MAGA fans coping with disaster by 'trying to see a Picasso in a pile of dirt': MSNBC panel
April 08, 2025
Former Republican strategist Tim Miller, who now runs The Bulwark podcast, does not pity those who endorsed President Donald Trump and are now losing huge investments.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace showed a clip of Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy, who raged that he lost $7 million on the first day of the market crash. By Monday, he estimated he'd lost $20 million, calling it "Orange Monday" instead of "Black Monday."
Charlotte Howard, executive editor for The Economist, said a theory of a "Mar-a-Lago Accord" has been "bouncing around for some time." It involves purposefully devaluing the dollar.
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"So, if you squint at it, it's kind of like looking at a pile of dirt and trying to see a Picasso. So, the strategy there would be that, you know, you impose steep tariffs, and the dollar is devalued in trade negotiations. That makes American exports more competitive. And you also squeeze China because China holds a lot of debt as the dollar becomes cheaper, you're exerting pressure on China," she said.
She added she doesn't believe that would work, however.
Wallace quipped, "I want to know some of these people in the business community who see a pile of dirt and see Picasso because I see a pile of horse manure that they think is dirt."
Miller said that what he's seen from Portnoy and the "Mar-a-Lago Accord" crowd "is what I would call 'cope.' Cope is the word that is happening."
"These guys just refuse to believe the reality that's in front of their eyes, which is that they elected a moron who bankrupted a casino as president, and now he's doing to the country what he did to several casinos," Miller said.
There's no complex plan or 4D chess strategy to rebalance trade, he said. The idea of devaluing the dollar to pay down the national debt isn't part of a strategy either, he said.
"This is a mad king who doesn't know what he's doing, who loves the word 'tariff' and who is, you know, stubborn and who is going to ride or die on this," Miller estimated. "Maybe one day he'll change his mind and decide I can declare victory because I have a cult of 33% of supporters that will go along with it, and I'm annoyed with rich people calling me and complaining. Like that might happen someday, but that won't be because it was part of a broader, broader plan that was in place."
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