Chris Cuomo (0:00)

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going Cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Do you want to hear the truth about tariffs that people don't want to hear? I'm going to tell you, but you have to be ready for a lot of drama. You sure? All right, let's get after it. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. We're going to be talking today for my subscribers, my followers, and those who want to be able to say, just don't even try it. Let's do that with tariffs, because this is the game writ large. There is so much bullshit about tariffs going around. Okay, first of all, people really don't get what a tariff is. It works one of two ways. Okay, let's go deep. It's a podcast. Tariff is an Arabic word. Why? Because it has been a tool of leverage in trading for many, many, many, many, many eons and not eons, but for a long time. And who has an older trading culture than the Arabs? All right, so that's why it is an Arab word. Tarif. All right, now we say it tariff, right? And it's used as a verb. I'm tariffing you. It's also a noun, a tariff. Okay, why? Because within the vernacular of business, it was a constant way to even things out. They work one of two ways. Okay? The first way is I'm going to tariff you. You're going to suck it up. It's going to change your margin. But that's the price entry for you doing business with me. Okay? That's what you think Donald Trump has been talking about. All right? That's what a lot of his people say he's been talking about. That is not what he's talking about. The other way, and the most common way, and certainly the way it's worked in American history in the modern era, is I tariff you. It's almost always protective, but much more often, our trade partners, our allies, the people who you say we're bullying, they tariff the out of us. Okay? Way more than we tariff anybody else. Why? Look, in truth, it's kind of an indirect aid package, all right? Now they'll say, stop it. That's not fair. You're doing trade with us. Yeah. But you charge us in a way that isn't free trade. Right. Which is an operative term here that I'll get to in a second. In the evolution of what tariffs were versus what they are today, you put the tariff on, they pass it on, some absorb a little bit, but even that, they find way to increase into their price structure. Okay. So even when they absorb a little bit, most of the price differential between what they want to charge for their product and this tariff. Okay. And what kind of ceiling that puts on it is paid by the importer. So let's say China. China can't just set up shop in America and bring its goods in here and sell them. It's not how it works. They're going to have to use a US entity, an importer. Okay. And you can argue whether that's good or bad and whether it just created a whole additional level of price structure and middleman that we don't really need. And that's a legitimate argument, but that's what we're dealing with. And the importer pays the fee. And what do you think that importer is? It's an American company. And what do you think that importer does to balance out its share? It charges us more. So that's why people are saying, you think that you're going to tariff them and punish them. You're just punishing me as the consumer. There is a legitimate argument to that, and I know Trump folk don't want to hear that right now. No, no, no. Tariffs are going to boom our economy. If Trump can convince the US Congress to get rid of the income tax and just use tariffs, it will explode our economy. No, no effing way. We won't see anything like we have since Reagan. Reagan. Did you see what happened to the deficit and the debt under Reagan? It was the biggest single time increase that was non major war related we've ever seen. Why? Because cutting taxes for the rich and trickle down only makes you have to spend a ton to provide necessary services. So even that reference point, you know, we won't have seen anything since Reagan. Yeah. In a bad way. And you know what would happen if you tried to survive on tariffs as opposed to an income tax, which they passed for a reason. Right side note, everybody says we got to get back to the Constitution. Got to stop violating the Constitution. We're a constitutional republic. Got to get back to it. Have you read it? Have you read the Constitution? Because if you had read the Constitution, let's be honest, less than one in three of us can name the Three branches of government. Can you fucking believe that? George Carlin. Thank you. Thank you for waking me up when I was a kid. Thank you. It's always about the money. It's always about the moneyed interests. They want you to just follow along and believe someone in a ski hat with a microphone, like they have some hidden truth and then just gobble things up. Be a critical thinker, do your own homework. Read the Constitution. The 16th Amendment is the income tax. So the idea, well, Trump can get rid of that. No, he can't. Usaid, Trump can get rid of that. No, he can't. The Department of Education, Trump can get rid of that. No, he can't. Not unilaterally. Anything that Congress funds, you need Congress to defund. Okay, back to tariffs. A president can control tariffs because of power given to him from Congress to conduct foreign policy. All right, so yes, he can put the tariffs on, but the idea that they're going to explode our economy, no, they're going to add to inflation. That's the irony here. That's how I knew Trump was bluffing with the tariffs with Mexico and Canada. And guess what? It worked. He brought them to the table. We'll see what kind of deal he can get out. What we've heard from so far is mostly what they've already committed to, but they certainly weren't going to tariff us back. Why? Because as a percentage of what we make and sell to them, what they could tariff of ours, it's literally single digit them. We're a fifth to a third of their economies. What they trade with us. So we tariff them, it hurts, they tariff us, it's no big deal. So I knew they didn't want to get into that kind of a trade war and most did. That's why so much of this media hype and even the right, you know, the right got themselves in a worse position because they were like, we need the tariffs. It'll make such a big difference. We need them. Well, now you don't have them. So are you disappointed? Oh, no. It's a win. Wait a minute, I thought you said we needed them. I thought they were going to explode our economy. It's a joke. It's all propaganda. And this magnified minority, this fringe mentality that wants extreme things, that cause the main, the majority, nothing but division. So tariffs were used early on as revenue and that's what they're referring to. It used to be great when we did that. No, we had no income tax because the 16th amendment wasn't until 1913 so in the late 1700s and the 1800s, all we had were tariffs. Okay. And it had very middling success because we had very little government. Yeah, that's good. No, because we needed the services. Remember, Remember why they went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution? They went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution because of our needs, not our wants. We needed a military. You needed to put down Shays rebellion and other things like that. When people had uprising and states couldn't handle it, you needed it for the services and to regulate trade among the states and to regulate that people were having the right kinds of living conditions. I mean, we did this for a reason. The founding Fathers, who we all revere, they went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution for a reason. Okay, you could at least read the damn thing. So it was 90% of our revenue, the tariff structure, early on like that. But we had no budget requirements. They made the income tax in 1913 for that reason. There were other reasons also. They were trying to break up some of the robber barons. You should Google who the robber barons were. Because the idea that, oh, there's an oligarchy. Oh, so now we have a fancy word on it and we're pretending like it just happened again. George Carlin, thank you. It's always been about the money. It's always corporate interests. Why do you think the tech Bros are hanging around with Trump? Because he's cool. No, they want him to build the infrastructure for AI for them. Why do you think Elon put 290 million into the guy? Because he got back 2 billion off that investment in his stock price by everybody seeing that he's going to be in bed with Trump with whatever he wants. It was a good investment. Money always wins in America. That's the upside and the downside of capitalism. So part of the thing of restraining them was 1913. 1913 was the 16th amendment. Income tax was two things. Income tax, and there was an adjoining payroll tax. Payroll tax is what the businesses pay. That was. They were trying to get a piece of these corporations that were raping us. Okay. So once we passed the income tax, tariffs went away and they became exclusively protective. Now, the assumption that protective tariffs are a good thing. I don't know. I don't know. Let's jump forward in time. Well, well, Trump tariffed China and it must have worked great because Biden kept them. Okay, now the truth. No, the deal he made with China included them paying for a lot more of our goods than they were at the time. And they never fulfilled that requirement. Why the pandemic? They said they couldn't at the time because the markets had changed, but they just didn't do it and they're still not doing it. So what was the net effect of that tariff? Well, first of all, they tariffed us back again. Weird imbalance because they make a ton of shit that they send to us. Right? We don't make so much stuff that we send to them. And they keep. Keep us out of their markets. They're going after Google right now. So we do not have the same kind of leverage with China that we do with Mexico and Canada. They own a lot of our debt and a lot of our manufacturing. A lot of our companies are trying to get in there. And that's true with Mexico and Canada too. But we can bully them around in a way that they can't deal with the way China can. But what was the other net effect of the Trump tariffs added to inflation? Why? Because the prices went up to deal with the tariff. Because the importer paid it and passed it along to us. This is a fact. Yes, some of it was absorbed by Chinese corporations, but I don't know that it was ultimately absorbed by them at all. I don't know how they passed it along in their cost structure. I don't know. You'd have to research it. And that's assuming that the information is even available, which I don't know now. Well, but Biden kept them, so they must have been good. He kept a couple on steel and some types of manufacturing. Why? Because there's a need there. But again, it's a very dicey proposition. How do we know history? That's why studying history is everything. When you look from 1812 on. Right. The real pivot point is in 1930s. Smoot Hawley. Remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Ben Stein, Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Anyone? Anyone? Smoot Hawley? Anyone? So in the 1930s, to deal with the Great Depression, they tried tariffs to raise revenue and hold off some of the foreign competition. And what did it do? Easy to check. It tanked us. It made everything worse. Why? People didn't have the money to pay the increased prices. And I'm telling you, when you tariff, you raise prices. I know you're hearing Trumpers say no, it's gonna free the economy. It's bullshit. Do you understand? That can be true too. I can have a lot of passion behind what I say. I could have a ski cap on and a microphone that's twice this size and headphones and make it sound like I'm getting special information from other places that nobody else can get it. And here's the other thing that they won't tell you. And the deep state and the establishment and the elites, and I am full of shit. Okay, that can be true too. So the idea that tariffs are the key to a strong economy has never been the case for us, certainly not in the modern era. And when they did try it during the Great Depression, it made it worse. What was the key? Free trade. That was one of the best effects of World War II. All right? And free trade took root, created more partnerships for us where you weren't punishing them. New markets, new access. This dovetails into this BS that we're dealing with with the usaid, the United States Agency for International Development. Why do you think we give money to these people? First of all, Congress allocates it. They make it sound like it's some kind of slush fund. Congress allocates the money. The State Department is overseeing it. They wanted it independent. Why? So it would be less beholden to political agendas. But let's not the facts get in the way of a good story like that. It's all corrupt and secret. But the reason we give money to people is not because we're nice. We give money to them because it's strategic. It's strategic you keep down dissent in those places and insurgencies and bad guys getting in who hate us and the trade relationships and our corporate safety and our American interests that are in those places. It's self serving. Okay, so you want to cut waste, great, I'll talk about that in another episode. But don't make it sound so simple. Because when it's simple, it's simplistic. And when it's simplistic, it's stupid. Again, when you make things sound too simple, it's usually simplistic. And if it's simplistic, it's stupid. All right? You want to give context. You want to give all of the hard things that don't come through on social media is what matters the most. And that's why social media has turbocharged, just turbocharged the tensions. And the division support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from AG1. I dig it. I'm one and done. I use it every day when I travel. I take it with me, I put it in warm water, it's great to drink, tastes fine. And I get my day started with all of the nutritional supplement needs met. And that is the end of the story for me. 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Okay. Tariffs represent what percentage of the US Federal budget. Take a guess. You're not going to get it. Well, unless you Google it, right? Critical thinker. If you looked it up, you knew this answer like that. And that's the point. You don't need me to tell you. You need me to help you frame the questions and the contours of your intellectual construct. What you're going to want to think about, how you're going to want to think about it is up to you. What you're going to want to research, what you're going to want to push back on. These are all your choices not to eat up what I tell you, like I'm some kind of prophet. I'm not a prophet. I'm a searcher like you. I'm in the struggle like you. I'm doing my own research, like you should. Yes, I'm a resource, but be your own as well as well, less than 2%, about $80 billion. Well, that's real money. Not saying it isn't, okay? But when you're talking about the US Federal government, it's always. That's why that famous line from that politician, you know, a million here, a million there. After a while, he's talking about real money. You know, that was ironic. Why? Because it's so much money that we spend on everything. But that's true. And you have to be careful about that. When people are telling you about savings and about how much they're doing, you know that these by percentage are usually a very little piece of what we're doing overall. And why does that matter? Because very often big things take big investments. So tariffs are now less than 2% of our budget. Oh, you should make it more. No, because it winds up being counterproductive because it spikes inflation. And that's why Trump. Another reason. I knew it had to be a tactic, is that as soon as he saw how the markets tanked when the tariffs were about to be put in, why would they care about that? Why would the rich guys and the gamblers on Wall street worry about prices or tariffs? Because they worry about prices. Why? Because the higher prices are, well, that's good. Companies are going to make more, right? No, people buy less, you see? So that's why. And there was another reason. When he saw the market tank. He doesn't want that on his watch. Right. If that had happened under Biden, he would have been, you know, on Truth Social all day until his fingers hurt. Right. About how screwed up it was. He's tanking the markets. He's bad for this, he's bad for that. So it had to be a tactic and good for him. It worked. We'll see what he gets done at the table. But it worked. It worked. We'll see what he can get done with Mexican President Scheinbaum and what he can get with Prime Minister Trudeau. We'll see. China, very different situation. We'll talk about that when it takes more shape. So the World trade organization in 1995 was a key moment because it was proof that, look, you're not going to punish each other into relative advantage anymore through tariffs. You're going to trade, it's going to be open and the more routes that we have, the better. That was the promise of the Internet, right? Was that we're all going to be connected and there'll be this great thing. Now we see it as a bad thing. Globalists. What is a globalist? A globalist is a cynical reckoning of somebody who wants to create partnerships around the world instead of just doing what's best for you in a very short term thinking sense all the time. I'm telling you, I'd rather be a globalist. I'd rather be somebody who's reaching out to try to create new avenues for success for myself than just thinking I can just watch everybody else struggle and somehow that's better for me. I don't believe in addition through subtraction. I believe that you make more pie and the more pie you have, the more you can eat. As opposed to thinking about my slice in a shrinking pile or smaller pie. That's me. That's a matter of perspective. You can look at it however you like. Certainly Trumpism is about being anti global. It's about doing more at home. That's why he likes tariffs. But I'm telling you, there is a price and you will Pay it. Okay. You will pay it. And remember, Trump makes all his shit where? China, maybe Bangladesh. Okay, Maybe Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Why? Because it's cheaper. Okay? So it's guys like Trump, ironically, who are creating the basis for a need for a tariff because they're making so much of the shit there that we're buying that that's the leverage point now. So I'm sure in some twisted world, Trump will say, yeah, I'm helping us by making all my stuff over there because that gives us more to tariff. No bullshit. Make it here. Start with you, man in the mirror. Start with you and make all your stuff here. Why don't you do that, Mr. President? Right. Why? Because it's too expensive, just like everybody else. That's why the idea that he's going to bring jobs back here is poppycock. That's why the idea that if we just got rid of all the Mexicants, we'd be in great shape because we'd have all these production jobs opening up. It's. They're doing jobs that weren't wanting to be done in the economy already. Now, what's also true is that the submarket wages these scumbag businesses are able to pay these people sink the low skill job market altogether. That's what I don't like. That's what I don't like. And they don't pay payroll taxes on these people, only about half to about 60%. That's what I don't like. I think we should be thinking about it that way, not just how do we vacuum them all out of the country. I think that's nonsense. I think that's something that feeds the passion of outrage, but not the practicality of purpose. Ooh, that was good. That feeds the passion of outrage, but not the practicality of purpose, which is if you want to get to a better place, a safer place where they're not costing as much and they're contributing more and you have more vitality economically and in terms of building your communities. And also you are safe and warned against bad people who are sneaking in through a porous border. You have to do both. And the idea of vacuuming them all out is really surrendering half the fight. Now, currently the US budget is $4.4 trillion. Okay, okay, so if you were just tariffing, right, how are you going to pay for all the services? How are you going to pay to a tariff structure that pays for? What would that do to our prices? How would you make these countries absorb them? In what world does that work? Why do you think we have the income tax? Do you really believe that all these waves of administrations have never seized on the opportunity to get rid of the income tax and tariff our way through it? And again, no, Trump can't get rid of the income tax. You need Congress. Dan Bongino has that right. It would take Congress. I don't agree with Dan on the implications for doing that. It's highly speculative and I believe, ignoring our history, I respect his ability to make the case, but I don't agree it's the right case. But he is right. You need Congress to do it. And I don't think it's ever going to happen. I don't even think it's a fucking chance any more than the idea that they're going to put in a constitutional amendment for him to have a third term. Well, but a member of Congress proposed it, so aren't we on the path? Read the fucking Constitution. No, you're nowhere near it. Because when he proposes it or she proposes it in the House or in the Senate, you need 2/3 of Congress to even send it to the states. And then if you send it to the states, you have a ratification process that takes a gazillion years in most cases. Why? Because you have to wait. If there's no Constitutional Convention, which we haven't had since the first 1/3 of the state legislatures to approve it, when's that going to. How is that going to happen? There's no chance. I don't think you could get a constitutional amendment on what the name of this country is. Think about it. You don't think that the lefties would come flying up and saying, America Vespucci was a bad man. Think about it. So tariffs as a way of getting us to a better place. Okay, right now we're tariffing more than usual when we're about $100 billion. Here's what these the three largest. I'm not even including the military, which, by the way, it's great to hear Republicans being open to cutting spending in military for the first time in my lifetime. I would love for them to overhaul how much money we spend on an undefense. Love it. To make it more strategic, more reflective of the current requirements and responsibilities and risks. I think it would be awesome. However, the top three Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Social Security all by itself is 1.4 trillion. Okay, so it's like 14 times what you're making in tariffs. So you're going to increase tariffs 14 times just for that one program? You See what I'm saying? Then you have Medicare and Medicaid there. You know, Medicare is 850, Medicaid 600 billion. Okay? You see what I'm saying? So it's not even reasonable. It's not even rational. If you've done your homework. If you haven't done your homework. Yeah, I don't want to pay taxes. It's better this way. Yeah. Mouth breather lemming. All of the pejoratives apply. Don't let them play you for a sucker. Don't be a sucker. Okay. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Factor. Okay. If you go to my substack and join, you will become part of my wellness health reclamation program. And I am using Factor Meals. And so far so good. I've gotten rid of that first batch of bloat inflammation. Why better food? 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Not gonna happen. Strategically, yes, but let us review. People say Trump's right. The tariffs are gonna grow our economy. Bullshit. Never happens. Not even what they're designed for in the modern era. They're purely protective and punitive. Okay, and how do we know that we're right? Well, history, facts, economics. But also, why did he pull back then? Why didn't he put them in place if they were so great and if we needed them so much? And that's why they were justifying them. Didn't they know they were a tactic? Probably not. Why? Because they're about propaganda all the time. And Allah. Inshallah, Trump. Yes, praise Trump all the time. Instead of being critical thinkers about what is actually good for you and what isn't. He was using it as a stunt. You sold it as a reality. Because everything he does is Jesus touched. Right. So now he didn't put them. So does that mean he failed? I don't think so. But you must, because you said we need the tariffs. He used them as a negotiating tactic. He got people to the tables. And look at all the concessions. I don't know them yet. Most of what has been promised, the big dollar figures from Mexico and from Canada were promised to the Biden administration and in Canada's case, previously to Trump. So there were some add ons, but it's no home run yet. Let's see what he does with this window of negotiation. But the idea that it's going to boost our economy, never happens. Okay. The idea that you can tariff your way and not have an income tax anymore, not gonna happen. The idea that you're gonna apply a tariff and it doesn't affect inflation, not true. And here's a little bonus for you. Have you noticed the price of eggs? You know why they're up, Trump? That's not true. You know why they're up? Because Trump didn't deliver on his promise to lower prices. It's been a few weeks. That's not fair. That's bullshit. That's one side always having to prove that the other side is worse to gain advantage because they don't know how to be better anymore just to scare you into thinking the other side is worse. So then why are eggs more expensive? Ah, same reason that they were picking eggs as one of the prices to pick on against Biden. Bird flu and stock management has been a huge problem in recent years. You know how you heard that case of people having bird flu all of a sudden we didn't know it could jump to humans. It turns out it can. But in rare instances when someone might be immune compromised or handling sick livestock, all the times, sick chickens, ducks, whatever, foul F o w L that's why the price of eggs has skyrocketed. That's why I paid 1033 and they weren't even organic. Oh, I hope Christina didn't hear that. Why are they up? Bird flu. Bird flu was also true during Biden. Well then why didn't he get the benefit of that? Because that's politics. Trump was pissing all over egg prices then. Now he's not even talking about them. Inflation is still a reality and if he keeps tariffing, which I think are just threats, so I don't think it's going to happen. But if it does, he will add to inflation and he will hurt the markets. And that's why I do not believe he will do it. And that this 30 day window is just that, it's just a window. He's not going to tariff at the end of it because it doesn't work for us. And that is the reality. Okay. That's what an independent critical thinker where they need to be. That's the space, how much weight you put on the different variables I gave you, that's up to you. But the idea that tariffs are a great thing, it's great that he thought about it. No, this has been something that have been chewed on, weighed, measured and found lacking by most Republicans and Democrats. Republicans even more so. Okay, it was a Democrat FDR that did Smoot Hawley that tanked us during the Great Depression and it was a lesson about punitive or protective tariffs. Think about it. The Republicans used to be free trade. The Republicans used to be about heart and head when it came to immigration. Now we're in this new era of harshness and outrage and demagoguery and it's really about Trump. But that's the side he was on and he co opted it. I don't know, maybe he would have done the same thing to the Democratic Party if he started as one of them. Well actually he did start as one of them. But if he had run as one of them, I don't know. But this is where we are. And you need to understand what things mean so you can decide for yourself what role they play in your understanding of what you want from the people in power. Because I'll tell you what I know for sure. The days of saying, well, which one is worse? And holding your nose to make a choice must die. And we have to push these people to be doing things at all times. Act, act, act, act. Good actions, bad actions, at least we can measure them. At least people are doing things other than just pointing fingers and making us hate ourselves. Because I'll tell you who that works for. The guys with the ski hats, the big microphones and the cans. These profiteering podcasters. Okay? That's why I entered the space, to balance it out. And they can attack me and they can have their following. They're still magnified minorities. Social media is not reality. It is not the majority. Most people are not sucked into their phone 90% of the time. Not when they're adults with jobs and relationships and things to manage in their lives. We're living a life that's meant for kids, and it's toxic for them, and it's toxic for us as well. Get your fucking nose out of social media and into researching if you want to get to a better place in space in terms of understanding our politics. And it will all become so painfully clear to you if you do, because the game is afoot and these profiteering podcasters want you to think that Covid was designed by the US Government to hurt you and that the vaccine is poison and that if you just took Ivermectin, you'd never be sick again. All that bullshit is the same crop that's now saying tariffs are great and Trump has the answer to everything. When Trump does something that works, like he just did with this negotiation ploy, give him an attaboy. Because what we want is progress, not relative advantage. And when he does things that don't make any sense and don't work the way they're supposed to, there'll be ample opportunity for scrutiny. Now you know, and you're going to talk this tariff, talk to people, and they're not going to like it. And that's their problem. You, me, do our research, come to our reckonings, and then let's get after it. Thank you for subscribing and following. It's great to have you here at the Chris Cuomo Project. It's great to have you on News Nation, 8 p. 11 p. Every weekday night Eastern. And like the podcast, hate the ads. One place you can get it ad free Substack. Now, Substack is a home for a very different side of who I am, which is my wellness journey dealing with being an aging athlete, 50 plus fitness, long Covid, which I have. All of the things that I'm doing. You see the videos in real time. All of the doctor advice that I've gotten is on there with my doctor, Dr. Robin Rose. All the foods that I'm trying, the supplements I'm trying, everything I'm doing is on there. Five bucks a month or 50 bucks a year. It's a great deal for what it is. And I'm keeping the price down there because I want to encourage people to join. All right, I'll see you soon. Yes, the free agent gear is still out there. You want to wear your independence and show that you're a critical thinker and not some party lemming, then do it. 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