'Decimated for 60 years': GOP senator warns tariff backlash has dearly cost Republicans

ALSO READ: Embittered 'Stop the Steal' truthers train their fire on MAGA's saboteur: Trump

'Decimated for 60 years': GOP senator warns tariff backlash has dearly cost Republicans
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A Republican senator all but begged President Donald Trump on Wednesday to back off his key economic policy — widespread tariffs.

President Donald Trump enacted new tariffs Wednesday, announcing at a Rose Garden speech a baseline 10 percent tariff on all imports from every country, effective Saturday. Trump also announced reciprocal tariffs targeting specific countries, such as 34% on China and 20% on the European Union, which will go into effect on April 9.

The measures are part of what Trump called "Liberation Day," which has has said will combat trade imbalances and protect U.S. industries.

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

A previously announced 25% tariff on foreign-made vehicles will take effect Thursday.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called the tariffs a "terrible idea" — and warned Republicans have a fraught history with them.

"Tariffs with Canada threaten us with recession," he said. "I mean, it's a terrible, terrible idea. And I think we're going to win the vote today; over half the Senate is going to vote against these tariffs."

When a reporter asked Paul his thoughts on Trump's remarks that any Republican who opposes tariffs looks weak and is siding with the Democrats, Paul said he believes it's the "opposite."

"I think it shows strength of character. That we are for something that is so much more to important economic, really orthodoxy, that tariffs are bad for the country. But it's not only that they're bad economically; historically, tariffs have decimated the Republican Party that supported them."

That includes the GOP in 1890, which supported tariffs and lost nearly half their seats, from 171 to just 88. The same happened in 1930, when the Republicans lost 52 seats in the House and eight in the Senate, largely due to voter dissatisfaction with their handling of the Great Depression.

"They were decimated for 60 years. The Republicans did not control the House or the Senate for 60 years after the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. So I would argue that tariffs, particularly at least for recession, are devastating politically," he said.


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Trump vows vengeance after Kristen Welker hits him where it hurts: ‘She will be reported’

President Donald Trump vowed vengeance against NBC News’ Kristen Welker Sunday after the “Meet the Press” host commented on the president’s endorsement record, the power of which has “faded in recent weeks” following a “string of primary losses.”

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

Trump has clashed with Welker over the years, most recently during their fiery interview in June in which Welker pressed the president on his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. Trump ultimately stormed out of the interview after shouting down Welker and NBC News as a “one-sided, crooked network.”

“Unfortunately, she is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything ‘TRUMP,’” Trump continued.

“Their new weapon is to say that my 99% SUCCESS Rate on Endorsements, 100% on Senatorial Endorsements (Many of whom were not even given a shot of winning until I Endorsed!), is either a mixed result, or not very good. In actuality, it is, without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics. If it were not, I would be the first to admit it.”

Despite Trump’s claims, four of his endorsements for governor failed to win their respective nomination, and two Trump-backed congressional candidates lost their primaries in July.

President Donald Trump vowed vengeance against NBC News’ Kristen Welker Sunday after the “Meet the Press” host commented on the president’s endorsement record, the power of which has “faded in recent weeks” following a “string of primary loses.”

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

Trump has clashed with Welker over the years, most recently during their fiery interview in June in which Welker pressed the president on his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. Trump ultimately stormed out of the interview after shouting down Welker and NBC News as a “one-sided, crooked network.”

“Unfortunately, she is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything ‘TRUMP,’” Trump continued.

“Their new weapon is to say that my 99% SUCCESS Rate on Endorsements, 100% on Senatorial Endorsements (Many of whom were not even given a shot of winning until I Endorsed!), is either a mixed result, or not very good. In actuality, it is, without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics. If it were not, I would be the first to admit it.”

Despite Trump’s claims, four of his endorsements for governor failed to win their respective nomination, and two Trump-backed congressional candidates lost their primaries in July.

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Raging Trump roars 'CROOKED' and 'FAKE' in all-caps Truth-Social threat

President Donald Trump suffered a public meltdown Sunday morning over his plummeting poll numbers and the people who report them.

Trump took to Truth Social about 8:45 a.m. to threaten political journalists who report to their readers the president's popularity ratings have stagnated at roughly negative-20 points since late May.

THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT," Trump wrote. "FCC TO THE RESCUE!"

It remains unclear what Trump expects the Federal Communications Commission to do, but the agency has been accused by ABC News of intimidating the network into making programming changes.

Earlier this month, ABC sued the FCC on First Amendment grounds, arguing its demand for early review of broadcast licenses posed an "existential threat."

The demand arrived after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel infuriated the president with his joke about First Lady Melania Trump, according to PBS and the Guardian.

Kimmel said Melania Trump glowed "like an expectant widow" — two days before a failed attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The Brookings Institute reports this was not the first time the FCC leveraged its power at Trump's behest.

"It is a bad business deal and an even worse deal for democracy," their report states. "We saw it with Jimmy Kimmel, “The View,” and now the Iran war: When Trump doesn’t like broadcast coverage of his administration, he often threatens their existence, and the chairman of the FCC joins in."



‘Oh my God!’: Fox News flubs preview of interview with second lady with on-air gaffe

Fox News appeared to hit a snag Sunday after its preview of an interview with Second Lady Usha Vance experienced apparent audio problems, with one host heard loudly exclaiming during the incident.

Just ahead of a commercial break, the cast of the “Fox & Friends Weekend” teased an upcoming segment: an exclusive interview with the second lady.

“What’s the hardest part?” Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy is heard asking the second lady in the interview preview clip.

“The hardest part is the fishbowl that JD lives in, in particular,” the second lady is heard saying just before the audio turns silent.

Papers could be heard shuffling, followed by quiet murmuring. Campos-Duffy is then heard saying loudly: “Oh my God, I was joking!”

After another brief moment of awkward silence, Fox News’ Griff Jenkins is then heard launching an apparent effort to cut to a commercial break.

“Fox & Friends Weekend, exclusive with the second lady,” Jenkins is heard saying.

Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” has had a number of on-air gaffes or mistakes over the years, perhaps the most controversial of which being its recent airing of the wrong footage when covering the dignified transfer to U.S. service members killed in President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran.

Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade was forced to apologize last year after suggesting that homeless Americans should face “involuntary lethal injection” and that the U.S. government should “just kill ‘em.” The program has also faced scrutiny for promoting false stories, such as the debunked theory that officials in Nashville, Tennessee concealed the number of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.

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