the start of “a new golden age of American wealth and exceptionalism.” [Fox News, Hannity, 4/2/25]
    • Fox News host Jeanine Pirro claimed Trump is “doing everything he can to reset the economy and it makes sense to me.” Pirro also said, “He’s targeting the American economy to benefit the blue-collar worker.” [Fox News, The Five, 4/2/25]
    • Charlie Kirk said that though markets are “jittery” in the short term, “in the end, a made-in-America economic boom will be the reward.” Kirk posted to social media: “Yes, the markets are going be jittery in the coming days, weeks, and months. But those same people telling Trump he's wrong, have been wrong about nearly every major geopolitical and economic question over the last decades. With Trump's plan, in the end we will win.” [Twitter/X, 4/2/25] 
    • Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald claimed Trump is trying to “reignite a manufacturing golden age” and end “a disastrous post-Cold War era.” MacDonald: “History shows President Trump's first term higher tariffs did not trigger inflation. The stock market boomed due to his pro-growth strategies.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 4/2/25] 
    • Watters said Trump “fundamentally changed the country as we know it,” adding that “47 says we’re now liberating ourselves from globalization.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 4/2/25]
    • Fox host Kayleigh McEnany praised Trump’s tariffs, saying they are “enormous, they're historic, they're going to reset the American economy.” McEnany added, “I would not be surprised if the great negotiator has an endgame in mind here.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 4/3/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said tariffs are “definitely worth the try” to bring back manufacturing to America but it will be a “wild ride.” Kelly: “So if this takes back manufacturing, if it brings it back to America, I'm all in. And it's definitely worth the try. Big and bold. He had the chart up there with the percentages we're going to be charging other countries. Some countries have been particularly bad, some just bad, some not so bad. How they treat us, we will treat them, and a lot of folks are going to be negotiating like crazy to get off of this list. It's going to be a wild ride.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 4/2/25]
    • Newsmax host Carl Higbie argued tariffs are “leveling the playing field” and making things more “fair.” Higbie: “You see how this works? American jobs being created because we want to make things more fair, and because we said we were going to make them more fair, places that weren't fair are now being fair by leveling the playing field.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 4/2/25]
    • Charlie Kirk asked how anyone could be “mad at this,” arguing the tariffs are lower than other countries’ tariffs on the U.S. Kirk: “President Trump is reciprocating by charging approximately HALF of what other countries are already charging American companies. How could anyone be mad at this!?” [Twitter/X, 4/2/25] 

  • Right-wing media claimed tariffs are a negotiation tactic

    • Newsmax host Rob Finnerty claimed “what's really happening is not a war,” but instead “Trump just trying to get a better deal for the American people.” Finnerty: “Just because we have the strongest economy on the planet doesn't mean that other countries just get to rip us off in perpetuity. That's not a trade war. That's America first. [Newsmax, Finnerty, 4/2/25] 
    • Fox news contributor Brian Brenberg claimed tariffs are Trump’s way of “putting an invitation out there” for other countries to lower tariffs on the U.S. Brenberg added, “It makes sense to a lot of people. It’s the ultimate fairness tariff." [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 4/2/25]
    • Breitbart editor Joel Pollak claimed that “tariffs could actually lead to more free trade, not less,” if countries lower tariffs on the U.S. He posted: “Trump has chosen the right approach to tariffs, with reciprocity the overall organizing principle. Trading partners could lower American tariffs simply by lowering their own. In that way, these tariffs could actually lead to more free trade, not less. Will be interesting to see.” [Twitter/X, 4/2/25]
    • Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) if the tariffs are a “giant negotiation weapon.” Baier: What happens, Sen. Kaine, if Canada says, you know, we’ll go to zero if you go zero. We saw that with Israel. We are hearing words that maybe India is going to do that. What if this is a giant negotiation weapon and you're kind of going through the motions there on Capitol Hill?” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 4/2/25]
    • On Newsmax, former Moody’s analyst John Lonski claimed, “One possibility is that the imposition of these tariffs will give a start to very serious negotiations on existing tariffs, on existing barriers to trade.” He added, “It might well be that this imposition of tariffs leads to a reduction in tariffs down the road. It's possible. So that U.S. companies have a more level playing field when they attempt to export to foreign countries.” [Newsmax, The Record with Greta Van Susteren, 4/2/25]
    • Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo claimed Trump’s tariff policy “tells you that the president is open for business and waiting to hear what we may hear in terms of … their own tariffs.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 4/2/25]
    • Jesse Watters claimed the tariffs are a “negotiation tactic” for free trade. He also downplayed the severity of Trump’s tariffs, saying, “10% tariff across the board and then just a cut under what they charge us. That's a negotiation tactic. Get other countries to drop their tariffs to where we have them and then it's equal. That's called fair trade.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 4/2/25]

  • Some right-wing media figures and guests criticized the tariffs as misguided or harmful

    • Washington Examiner columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher said it is “hard to take” the Trump administration “seriously” or believe that the tariffs were “a thoughtful measure.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 4/3/25]
    • Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume said there will be “short-term pain” with “no dead certainty about the long-term gain.” Hume: “Money invested doesn't begin to show its effects to people right away. But the effect of these tariffs could be quite immediate.” He continued, “So you can see why the markets might be anxious about this situation with, you know, with short-term pain and long-term gain and no dead certainty about the long-term gain.” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 4/2/25]
    • The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro commented that tariffs are “a tax paid for by Americans. So this is a massive tax increase on American consumers.” Shapiro also warned, “If you like the products that you have at the quality that you have them and at the price that you have them, you're not going to get to keep them.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 4/3/25]
    • Fox Business guest Jay Hatfield said the tariffs are “too much, too soon” and predicted the U.S. will “almost certainly have a recession.” Hatfield: “It's really too much, too soon. So we have a very tight Fed. This is recessionary. So everybody, all the pundits were wrong when they said it's inflationary, it's really recessionary, so it should have been paired with the tax cuts. … If we don't have those Fed rate cuts, we'll almost certainly have a recession.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 4/3/25]
    • Former GOP Sen. Pat Toomey: “What President Trump has proposed is actually, if it's carried out, will be probably the largest tax increase on American consumers in the history of the country.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 4/3/25]
    • On Sean Hannity’s radio show, conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly said Trump is going to “suffer” because of “six months of a contraction.” He added, “We're not a patient people. Most Americans don't understand tariffs. They don't know what a VAT tax is. They don't get that, which is why all the other presidents since World War II have totally ignored this.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 4/2/25]
    • On Fox Business, Forbes Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes claimed that “a lot of small companies with small margins” are “going to be hurt by this, put out of business.” Forbes: “The key thing is though, what hasn't been, I don't think, factored in properly is what it does to supply chains. You've got a lot of small companies with small margins that are going to be hurt by this, put out of business.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 4/2/25]
    • Fox Business guest Ken Mahoney argued Trump has “put us in a really bad situation.” Mahoney continued, “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.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 4/4/25]