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During an appearance on CNN the morning after Donald Trump announced sweeping international tariffs as part of his so-called "Liberation Day," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt scrambled to defend her boss' moves as CNN graphics showed a stock market collapse.

Speaking with host Kate Bolduan, Leavitt went on extended diatribes about how the tariffs would benefit U.S. consumers and workers alike as she ducked questions from the CNN host about how much economic "pain" the administration believes Americans will tolerate.

With Leavitt insisting Wall Street is "missing the massive revenue that these tariffs are going to bring into the United States. Trillions and trillions of dollars in investment, which leads to more jobs in American communities," the CNN host interjected, "Karoline, sorry to interrupt, but on the immediate, on the in the most immediate, I mean, these farmers, as [NC GOP Sen.] Thom Tillis says, farmers are one crop away from bankruptcy. That farmer doesn't have time to wait for tariffs to work their way into the system; the benefit of it to work its way into the system at all, this is going to mean higher prices for Americans in the most immediate [time]."

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

"That's why I asked the question how much pain on a temporary basis is, okay –– what's the standard that the president is looking at in terms of how much pain Americans can feel on a temporary basis? That he's okay with?" Bolduan pressed.

"Again, the president is focused every single day on lowering the cost of living in this country while simultaneously implementing these very effective tariffs. Massive deregulation, an energy boom and tax cuts are the economic formula that will mean more prosperity in the lower cost of living and it's a proven formula," she replied before insisting, once again, "Look at President Trump's first term and the results. When he left office, inflation was 1.4 percent. He implemented many tariffs in his first term, that did bring in billions of dollars in revenue."

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Layoffs surged to the highest level since the pandemic driven by Donald Trump's cuts to the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency.

Planned job cuts increased 60 percent to 275,240 last month, the highest level since the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020 and the third-highest monthly total on record, and CNN's Matt Egan marveled at the news.

Reacting to the sweeping tariffs Donald Trump is imposing on the world that sent markets spiraling downward overnight, an MSNBC financial analyst made a prediction that made the host audibly gasp.

Late Wednesday, the president revealed his "Liberation Day" plans that include an extraordinary escalation of what should prove to be a trade war and investor and columnist Steve Rattner had nothing good to say about it during an appearance on "Morning Joe" while speaking with co-host Mike Brzezinski.

After sharing a clip of Trump describing how well he thinks his tariff proposals will pan out, Rattner quickly poured cold water on them after Brzezinski asked him to provide "the big picture here."

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

"This is this was much more significant than people thought," he began. "The numbers are truly staggering in terms of some of the levels of tariffs they're putting on China, so I think a 54 percent tariff on everything we bring from China."

"All the iPhones, all the clothes, all the toys, all the bicycles, so much of what we need is made there and the prices are going to go up very, very substantially for these goods, for the American people," he elaborated "It's going to have severe economic consequences because it is like a tax, it is going to slow the economy down. It is going to add to inflation and I think it is not inappropriate to start to use the 'R word' for a recession in the context of all this."

That led a dismayed Brzezinski to gasp, "Oh god."

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Two prominent CNN commentators led a lively debate Wednesday night over President Donald Trump’s sweeping set of tariffs – which quickly went south as "The View’s" Ana Navarro refused to back down from Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton.

Singleton, who expressed support for Trump’s steep new tariffs targeting China and the European Union, found himself the lone voice on CNN’s “NewsNight” defending the policy – and slamming free trade.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow treated viewers on Wednesday evening to a world tour of some of the stranger places that President Donald Trump slapped with tariffs.

The tariffs, part of Trump's so-called "Liberation Day," tax foreign goods from 10 to 49 percent from just about every other country — but, Maddow noted, they also apply to a few places that don't seem to have much trade with the U.S., or even many people at all, for that matter.

President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs plan was slapped together over a matter of a couple days, CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported on Wednesday evening.

The plan, which puts sharp new taxes on imports from around the world, even from remote and uninhabited islands, has prompted a massive plunge in stock futures and even has some Republican lawmakers revolting against the president.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) hit back at Pam Bondi on Wednesday over the attorney general's recent attacks on Fox News, which Crockett derided at a House hearing as "Faux News."

In recent appearances on Fox News, Bondi criticized Crockett for her remarks about Elon Musk and Tesla, accusing Crockett of using dangerous rhetoric that could incite violence. She took particular issue with Crockett expressing a desire for Musk to be "taken down" during a livestream event. Bondi also tied Crockett’s comments to broader protests against Tesla, some of which have turned violent, including incidents involving Molotov cocktails.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) doubled down on his insults of a terminated government employee who went viral after the lawmaker reacted to his termination by telling him he “probably deserved it…because you seem like a clown.”

The confrontation unfolded on Capitol Hill Tuesday as Mack Schroeder, a former Department of Health and Human Services worker, approached Banks as the Indiana Republican made his way toward a congressional elevator. The war of words escalated Wednesday when Schroeder – and then Banks – made dueling appearances on CNN, where they traded barbs.

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) had a broad conversation about the special elections on Tuesday, and the firehose of news is drowning out its importance.

"I think it has really been a significant 24 hours," said Whitehouse. He began mentioning the 25-hour filibuster by Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), and the win in the Wisconsin state Supreme Court seat was great, but the turnout was more important, he said.

President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden remarks as he touted his “liberation day” tariffs on Wednesday were littered with falsehoods, according to CNN’s in-house fact-checker Daniel Dale, who fired off a stinging fact-check just moments later.

“It was not even close to accurate,” Dale said of Trump’s comments regarding Canadian dairy tariffs.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) fought back against a Fox News host on Wednesday when debating the cuts to government funding and staff.

Martha MacCallum parroted accusations from tech billionaire Elon Musk that Social Security was riddled with "waste, fraud and abuse," even though the claim that millions of dead people have gotten checks has been debunked by The Washington Post.

Democratic state legislators in Georgia walked out en masse as their Republican colleagues advanced measures that would end gender-affirming care for state prisoners, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein reported Wednesday.

The Republican-backed legislation also bans state healthcare facilities and physicians from providing gender-affirming treatments, according to media reports. It spurred House Democrats to stream out of the chambers Wednesday, hours after a legislative committee moved the bill forward.