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Report: GOP May Turn On President Donald Trump Over Tariffs | The Last Word | MSNBC - YouTube
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well as America approaches its annual
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day of celebrating our independence it
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is worth emphasizing that this is not
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Donald Trump's America the president
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does sometimes try to behave like a king
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he tries to behave like he owns the
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place but what we are celebrating
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tomorrow is independence from a king and
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there is no figurative or poetic sense
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in which this is Donald Trump's America
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the picture that new polling presents is
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largely a country that opposes president
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Trump a new Quinnipiac poll tonight
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shows that 55% of Americans disapprove
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of the job Donald Trump is doing as
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president and some of that disapproval
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is now coming from Republican senators
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finally which we will get to in a moment
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but there's another unique entry in this
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new Trump poll it is an achievement that
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belongs to Donald Trump and Donald Trump
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alone in the history of Quinnipiac polls
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in the history of all presidential polls
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Donald Trump has won the highest number
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of people in the history of presidential
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polling who say the President of the
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United States is a racist in the new
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Quinnipiac poll 49% of voters say the
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president is a racist 47% say they don't
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think he is in the history of
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presidential polling no one is a close
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second to Donald Trump on the racist
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question in fact as far as we've been
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able to find in our research about
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polling today there's no one in second
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place because the question has never
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been asked in polling about any other
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president the racism of Donald Trump as
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perceived by half of the country is not
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what is bothering Republican senators
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about Donald Trump some of them are
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making comments about the president
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unlike anything they have ever said
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consider the chairman of the Senate
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Finance Committee Orrin Hatch and
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remember that orrin hatch is the senator
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who said this about Donald Trump
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we're gonna keep fighting and we're
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gonna make this the greatest presidency
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that we've seen not only in generations
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it may be ever so the only member of
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Congress and possibly the only American
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not named Trump who has said that Donald
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Trump could be the best president ever
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is now saying something that doesn't
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sound like orrin hatch at all
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I actually don't recognize the current
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Trump supporting version of orrin hatch
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the orrin hatch who I knew and saw
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virtually every day when I was working
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on the Senate Finance Committee in the
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1990s was one of the reasonable and
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sometimes cooperative and compromising
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Republicans on the committee who helped
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get the committee's work done especially
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on matters of international trade and
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orrin hatch has always been the
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quintessential representative of
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mild-mannered Utah politeness in the
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United States Senate so imagine my shock
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when I read Orrin Hatch saying I'd like
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to kill him in Politico Orrin Hatch
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would like to kill the Trump tariffs
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according to Politico Republican
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senators say they can't get the
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president to comprehend that his tariffs
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his tariffs offensive could damage the
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American economy and so there is a
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rebellion brewing among Republican
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senators on the Trump tariffs and this
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could be the thing that pushes Donald
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Trump's disapproval rating even higher
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according to the Des Moines Register
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Iowa's soybean farmers could lose up to
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six hundred and twenty four million
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dollars in export revenue because of
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retaliatory tariffs on soybeans Iowa's
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junior senator Republican Joni Ernst
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told POLITICO we want to support the
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president my constituents want to
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support the president as well but they
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can only keep that stiff upper lip
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before things collapse we're not quite
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at that point but it's rapidly approach
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approaching so the new definition of
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representing your state as a Republican
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in the United States Senate seems to be
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stick with Donald Trump until your state
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collapses
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Joni Ernst apparently has no intention
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of abandoning the president before the
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collapse of Iowa she seems to be saying
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she will have to see the complete
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collapse of the farm economy in Iowa for
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her to abandon the president Donald
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Trump came in second in the Iowa
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caucuses at the beginning of the
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presidential campaign if he keeps up his
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trade war with the world Donald Trump
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just might find a way to come in second
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in the Iowa caucuses again in 2020
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leading off our discussion now Jared
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Bernstein senior fellow at the Center
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for Budget and Policy Priorities he was
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a chief economist and economic policy
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adviser to Vice President Biden also us
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near attend and president of the Center
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for American Progress she was Hillary
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Clinton's policy director during the
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2008 presidential campaign and John
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Harwood as well if he's the
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editor-at-large for CNBC and John
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Harwood I wanted to start with you
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because the Commerce Secretary said on
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CNBC that there is no drop in the stock
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market dramatic enough there's no way
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any of the changes in the stock market
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that we're seeing could possibly affect
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the president's commitment to his
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tariffs but we must stipulate that he is
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only the Secretary of Commerce which
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means he like the rest of us has no idea
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what Donald Trump's going to do tomorrow
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on tariffs well Donald Trump may have no
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idea what Donald Trump's gonna be wrong
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on tariffs this is somebody who does not
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have a firm grasp of policy issues of
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the implications of his policies he acts
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on gut instinct and impulse and he has
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had anti-free trade impulses for quite a
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long time but this is deeply irrational
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from the standpoint of somebody who's
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leading a country who wants to have a
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strong economy who wants to protect his
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constituents who wants to get reelected
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because of the damage in the Midwest if
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he goes ahead with the national security
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linked Auto tariffs he's talking about
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the agricultural Midwest
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Iowa and other places if he sticks with
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this tariff war it makes no sense
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economically and and it's also
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counterproductive politically
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nevertheless the president's doing it
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and it makes you wonder is he actually
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acting rationally while doing this we
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don't know Munir attended the the
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president's statements on trade were not
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very specific during the campaign it was
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all about just ripping up NAFTA and
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getting rid of the trans-pacific
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partnership just getting rid of these
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agreements that are kind of large and
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complex agreements but he never really
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said what he would do what is place he
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never went around the country
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campaigning saying I am going to impose
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through tariffs what are in effect
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massive sales taxes on American
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consumers who buy anything made outside
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of the United States and he also didn't
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say I am going to threaten the jobs have
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lots of farmers and lots of people
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manufacturers and the reality of what
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we're dealing with dealt with Donald
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Trump is for some reason that's really
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hard to fathom he's decided to go to
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have a trade war with our closest allies
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Canada Europe he's essentially and at
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the same time hurting Americans and I
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have to just state this his health care
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bill went after rural white voters in
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places like Iowa and the Midwest
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throughout the south now his trade
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policies are targeting farmers lots of
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manufacturers throughout the country
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nail'd producers are going out of
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business it's as if he's taking a
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wrecking ball to the lives and fortunes
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of the people who actually just voted
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for him and really testing essentially
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how much of a lemming they're gonna be
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in support of him as much as he hurts
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them Jared Bernstein it seems the
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president has discovered that he has a
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power that he can you
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without consulting anyone he discovered
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that in the pardon power to his delight
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which seems to be what he likes most
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about pardons as well as possibly
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signalling future criminal defendants
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who are friends of his that they might
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be getting pardons but he found the
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loophole his staff found the loophole in
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American trade law in section 232 that
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allows the President to impose tariffs
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only only as a matter of national
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security and none of the tariffs that
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the president has imposed are announced
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his intention to impose actually involve
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national security and so at a certain
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point the Republicans in the Senate who
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have always objected to this kind of
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thing are finally beginning to find
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their voices but their voices at this
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point seem to be whispering yeah I agree
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with you Canada is not a security threat
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me there's the European Union and in
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fact if anything the president seems to
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embrace leaders who are threats and go
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after ones who aren't look the the
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Senate has long folded conservatives and
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Republicans in the face of Trumpy and
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chaos even when it comes to matters of
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the well-being of their own constituents
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you know we used to say in Washington
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follow the money we'll follow the
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soybeans right now because a lot of
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farmers income is at stake and you know
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Donald Trump said he doesn't like all
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those German cars on the street that's
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what motivated his potential auto
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tariffs well do you know where the
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biggest BMW Factory is in the world it's
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in Spartanburg South Carolina and by the
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way American auto producers Ford
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Chrysler GM uniformly opposed Auto
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tariffs why you think it would help
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their competitiveness because every
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single car on the road now including the
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ones that American producers build has
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lots of foreign imports and if their
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price of every one of them goes up 20%
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that's going to be a cost they're going
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to have to pass on to consumers it's
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chaotic destructive policy that is not
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going to help people who've been hurt by
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trade people who really need help by the
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way it's going to hurt them and Lauren
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and go ahead I was just going to say
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it may be that President Trump in this
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situation cares more about trying to
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exert his personal dominance over
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another leader than he does about the
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fate of his own constituents and their
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economic well-being he he loves to
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engage on a personal basis he he makes
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decisions based on how he feels about
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someone personally and we've seen with
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Justin Trudeau that he has tried to in
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effect say I'm bigger than you
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he done the same thing with Angela
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Merkel Teresa may he may be trying to
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use this power that he possesses
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uniquely with a justification even if
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it's bogus to try to assert that he can
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dominate them go ahead Mir I would just
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quickly add what's crazy about the
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situation is Donald Trump himself is
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basically hurting soybean manufacturers
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soybean farmers manufacturers throughout
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this country lots of people lots of
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Americans who are struggling to get by
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while at the same time basically doing
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ads for China ZTE which it's just you
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know I've never heard or seen anything
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like it where an American president is
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hurting American companies and workers
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and basically helping a Chinese company
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the one thing I would oh sure so the one
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thing I would add is that we actually
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have a pretty good looking macro economy
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right now the unemployment rate is low
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growth rates are pretty stable and the
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best thing I can say about the Trump
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contribution of the economies he hasn't
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screwed it up yet but he seems to be
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trying pretty hard to do so John I was
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going to point out I'm glad Neera
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brought up ZTE because ZTE is the only
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issue that anyone in Washington has
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looked at and said there are some
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national security concerns with that the
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most of China trade involves absolutely
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no security concerns whatsoever and so
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the Trump tariffs are illegal by our own
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definition because they do not meet the
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national security standard they do
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violate the World Trade Organization
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own definitions of you of correct use of
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cherubs but there has been astonishing
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support for this seizure this
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presidential seizure of congressional
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power astonishing support from Democrats
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Chuck Schumer actually said in regards
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the China tariffs President Trump is
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right on target that was chunk Schumer's
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reaction to it and last week when some
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Republicans were trying to get an
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amendment going on the agriculture bill
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to restrict the president's power to
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increase tariffs through through this
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loophole sherrod Brown Democrat stood up
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and opposed and blocked that amendment
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that was an amendment to limit Donald
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Trump's illegal use of presidential
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power and that illegal use of
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presidential power was supported on the
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Senate floor by Democrats well look a
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lot of people want to get tough with
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China and China is the legitimate bad
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actor in international trade that we
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have big grievances that they're theft
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of intellectual property the
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restrictions they place on American
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investment in China and that's what
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makes the ZTE case that you mentioned so
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striking it's a real national security
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case he's gone the other way and because
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of the other extraordinary feature of
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Trump's presidency that is he continues
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to make money as president with his
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businesses although he's not managing
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them overseas and so the Chinese
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government's lending five hundred
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million dollars to a Trump project in
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Indonesia dozens of trademarks have been
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granted to Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump
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business initiatives in China is that
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why he is supporting ZTE it's difficult
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to figure that out and nobody really
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knows the answer but it's certainly
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something that goes diametrically
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against the national security interests
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of the United States when he is
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erroneously citing them in other areas I
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mean you just want to get your political
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reaction to Democrats on the Senate
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floor like sherrod Brown
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also Chuck Schumer supporting the
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president in what is clearly an illegal
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use of the national security loophole in
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trade law and supporting President Trump
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in a seizure of what is supposed to be
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Senate and congressional power I think
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anyone who supports Donald Trump's
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illegal use of the rules the things he's
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doing to basically a firm his agenda at
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the expense of real Nash security
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threats like ZTE itself you know
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Democrats should not do that and I
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appreciate in a lot of parts of the
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country trade is a hard issue and John
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Herbert is absolutely right trade with
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China is a much more legitimate issue
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than a phony trade war with Canada or
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Europe and when the president has a
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phony trade war and has phony Nash
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security reasons for a trade war with
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our closest allies Democrats should have
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stand up to that but I think what's also
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really important is you know we have to
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ensure that we at some point get some
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investigatory power because at this
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point we have a president who has a
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trade policy that hurts Americans and
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helps his own pocketbook that's that we
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have at least reasons to ask questions
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about that and because the Republicans
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won't do any investigations Americans
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don't really know at the end of the day
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whether the ZTE deal or other things
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Trump is doing is actually helping
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himself at the expense of voters Jared
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Bernstein the the American government
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has done very well in the World Trade
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Organization when it comes to trade
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disputes it wins almost all of them and
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it's always prosecuting these trade
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disputes against countries that are
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violating the rules now the United
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States of America is violating the rules
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in a grander more open way than we have
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ever seen any other country do there
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have been other countries try to violate
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the rules they try to do it secretly
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here is the president United States
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doing it publicly what does that do to a
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America's position in the World Trade
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Organization
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going forward well I think it makes it
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obviously extremely difficult for us to
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argue for a rules-based system of
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international trading and it's that very
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system that trumps chaos is throwing a
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wrench into and by the way as I've tried
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to stress in earlier comments there are
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definitely Americans who have been hurt
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by the fact that we've run large trade
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deficits for many years and Donald Trump
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connected with those people during the
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campaign they voted for him now he's
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hurting them when it comes to the WTO
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however you know looking tough
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disobeying dismissing the WTO for Donald
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Trump is a feature not a bug he views
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the WTO as a an anarchic or organization
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that has no more relevance in in his
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kind of make it up as you go along a
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trade regime and and so I think what
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what the problem ends up being at the
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end of the day is that initially
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everybody thought he was just blow ba
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ting I'm talking about our trading
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partners then they started to talk about
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retaliation now they're moving into a
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mode of really fighting back
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tough and so I think the problem of
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retaliation to these measures is enough
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to really shave some significant growth
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off the US economy if we keep going down
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the same path we're going on we really
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haven't seen that yet but if Donald
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Trump gets his way with a trade war of
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the magnitude that I fear he's seeking
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we're all gonna feel it in our
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pocketbooks that'll have to be the end
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of the first round Jared Bernstein near
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at 10:00 and John Harwood thank you for
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joining us at the beginning here tonight
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really appreciate thanks for checking
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out our youtube channel subscribe by
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clicking on the button below for more
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