Professor Justin Wolfers, Joe Walsh on tariffs and April Ryan on Trump trying to whitewash history. Stay tuned for Jim's commentary "Not On Our Watch" when it comes to erasing history

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Jim Acosta Show – April 8, 2025

Overview In this episode of The Jim Acosta Show, host Jim Acosta delves into the current economic turmoil precipitated by President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on the global economy. The episode features insightful discussions with Professor Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan, former Congressman Joe Walsh, and journalist April Ryan. The conversations navigate the complexities of tariffs, political ramifications within the Republican Party, and alarming attempts to whitewash American history. Acosta underscores the urgency of preserving truth and history, concluding with his resolute stance: "Not on our watch."

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1. Economic Downturn and Tariffs with Professor Justin Wolfers

Timestamp: 00:00 – 17:38

Jim Acosta opens the show by highlighting the plummeting Dow Jones Industrial Average, which closed down approximately 300 points. He references a quote from Dumb and Dumber to illustrate the market's volatility and investor uncertainty regarding Trump's tariff policies.

Key Discussion Points:

• Understanding Tariffs: Professor Justin Wolfers provides a comprehensive explanation of tariffs, clarifying misconceptions often propagated by the White House. He emphasizes that tariffs are essentially taxes on imports, predominantly borne by American consumers and businesses.

  "The most important thing to understand therefore is this is a tax literally paid for by an American." [04:39]

• Economic Impact: Wolfers discusses how tariffs increase the cost of imported goods, leading to higher prices for consumers and decreased profitability for American businesses. He debunks the notion that foreign countries absorb the entire burden of tariffs, stating:

  "85% of it on average is borne by Americans." [08:25]

• Political Economy: The professor criticizes the concentration of tariff authority in the President's hands, arguing that such significant economic decisions should be made by Congress to ensure accountability and deliberation.

  "Congress comes out and says, hey man, it's not your decision." [10:45]

• Predictions: Wolfers warns of an impending recession due to the unnecessary imposition of tariffs, comparing the current situation to past financial crises like that of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  "I think there's a very high chance of a recession. I think it'll do enormous damage to people's lives." [13:14]

Notable Quotes:

• "No one should believe it's all... markets saying right back, nice theory, guys, we don't believe it." [04:08]
• "Once Trump looks up the membership list of the American Economic Association and randomly picks any set of names out of that book, 100% of them would tell him this is misguided." [15:21]

Professor Wolfers' analysis provides listeners with a clear understanding of the economic ramifications of Trump's tariff policies, highlighting the disconnect between political rhetoric and economic reality.

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2. Republican Party Dynamics with Joe Walsh

Timestamp: 17:38 – 29:26

Following Professor Wolfers, Jim Acosta brings in former Congressman Joe Walsh to discuss the internal strife within the Republican Party caused by Trump's policies.

Key Discussion Points:

• Blame and Accountability: Walsh addresses the pervasive issue of blaming Trump as the sole architect of the current economic and political crises. He argues that the Republican Party shares significant responsibility for enabling Trump's detrimental policies.

  "Every bad thing Trump has done... Republicans have laid down and let him do it." [21:36]

• Echo Chamber Effect: He critiques the Republican establishment and Fox News for perpetuating misinformation and shielding Trump from accountability.

  "Fox News and all of Trump's media sycophants echo the lies." [25:23]

• Potential Solutions: Walsh suggests that meaningful change will require pressure from Trump's wealthy donors and influential Republicans who recognize the impending economic and political fallout.

  "Only that will move, will move Trump." [27:27]

• Future Projections: He warns that without intervention from within the party and its donors, Trump will continue to pursue policies that harm the American economy and further destabilize the political landscape.

  "The only thing that will make Trump pause is if a band of his wealthiest donors come to him and say, you gotta stop." [27:27]

Notable Quotes:

• "This is on Republican voters. Why has Trump so easily been able to lie to Trump voters for 10 years? Because they take it, because they allow it." [26:59]
• "This golden age reminds me of old Europe when the haves had and the have nots were out in the streets and dirty gutter water. The caste system." [55:17]

Joe Walsh provides a critical insider perspective on the Republican Party's complicity in Trump’s strategies, emphasizing the need for internal reform to avert further economic and political damage.

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3. Preserving American History with April Ryan

Timestamp: 29:26 – 57:53

The episode culminates with journalist April Ryan discussing alarming attempts by the Trump administration to erase significant aspects of American history, particularly concerning African American heritage.

Key Discussion Points:

• Whitewashing History: Ryan highlights initiatives to remove or alter historical narratives related to slavery and African American contributions. She references efforts to dismantle the portrayal of figures like Harriet Tubman in museums.

  "Harriet Tubman, the greatness of Harriet Tubman was she was a black woman who had the bandwidth, mentally, to be able to figure out and navigate these trails." [34:08]

• Museum Integrity: Emphasizing the bipartisan origins of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Ryan denounces attempts to undermine its accuracy and educational purpose.

  "This was bipartisan. George W. Bush was there for that." [35:06]

• Personal Impact: Ryan shares her emotional experiences visiting the museum, underscoring the profound importance of accurately representing historical injustices to prevent their recurrence.

  "I went in with Barack Obama, President Barack Obama at the time. And they actually...they had people to console you because it was so riveting." [36:24]

• Ongoing Struggles: She warns that erasing historical truths will lead to increased societal polarization and the potential rise of organized racism and fascism.

  "Once you start erasing our history, you erase others and it's. Trust me." [47:16]

• Call to Action: Ryan urges listeners to remain vigilant and support institutions like the Smithsonian to safeguard America's historical legacy.

  "Just keep watching for what's happening at the African American Museum of History." [56:39]

Notable Quotes:

• "Slavery is a big deal and that museum chronicles it so well." [40:25]
• "You cannot walk away from slavery, period. It's an injustice." [47:18]
• "This is why there are so many people in this country who are worried that Trump is taking us down the path of fascism and ultra nationalism and organized racism." [42:44]

April Ryan's poignant reflections stress the critical need to preserve and honor historical truths as a bulwark against the erasure of marginalized narratives, highlighting the broader implications for American democracy and social cohesion.

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4. Jim Acosta’s Closing Commentary

Timestamp: 57:53 – End

Jim Acosta concludes the episode by reiterating the core themes discussed by his guests. He passionately underscores the necessity of resisting efforts to distort economic realities and erase historical truths.

Key Points:

• Commitment to Truth: Acosta vows to continue fighting against misinformation and the erasure of history, encapsulated in his repeated refrain:

  "Not on my watch. You're not going to tear down the history of this country. Not on my watch." [57:23]

• Unity and Vigilance: He urges listeners to recognize that they are not alone in their concerns and emphasizes the collective responsibility to protect the nation's integrity.

  "You need to know that you're not alone. We are just not going to let it happen. Not on our watch." [57:53]

• Final Thoughts: Acosta reflects on the hypocrisy of Trump's stance on tariffs, recalling Trump's business dealings with China, and highlights the broader consequences of his policies on everyday Americans.

  "Donald Trump, you are the biggest hypocrite when it comes to this issue." [55:14]

Notable Quotes:

• "You are erasing the history of this country. Donald Trump, you tried to erase the history of this country when you wouldn't concede defeat in 2020." [58:45]
• "If you erase history, you are erasing us. You are erasing you and me." [56:39]

Conclusion: Jim Acosta's impassioned conclusion serves as a rallying cry against the ongoing economic and historical challenges posed by the Trump administration. By integrating expert analyses and firsthand accounts, the episode emphasizes the critical need for informed activism and unwavering commitment to truth and justice.

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Final Takeaway This episode of The Jim Acosta Show offers a multifaceted exploration of the interconnectedness between economic policies, political accountability, and the preservation of history. Through in-depth discussions with Professor Justin Wolfers, Joe Walsh, and April Ryan, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the detrimental effects of Trump's tariffs, the internal conflicts within the Republican Party, and the urgent need to protect American historical narratives from deliberate distortion. Acosta's steadfast declaration, "Not on our watch," encapsulates the episode's core message: the imperative to uphold truth, resist manipulative policies, and ensure that history remains an unblemished cornerstone of American identity.

Transcript

[Jim Acosta]

And welcome to the Jim Acosta show. It's Tuesday, April 8th. Joining me right now is Justin Wolfers. He's a professor of economics at the University of Michigan. Really appreciate you doing this. I do want to just get people caught up with what's happening right now. We're all keeping our eye on the Dow, on the markets, on Wall Street. It looks like it's going to close down about 300 or so points. And you know, I was thinking of the quote from Dumb and Dumber. It feels sort of appropriate today when the actor Jim Carrey says, so you're saying there's a chance investors, big CEOs, other titans of Wall street are all hopeful that Donald Trump will change his mind and just back down. And we saw a little bit of that earlier today. When the market took off in the morning, it went up over 1,000 points. And then things kind of cooled back down, so investors went hunting for deals. But then the markets fell again, appears to be no let up in sight. And Trump's quest to impose tariffs on the global economy. And there's lots of pain to go around. The Wall Street Journal put it this way, a big bounce back rally stalled on Wall street with volatility picking up in the afternoon and a broad retreat from intraday highs short circuiting, a brief celebration of increased trade clarity. Justin, help us figure this out. You're a professor of economics. You were just telling me before we got started here that you're a popular band these days. Lots of folks like me are reaching out to you and saying, what the hell is going on? So I'll start there. What the hell's going on?

[Justin Wolfers]

Yeah. Jim, you did a very good job of looking like a news anchor, actually.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you.

[Justin Wolfers]

Numbers and hoping your audience knew what they meant. Look, there's a much simpler way of saying all of this. So Wednesday was liberation day. Stocks fell 10% in the two days that followed. And there'd been some hope that, you know, today would be better. And it wasn't. That's the end of the story. And you might be like, well, why is a guy like Jim Acosta spending a lot of time looking at financial markets?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, why am I?

[Justin Wolfers]

Jim, you've got a 401k and big part of your wealth. And for many of our viewers, it's a big part of your wealth. You don't naturally think about it that way. You're not checking the balance every day. But that for many people, it's either that or their house, the most valuable thing they own. If stocks fall 10% in a day. That's much worse than a big car crash in terms of its effect on your wealth. That's real. It matters. The second thing is when people are buying stocks, it tells us something about the likely future of the economy. Because when you buy a stock, what you're effectively doing is you're saying, hey, I want to be part of this company. I want to buy all its future profits. I want to get all those dividend checks. So the amount you're willing to pay for a stock really is a question of how confident you are that those companies are going to be profitable in the future. Now, there is a saying the stock market is not the economy. And that's right. Stocks rise because the value of big American companies rise. That says nothing about what happens to consumers. It says nothing about small business. It says nothing about other countries. But when we're talking about tariffs, all positive effects, if they exist, run through big American businesses. The case from the White House, not my theory. The theory of the case from the White House is we provide these tariffs and big American businesses become more profitable and then they expand. What we're seeing here is markets saying right back, nice theory, guys, we don't believe it. And I think really importantly, Jim, it's easy. Right now you're talking to a talking head. I'm a talking head. Right now. No one should believe it's all. Most talking heads are in the pocket of big something or other. And there's no consequences for lying. But what the financial is, they force you to put your money where your mouth is. And that's where millions and in fact billions of dollars is being traded. So people are taking enormous bets based on very sophisticated information. And those big bets are that these tariffs are going to be a loser on the very group they were meant to help, which must tell us, given all the other benefits were downstream of helping American business, that no one's going to gain from these tariffs.

[Jim Acosta]

And Justin, forgive me for asking a simplistic question, but for all the folks out there in the back who don't understand what a tariff is, and I'm talking about the President of the United States, you know, because he has gone out there and misrepresented what a tariff is for so many years now and did it out on the campaign trail, does it from the trappings of the White House that it has really misled people. Can you just explain what a tariff is? I hate to make you do that and make you do your professor thing.

[Justin Wolfers]

But yeah, I bought a coffee roaster Recently I like to roast my own coffee paints. Fun fact, I bought it from abroad and so they send it to my address. But first of all, it stops in customs. That coffee roaster or any good you import will sit in customs until I, the person who imports it, pays customs duty. The tariff attacks to get it out. The most important thing to understand therefore is this is a tax literally paid for by an American. Despite my accent, I'm an American. Every tariff is a tax on America. You might say, what are we taxing? We're taxing imports. And so that's at a very direct level. A tariff is a tax on imports. That's what it says in my. I happen to have a prop here, introductory economics tick says, right, can you.

[Jim Acosta]

Send that to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? I just, you know, if you got any extras, I'll pay the tariff to send it through the mail. Not that it's called a tariff, but you know what I mean.

[Justin Wolfers]

So that's the very simple pre economics 101. That's actually the dictionary definition of what a tariff is. Do you mind if we do the Economics 101 version?

[Jim Acosta]

I would love that, yes.

[Justin Wolfers]

Okay. So when I went to order my coffee roaster, I don't know, the coffee roaster cost $500. The tariff was 10%, 50 bucks. Right. Now tariffs are going to be varies on the country and so on, but round about 20%. So now the tariff's going to be 100 bucks. How might this play out in reality? Well, I could say to the coffee making machine, the roasting company, which is in China, I could say to them, hey man, it's too expensive now, could you give me a deal? If I were really lucky, they'd say yes. So instead of charging me 500 bucks, they might charge me 480. I still have to pay 100 to get it out of custom. So now it's as if they're paying a little bit of the tariff and I'm paying a lot. So that's actually the argument. There is an argument that, quote, china will pay. The argument is once these tariffs come in that you can just ask the other side for a discount and they'll give it to you. Now for some goods, actually, I'll go to the other side often. That's absurd. For instance, if I import a thousand T shirts from China, my Chinese wholesaler would say to me, you know what, I could sell those thousand to the EU instead. Why would I offer you a penny less that I can get over there? So they're going to say, I'm going to say, can I have a better deal because I'm paying a tariff? And they're going to say no. In which case the amount that I pay goes up dollar for dollar with the tariff. Yeah, you can imagine type of good, an incredibly specialized good that can only be sold to say, high tech American manufacturing companies. Now I say, getting too expensive for me. Could you offer me a deal? And they might say, well, if I can't sell it to you, I'm not going to be able to sell this thing. Yeah, they're worried about getting stuck with it, so they're going to be forced to offer me a deal. And in that case they might, they might offer to absorb some of the cost of the tariff. So we can see that there are cases where it's true, it's all borne by Americans and there are cases where some of it's borne by the foreign country. There's a rule of thumb that Wall street economists use. So let me just teach everyone, if there's a 1 tariff on something, on average the consumer you pay $0.70 extra. The store you bought it from will absorb $0.15 of the cost. And the country you bought it from, the company abroad, will absorb 15 cents of the cost. So 85% of it on average is borne by Americans. So when I say cost will be on Americans, that's approximately right. And when Trump says the cost will all be absorbed by foreign countries, he's 85% wrong.

[Jim Acosta]

There you go. Very interesting. That is a great explanation and I'm going to bottle that and put it on my socials so people can hear it because that was just so terrific, Justin. And lots of follow up questions I could ask. Do you think it's a good idea for the President to have unilateral control over tariffs? And I don't mean the President as in the President right now, but any president. Is that a good idea? So there was a political question, right?

[Justin Wolfers]

No, no, it's political economy.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Justin Wolfers]

Once upon a time there was a rationale for this. The rationale is that this is a strategic tool to be used in strategic occasions. And when foreign trading partners are up to no good, having to go to through that whole rig morale is a bad idea. Let's elect a pretty good president and trust them to do the right thing. That's actually why the Constitution gives the power over tariffs directly to Congress. It's incredibly clear Congress realized Congress was often slow to act and so gave emergency powers to the President.

[Jim Acosta]

There you go.

[Justin Wolfers]

Then declares a national emergency Because I don't know, it's cold in April.

[Jim Acosta]

I, I, he claims it's because of fentanyl. And some, and some of these arguments.

[Justin Wolfers]

But you're ones are not fentanyl. First of all, fentanyl. Yes, you're right, that was originally used against Canada more. They're more fentanyl than they send us. Yeah, it's where you get these ridiculous contortions. So all of this is it's a national security problem or that it's an emergency because of the balance of trade, which is actually not a problem anyway. So there are actually constitutional issues. But back to your question. You said is it a good idea for the president to have these powers in limited strategic cases? Yes, but this set of tariffs will be the largest tax rise in the United States in 50 years. Who should make policy? My answer, the Constitution's answer and history's answer is Congress. And if Republicans had ever thought that a Democrat could raise tariffs by 20 percentage points at the stroke of a pen, they would have tripped over themselves to take that pen away.

[Jim Acosta]

That is an amazing explanation of that as well. And I'm going to just a note to our viewers, Joe Walsh is going to be joining me in just a bit and then April Ryan a little later on in the program. So please stay tuned for both of those great guests. Justin, so what is happening right now? It seems as though you have countries that are going to Trump. The White House says 50 plus countries have come to them. We have no idea whether or not that's true or not. Do you have confidence that we'll be able to avoid a big economic crisis? Because when you look at what's taking place on Wall street, not only is the plunging of the down plunging of the markets a concern, I also think the volatility of the markets and the way they've been subject to wild rumors. Like we saw yesterday, the market swung upward because there was a rumor that Trump was going to start negotiating and maybe put a pause on things. And there were all these expectations this morning that things were going to be okay. And then the market shot up. It just seems in addition to things going down, there's a ton of volatility which I have to assume is not good.

[Justin Wolfers]

Jim, let me start with the first of three those questions. There was a lot there. And I'm going to ask you to pick something back. Okay, mate. We all get excited by international trade policy. I understand it. You started by saying the White House says 50 countries have called, they want to negotiate. This is success. It's like when I call my plumber, I call him in the middle of winter and I say, we have freeze. The pipes burst. My plumber says, well, a whole lot of other people are calling me right now. That's not evidence of good things happening. That's evidence of a whole lot of burst pipes. And basically our international trade goes through these big virtual pipes and they're all bursting. And we're calling the only plumber we know. And it's not actually a plumber. It's someone who's actually taken an instrument to these pipes and destroyed them. So, no, this is not good news that 50 countries have called. It's a statement of how utterly they've wrecked the joint and they want something fixed. Now get onto the heart of your question, man.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Justin Wolfers]

What is it? Were there macro things you wanted to talk about as well there?

[Jim Acosta]

No. I mean, I guess the general, you know, core of my question is, are you concerned? Are you worried about this? Because we have not. I don't. You and I are. I'm going to guesstimate that we're roughly in the same age group, bracket, generation, etc. I don't remember anything like gray hair.

[Justin Wolfers]

I see there m. There's a little.

[Jim Acosta]

Bit of gray hair. I don't know. I. I mean, you guys with the Australian accents, I mean, you know, it's like the British accent. It's just not fair when you match it up with the Americans. But. But I have not seen anything like this happen in my lifetime where we have a financial crisis caused by the whims of one individual. And it makes me worry. It makes me think, okay, we don't. It's like the old Donald Rumsfel. You have known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. And I feel like we're in an unknown, unknown type of situation.

[Justin Wolfers]

Yeah. So, look, I'm scared. I think there's a very high chance of a recession. I think it'll do enormous damage to people's lives. And the thing that angers me deep in my bones is how incredibly unnecessary it is. I've felt this fear two other times in my life. My guess is you too. The 2008 financial crisis, where everything was plummeting and it felt like we were unmoored and we didn't know where the bottom was. At least we knew what caused it. And obviously during the COVID pandemic. Now, you know, aspiring to be as powerful as a virus probably isn't something I'd recommend. We know what the problem is. The call is coming from inside the House. It's actually we should be defended against this, which is Congress owns these powers. And so we're in an unusual situation in our history, which is Congress is refusing to stand up for Congress. And that, I think is really quite problematic. And we're seeing real American political institutions. So when the UK had a deeply unpopular leader who implemented a political program that threatened to crash the economy, Liz Truss, the party just threw out. That was the strength of a parliamentary system. No one can throw this guy out for the next four years. The problem here is not that Trump is evil. There are questions there, of course. The problem is that he has a fundamental misunderstanding of international trade. It's one I'm not unfamiliar with. I teach 18 year olds all the time. They come into my class full of bravado and confidence and all sorts of naivete, and by the end of the semester they understand the problem is gone through your life another 60 years after that. You. And you're rich people. When you're rich, people tell you that you're right all the time. In the first Trump administration, there were people like Gary Cohn who were advising the President who literally resigned over tariffs. This time he surrounded himself with the small subset of people on earth who agree with him. And that's the. If the President looked up the membership list of the American Economic association and randomly picked any set of names out of that book, 100% of them would tell him this is misguided. There's only one. That exception is Peter Navarro. Unfortunately, the way that President Trump seeks advisors is he asked his son in law, Jared Kushner, find me an advisor who hates China as much as I do. Kushner will do. Which is when you're shopping for something. He went to Amazon and he found a book by Pin Navarro extolling how much he hated China. So the President has managed to surround himself with an echo chamber and he won't listen. That's what stuck. The only ways we get out unstuck markets. Teach him the hard way. This is so painful. Congress comes out and says, hey man, it's not your decision. Or his rich mates, who are less rich this week than they were last week, start to exert a lot of pressure.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, well, you paint a gloomy picture, but I think that's the reality and I think people need to hear the reality. And Justin, that was such an amazing explanation of all those things. I hope you don't mind. I'm going to probably ask you to come back over and over again. So. So that's your punishment for being so damn good. But thank you for explaining all of this stuff and doing it in a way where people can just figure this stuff out and understand it, because there's so much disinformation, bad information, bad faith actors in this space that we just need it explained to us in a way that. Yes, I got it now. Thank you. So thank you, Justin. Really appreciate it.

[Justin Wolfers]

Way to teach economics. So thank you, and thanks to all your viewers.

[Jim Acosta]

Thanks a lot. All right. And look for Justin on subsequent. I'm hoping you're going to do more of this, because I think it's a great. Let's do it. Okay, great. Okay, good to see you. Take care. That was Justin Wolfers. Professor Justin Wolfers of University of Michigan. I hope everybody was happy with that, because I am just absolutely ecstatic to just get the detailed information that we need in this crisis right now. This crisis, as the professor pointed out, was caused by one human being who doesn't understand economics, has surrounded himself with. Yes. People who are not going to talk him out of it. And I think Justin is absolutely right that we're in a situation right now where you're not going to see Trump climb back down until influential people who are around him say to him, listen, there are going to be consequences for you if you don't back off. And all right, I'm going to bring in Joe Walsh. Joe's been standing by patiently. And the reason why I want to bring in Joe is he understands the political reality of this. He served in Congress. Served in Congress with the Republican Party, was, of all things, a member of the Tea Party at one point. So used to be a pretty conservative guy when it comes to economics. Maybe he still is. I'm curious to get some of his thoughts on all of this. And as the substack machine does its thing and it's spinning its wheels and we're trying to get Joe in here as somebody just. Somebody just put the message up Illinois in the House, trying to get Joe to jump on the substack machine here. Just gonna text him and say, looking for you now. Let's see. Hopefully he's just kind of getting it. Somebody just chimed in and said, cool background. Absolutely cool background. I am traveling right now. I'm in a hotel room. And check this out. Look what's over my shoulder here. Lady Liberty in the House. Right over my shoulder. It was meant to be. And let's see. He says he's waiting on the invite. Interesting. Okay, let me try this again. Love Joe Walsh. Let's see what is your substack user. Make sure I'm using the right thing. There are multiple substack user things in here. Let's try. Let's just try this again, folks. You've seen this before and you've noticed that I've said once, I'll say it again. Never let the correspondent touch the equipment. Never let the anchor touch the equipment. And let's. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's the one I'm hitting, Joe. That is the one I am hitting. Let's see here. Sometimes it's Internet connection stuff, connectivity issues. There he is. There's my man, Joe. How are you, Joe?

[Joe Walsh]

Hi, Jim Acosta. How are you, man?

[Jim Acosta]

Good. It's been too long. You're never far from my mind. I wish I could have you on all the time. I love our conversations. It's great to have you on again. I just had this amazing professor, Justin Wolfers, on explain all of this stuff. You heard some of his explanations, and it's important to hear it explained in plain English because there's so much disinformation right now. Bad information.

[Joe Walsh]

Scary bad information. Jim and Carolyn Levitt comes out today, about two hours ago, and actually looks in the cameras and says, everybody supports what Trump's doing with these tariffs. Everybody. I mean, to have that, to throw that out there now when the world has been tossed up in the air because of this, that's like shameless.

[Jim Acosta]

It is. And I think there's. There might be a little bit of feedback coming from me. So I'm going to just, let's see, I'm going to ask a question, hope that it doesn't cause too much interference. But, Joe, I mean, I saw you put out a tweet that said, basically, I think Adam Kinzinger said, okay, there's one person to blame for all of this, and it's Donald Trump. And I think you responded to that by saying, yes, that's true to some extent, but there's a party to blame here. And right now, I think Justin was explaining this a few moments ago, that until the party pulls Trump off the ledge, pulls him off the end of the tree branch, we're all stuck with him out on the ledge, out on the tree branch.

[Joe Walsh]

Let's be clear. Jim Acosta, Adam Kinzinger, who I got elected with, is a hero. And I love the guy, absolutely adore Adam. But when I saw that tweet of his, you know, something like, you know, this is all because of one man. We're here because of one man. I Just got pissed off about that. This has been the story of the Republican Party, right? Every. Every bad thing Trump has done, every un American thing Trump has done, every authoritarian thing, every dishonest thing Republicans have laid down and let him do it. And you know what, Jim? You know this. It's really interesting. My former Republican colleagues in the House, when you talk about the threat to democracy and the rule of law, he tried to overthrow an election. He doesn't believe the rule of law applies to him. Congressional Republicans will just shake their head and laugh at me. But on these tariffs, this is different. I'm hearing something different from my former Republican colleagues. They're not happy about this because this is the kind of shit that's gonna impact their voters. And I'm hearing, Jim, a lot more grumbling among my former colleagues privately about this than even him trying to overthrow an election.

[Jim Acosta]

So what's the answer?

[Joe Walsh]

Acosta, damn you. That's such a good. Well, you know what the deal is, right? What can stop him? We have a madman right now. And by the way, think about it, Jim. No single person should have this power. One person has the power to pretty much dictate world trade. And the reason this is is because, as you know, this is Congress's power. The tariff power is Congress's power. I don't think Congressional Republicans will stand up. I've never seen them, Jim, or heard them this unhappy privately. So you would think maybe that might lead them to do something. But I gotta tell you, my friend, I don't expect anything from them because this is still Trump's party. I think it might have to take Republican voters really feeling the pain.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And apparently my audio is doing some feedback things, so I'm going to try to ask simple questions here on Fox. You have Jeanine Pirro saying, I don't care about my 401k. You have Jesse Waters saying, if this were Biden, I would be giving me a hard time. And they're not doing that with Trump. Some of this is a problem with, with Fox and the echo chamber.

[Joe Walsh]

So. So, and this has been the story, Jim Acosta for the last 10 years. So Trump spews his bullshit, he spews his lies. He spews his ignorant nonsense. And Fox News and all of Trump's media sycophants echo the lies. Hannity and all the rest of them echo the lies. Jesse Waters, all of them, they do it. And truthfully, most of my former Republican colleagues echo the lies. And when I jumped on Kinzinger, Jim, and said it's not just one man. Let's be real. This is also on the Republican Party. It's also on Fox News. But I gotta be real. I come from the base of the Republican Party. Look, this is on Republican voters. Why has Trump so easily been able to lie to Trump voters for 10 years? Because they take it, because they allow it. They accept it. But even Jim, even among Fox News people, they are getting nervous with this tariff business. They could swat away he tried to overthrow an election. They could swat away he's above the law. They laugh at that shit, but they're hearing from their audience. I know, Jim, because I'm hearing the same. Most of my following is still MAGA base and they're confused, like they don't know this. Joe, these are tax increases. You mean that car, that truck's going to be more expensive? So I know the Fox News host, Jim, are hearing the same thing. It would be really ironic if that son of a bitch in the White House tried to overthrow an election and it didn't hurt him. But these tariffs ultimately take him down.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, I'm seeing in the comments that people are talking about some tech issues. I'm going to make one more quick question to you, Joe, and it'll be quick. Appreciate everybody bearing with us. Can the donors talk him off the ledge? You know that side of things.

[Joe Walsh]

Yes, yes. If this gym continues down this road and everybody gets hurt, we already know that his big wealthy donors are hitting him and knocking on his door. Elon and all the rest of them. If it's interesting, Jim, if this looks like it's heading toward a midterm catastrophe because of the economy, I think the only thing that will make Trump pause is if a band of his wealthiest donors come to him and say, you gotta stop. Combined with Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and a few other Republicans who say, if you stay on this road, dear Leader, it's going to be a bloodbath in 26. I think only that will move, will move Trump.

[Jim Acosta]

Elon Musk is trying, apparently.

[Joe Walsh]

Yeah, it's going to take more. Because you know the weird thing, Jim, and you probably disagree with me, I think Trump's an idiot and Trump's always just cared about himself. But you know, Jim, Trump has always had something for tariffs. He's always had something for this 19th century policy. He laughs about running again. I think if he were younger, he'd try to run again. I don't think he cares if this hurts Republicans at the polls in 26 or 28. I think there's a big part of Trump that wants these ugly, ugly tariffs to be his legacy. Like he restructured the world economic order. It's going to be really tough to talk him off of that.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. All right, Joe, thank you very much. I wish we could do this longer, but we got to sort out some tech issues. We'll do this again soon.

[Joe Walsh]

Love you, Jim Acosta.

[Jim Acosta]

Love you, buddy. Take care, man.

[Joe Walsh]

Thanks, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay. Okay. Yeah, I saw. I saw all the messages. I love the idea of crowdsourcing this and all of us working together and fixing this. There was a little bit of, you know, somebody spilled some sand into the gears of the sub stack machine, and there was just a little bit of reverb there. So, ideally, I would have wanted to talk to Joe for a little while longer now, but I think that was going to be an issue if we kept trying to force the issue there. And I didn't want to, you know, punish everybody's ears there. So I'm going to try to go to April Ryan. April. Always love to talk to April. I want to talk to April not just about this tariff issue, because we need to talk about other things, folks. And the great April Ryan, who has been doing this for a long time. And my thanks to Joe Walsh. I love Joe. He's a great guy. But I want to talk to April because there are a lot of other things going on right now. First of all, the Supreme Court is allowing Trump to do what he's been doing in terms of the dismantling the project 2025 dismantling of the federal government. The Supreme Court blocked a lower court order earlier today directing the Trump Administration to rehire 16,000 fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The decision provides the administration its latest Supreme Court victory in a case arising from Trump's blitz of executive orders. That's according to the New York Times. That is obviously still taking place. With all of the noise and painful noise going on when it comes to the economy right now in the markets, I mean, we can't ignore the fact that there are big things happening when it comes to what Trump has been doing and other avenues since coming into office, one being the dismantling of the federal government via Project 2025. The Supreme Court appears to be allowing him to do much of that. There have been some lower court rulings trying to slow Trump down, and what the Supreme Court seems to be doing is giving him the green light on a lot of these things. We're gonna have to wait and see what with some of these immigration cases. Because in a lot of these immigration cases, you're seeing the lower courts try to insist that Trump follow the law. He doesn't want to follow the law. He's been trying to operate outside the law. And so some of this is going to be, you know, it's going to come to a head, I think, at the Supreme Court. And there's my friend April Ryan. How are you, April?

[April Ryan]

If I don't look at the TV or listen to the news, I'm okay.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

If I'm not reporting, I'm okay.

[Jim Acosta]

No, you know, and don't check. Don't check your 401 case, folks. I mean, I don't want to tell people what to do. I'm not here to give investment advice. You can't look at that stuff all the time. It'll drive you bananas. And you can see all the people showing their love for April. It's great to have you back on here.

[April Ryan]

It's wonderful to be back. It's been a minute. I've been doing a little bit of reporting. You know, I know, and I want.

[Jim Acosta]

To get into that. I want to talk about all these things. I mean, one of the stories that you flagged me on, and this is highly important to me, and it's about the whitewashing of American history that we're seeing Trump try to do, whether it's through the Smithsonian. I mean, we saw this happening over at the Pentagon with Pete Hegseth and what they've been doing over there, trying to erase Jackie Robinson and trying to erase the Tuskegee Airmen. And then, of course, there was an outcry over that. They had to put that stuff back. But, April, you flagged this to be the. And according to the Washington Post, the National Park Service has appeared to restore its original webpage on the Underground Railroad.

[April Ryan]

Yes, it takes we the people to make the change. They listen. See, I feel it's like you take a piece of spaghetti and throw it up. Wet spaghetti, throw it up against the wall to see what sticks. And if no one complained, they would have reversed it. Harriet Tubman, she was an enslaved black woman in this country. She was a descendant of Africans who were enslaved in America. And then one to say that, to change the face of it. Harriet Tubman, the greatness of Harriet Tubman was she was a black woman who had the bandwidth, mentally, to be able to figure out and navigate these trails and areas, these, the Underground Railroad in the open and in the spaces of some of these, the white people's houses that Stayed that she. That allowed her to stay. But what she did, she took the profitability off of the plantations and kept coming back. And for them to want to erase her, that is crazy.

[Jim Acosta]

Crazy.

[April Ryan]

Think about this. American wealth is built on the freedom labor of Africans who were ripped from their country. Okay. And I'm a descendant of those Africans. And what we want to do is whitewash it. Oh, well, she's not just the face of it. There are others. Yes, there are others. But her story is so prominent and so big, right?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

And then you just want to replace her with a bunch of stamps of a bunch of people and take her off. That's inane. And then a name. And then. Then you want to do what you're going to do to the African American Museum of History and Culture. Let's talk about that Museum of African American History and Culture. First of all, Jim, the first president to really get into this was George W. Bush. A Republican, right? A Republican, Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

And a very different Republican.

[April Ryan]

Yeah. He was a compassionate conservative, right? Yeah, he was a very different Republican. I mean, he even fought against some of the people in his own inner circle. He was very different. He still to this day feels the pain of Katrina. He knew it wasn't handled well, still goes to Africa and works with many African countries with pepfar and things. Mosquito nets and things of that nature to prevent malaria. That's the Republican President, George W. Bush, who signed the act into law to create what we now know is the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Who was at that signing? Two people that I recognized in that picture. I went back to that picture and we put the picture in the article. Cicely Tyson. The late Cicely Tyson, the iconic actress who played Jane Pittman and so many other people. Right. And also the late, great, iconic, former. Well, late congressman, Former congressman, Civil rights leader, Congressman John Lewis.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

They were all flanked around him. Nothing but black people pretty much flanked around him while he was signing.

[Jim Acosta]

Wow.

[April Ryan]

Then the person who opened this museum was Barack Hussein Obama, the first black president of the United States. George W. Bush was there for that. This was bipartisan. Let's say this. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

Now that it's an incredible museum. I mean, I went there for the event that you did there that one time during the correspondence dinner weekend.

[April Ryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

If people have never been to the museum, it's a must see in Washington.

[April Ryan]

It is a must see.

[Jim Acosta]

It's phenomenal. It's one of the best museums in the world.

[April Ryan]

So let's. Here's the piece I have Been running this story since before Donald Trump became president. I was running the story as we were watching George W. Bush leave, as we were watching George W. Bush try to figure out who was gonna get preemptive pardons. That's how long I've been dealing with this story. Because you and I understand who Donald Trump is.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes.

[April Ryan]

What he does not like they even tried to change. Remember, even General Kelly wanted to change, saying, if things would have been different about the Civil War, we would still have. I'm like, still have slaves. What are you talking about? You know, so these are the people that we're dealing with. So I have been tracking this understanding that Lonnie Bunch, who was the man who curated, the head historian of the Blacksonian, as we affectionately call it, he was the man who put it together, and now he's the secretary of the entire Smithsonian unit, Everything Smithsonian. He is the secretary of the Smithsonian. Lonnie Bunch is. Now there's a Most Wanted poster of Lonnie Bunch with some of the MAGA people. Right. Because they don't like his ideology.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

Listen, all of these museums, from the American History Museum to the African. The African Museum that's kind of sort of on the side, behind, down the mall, and the Natural History Museum, all of these museums, they weren't just thrown together. These people have gone to school, they've received PhDs, et cetera.

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly.

[April Ryan]

This was. These people worked extensively researched for decades even to make sure these things were accurate. This is not just something, oh, let me put this here.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

But the people who want it gone, it's like, oh, I think it should be gone. What gives you the intellectual right and the fact to say this didn't happen because your feelings don't want it? Right? Now, I say that. I say that as a journalist, and I say that as a descendant of slaves. Okay? Now, if you go into this museum, I remember when it first opened. Remember, I was covering it, and they allowed us to go in. I went in with Barack Obama, President Barack Obama at the time. And they actually. It was so moving. The area that they're trying to target slavery, because they don't want to believe it, but there were 250 years of slavery, whether you want to believe it or not, and sugar, sugar and cotton. Okay, so here's the deal. When you went in there, I remember when you first went in there, they had people to console you because it was so riveting. Right. I'm serious. They had people on those bottom floors. You start off dead.

[Jim Acosta]

I remember hearing those Stories that when people came out of this experience, that.

[April Ryan]

It was just so new, forever changed. So if you haven't gone to the museum, this is not myth, this is not conjecture. This is my actual experience myself. So when we went down there, when we went in, you start very low, okay? And it's so much you can't take in in one day. So you start down low. And the first piece is slavery. Because that is the reason why people like me are here. Right?

[Jim Acosta]

That's why.

[April Ryan]

And in my article, the person who substantiates that was Nicole Hannah Jones, the author of the 1619 Project. She was all throughout the article, she was in shock. She couldn't believe. She's like, this is the reason why we're here, guys. I want you to read the article. Somebody pin it on here if you can, so they can go to the article. And it's gotten over 600,000 hits on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. So, anyway, so when you go into the bowels of the museum, start off with slavery, you see, you hear the sounds of an old ship creaking in that water. The middle passage, right? And in the middle passage, and it brings me to tears, right now, you see these shackles for children. You see shackles for children. You see shackles for adults. This is not myth. This is not conjecture. This is real. And they want to erase this.

[Jim Acosta]

It's painful. It's painful. It's painful. It's painful to you? It's painful to me.

[April Ryan]

You were very upset.

[Justin Wolfers]

Yes.

[April Ryan]

You like, we gotta talk about this.

[Jim Acosta]

I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I, I'm, I, I was so pissed that I, I wanted to do it immediately, right away, and I thought, you know what? I, Let me just take a, take a beat here. Think this through. I want to get the right person to come on. And the only person I can think of is April Ryan. You're the only person I can think of because how much you mean to me as a friend and so on. And I knew you would talk about this the way we need to talk about it. And the thing that concerns me the most about this, April, somebody posted it.

[April Ryan]

And they appended it. Thank you, Christine.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you for posting that. Is that this is how, this is how we get to a place in this country where we are cruel to one another, where we can deliver hate on one another if we erase these portions of our history that we don't want to confront, that we don't want to hate when human beings did evil to one another. If those things are erased, it makes it possible for it to happen again.

[April Ryan]

Exactly.

[Jim Acosta]

This is why. This is why there are so many people in this country who are worried that Trump is taking us down the path of fascism and ultra nationalism and, and. And organized racism. And I just, you know, this isn't all happening at an act as an accident. That they're doing this at the Pentagon, that they're doing this at the Smithsonian. That's what I'm concerned about.

[April Ryan]

I don't want to website the National Park Service. So listen. And it's not. It's not.

[Jim Acosta]

Do you know what I mean?

[April Ryan]

Oh, it's a coincidence. This is what they want. They don't want this, okay? They've signed executive orders saying this. So here's where the piece. When I told Nicole Hannah Jones, she was like, black folks are not going to let this happen. And she was right. We were very moved as people. Now you do the stories and everything, but think about the humanity of the moment. Why black lives. Why Black Lives Matter Plaza was erected because a president of the United States wanted the military to go after peaceful demonstrators because he wanted to hold a Bible upside down to mark a moment.

[Jim Acosta]

I was there. I was there.

[April Ryan]

Right? Right. And by the grace of God, General Milley said, no, we don't do this. Think about what would have happened. And as they like to speak on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who was peaceful but believed in boycotting and protesting.

[Jim Acosta]

Right?

[April Ryan]

So here's the thing. Why were they out there in the street around Covid? In Covid risking their lives? Because a black man was killed wrongfully. He should have had his day in court, not street corner justice. George Floyd should have had his day in court. If there was a problem, he should not have been. A niece should not have been suffocating him on his neck. A niece should not have been suffocating him on his back. By how many police officers? And that's the reason why you wanted to call police or the military on people, because they were protesting over a wrongful death and police custody. Anyway, moving on to this piece, right? This fact, this history. So not only do you see that, you see remnants of a slave shit. Okay, again, painstakingly done. You see, you see the crops that the slaves had to toil, Cotton and sugar, the profitability, philanthropy. Oh, these, these philanthropists back then had the money because they had free, free labor. And they gave to all of these schools, these Ivy League schools, right, that we can't get into. Now, that's a whole nother conversation, but here's the deal that was so moving. I remember one of the congress people, I think it was the congressman from Hawaii. He was like, he was in shock because all of us were touring at the same time. And I guess the people who were supposed to be there helping people to, to handle their emotions, they must have been dealing with other people because I was just. It was a lot.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

And then you go around, you see the remnants, you see the chains, you see the shackles, you see the, the way they, the, the, the, the devices that they use to punish the slaves.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Why would you want to erase that? That's my question. Why would you want to erase that?

[April Ryan]

As you don't want people to think, think about it. You don't want people to know that there was a grievous wrong against the community. You don't want to deal with it. And that's one of the reasons why, Jim, that they want to get rid of dei. Because if you get rid of dei, I'm going to tell you why. You get rid of dei, you get rid of all the data that people can go back and sue on. Okay?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

So you cannot erase a history of a people. And.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, they're trying, it feels like they're trying to erase people. They're, they're, you know, you know, is there that. I mean, when they can take somebody off the street now and they're not from El Salvador and put them in an El Salvador in prison, I, you know, not to jump to different subjects.

[April Ryan]

But I get you, you get what I'm saying. And inhumanity to people who are not white, male, European.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes, that's it. That's it.

[April Ryan]

That's it.

[Jim Acosta]

That's it.

[April Ryan]

That's it. That's it.

[Jim Acosta]

That's the.

[April Ryan]

In Washington. In Washington. For me, it's a white male dominated fraternity and I'm so against the grain in every way. You know, black woman, outspoken and calling them on it. So the bottom line is you cannot walk away from slavery, period. It's an injustice, you know, and the more they're doing this, the more people are outraged. It's not just black folks, it's white people in America. It's all people. Because once you start erasing our history, you erase others and it's. Trust me. So here's the deal. Lonnie Bunch wanted, the way I understand it, I mean, I've interviewed a lot of people. I told you, I've been working on this for a while. And again, he had a sign on his head. Most wanted for certain Maga People because they felt that he was spreading an ideology that they did not like. They didn't like. But it wasn't the fact it wasn't factual, it's that they didn't like it. Right. So he's been very. If you know Lonnie Bunch, he's a very serious man, very nice and kind man. He's a studied man. He is a historian. He is a historian. A true historian.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

However, he's now at the process trying to get Republican support quietly. But I busted that wide open with this report trying to get Republican support so they can go to the president to stop it. You know, the head of the black.

[Jim Acosta]

This is like the. This is like the people trying to go to Trump and try to talk about the tariffs. You know, you can't talk him out of what he doesn't want to be talked out of. And this is coming from the top. This, this drive to eradicate certain aspects of our history from anything connected to the government. This is what he wants to do.

[April Ryan]

And the sad piece is right. And the sad piece is he doesn't know what he doesn't know. And see, right now, when you talk about the tariffs, the hurt people are. You think eggs are a problem. For those of you who like avocado toast, you're not going to be able to pay for it. For those of you who like mango salad, like a good mango, mango juice, you're gonna have a hard time. And for any of your products that come out of China, what is it, 104% tariff already? That's coming up for imports that are coming in. And that's the tariff. That's not including the hype on the product, right?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, yeah.

[April Ryan]

The increase, the rate increase. So. And then don't even look at your stocks.

[Jim Acosta]

Don't do that. And I was saying this yesterday. Better not drop that iPhone. Everybody, anybody out there, go get the case. Go get the screen protector. Put it in a sock. You know, I mean, don't drop that thing, because that thing's about to go up big time in price. And everybody's got a phone.

[April Ryan]

I was strategic. I got one before. I got one a couple months ago because my husband kept saying, your phone. He called it the Joe Biden phone because he said it was. Well, I'm not gonna tell you why, but he kept saying, you need to change your phone. Thank God.

[Jim Acosta]

I had an old one, too. I got one recently, too.

[April Ryan]

Yeah. And it's actually. I love it. But there, there's going to. Once there's an economic slowdown the consumer spending and buying, the confidence in buying. It's going to impact jobs. This thing is not just about, oh, the prices are way too high.

[Jim Acosta]

No, I agree.

[April Ryan]

What the fans say who ran for mayor of the New York the rent is too damn high. Well, everything is going to be too damn high.

[Jim Acosta]

Everything's gonna be really damn high.

[April Ryan]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and the reason why I pivot to that is because a lot of people are wondering what is it that is going to, is going to damage Trump to the point where, you know, he's, he, that'll be it. He'll be a lame duck. He's going to be on his way out of here. You crash the economy like this because, April, you and I have been around long enough to know that presidents live and die by the economy. And 2008, when that financial crisis happened.

[April Ryan]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

That helped pave the way for Barack Obama to become president.

[April Ryan]

Helped pave the way. That wasn't the only thing. People were war weary. We had been in Iraq too long and Afghanistan too long. I remember, remember Peter Mayer way back in the day?

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, yeah. Peter Mayer, great.

[April Ryan]

CBS radio, he jumped up and asked in the Rose Garden at a press conference, asked George W. Bush About $4 gallon gas prices. $4 gallon gas prices. We're now kind of seeing that. Now he said, I don't know anything about that. And then somebody asked him about a recession. Well, I asked about the recession. What am I saying? Somebody, I said, Mr. President, Congressman James Clyburn is ironic. Congressman James Clyburn says, as a man thinketh, so is he. And everybody was thinking he's in recession. He was like, he's a good man. But I don't think so. We went into a recession, right?

[Jim Acosta]

We did.

[April Ryan]

We went straight into a recession. So at this point, the American people, what I look at, how much hurt will it take for the American people to protest? Republicans are now on the Hill fussing about these tariffs. We haven't heard Republicans push back like this. They're now pushing back Ted Cruz. Yeah, how about that?

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, my God.

[April Ryan]

How about that?

[Jim Acosta]

I think I just saw a unicorn.

[April Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. Don't send it my way. But anyway, that's my brother from another mother, guys.

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly.

[April Ryan]

So here's, here's the bottom line. The greatest hurt will make people protest greatly. We are seeing white people, we're seeing white people protest more so than anyone. White, older, white people right now. But I'm going to tell you what it's going to take is the Smithsonian for black folks to jump out and when we. When we. When the rent is too damn high. The price of avocados, the price of bread, the price of toilet paper. It's like those rations for the snow, water, toilet paper and bread and milk. Once. That's.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. You think these. You think these protests we saw last weekend were big? Just wait until these tariffs kick in, these price hikes kick in. The stock market has an effect on people's 401ks to the point where they're starting to freak out. I mean, you know, hold onto your butts, April, I'm so glad we had a chance to talk about this.

[April Ryan]

And somebody says, sick kids with measles. And that's another thing.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, my gosh. RFK Jr. Wants to take fluoride out of the water. Have you been hearing that one?

[April Ryan]

I've heard it.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, my God.

[April Ryan]

Let me tell you something. Make sure your toothpaste has a lot of fluoride in it. But let me say this. No, seriously, they. What is going to happen next year in the flu season? They have pulled back. Not going to that. The meeting where they work on the vaccines for the flu.

[Jim Acosta]

Listen, how about hurricane season? The National Weather Service.

[April Ryan]

And they keep. And fema. Look, they're just an emergency for Tennessee, Arkansas and some other red states with fema. And they want to pull FEMA back. What in the world we. I don't recognize who we are. I've been. I've seen. I've lived long enough. I've lived long enough as a person. But been at the White House for 28 years. Five presidents, six presidencies. You do the math with that. One is Donald Trump twice. Not consecutive.

[Jim Acosta]

You started when you were five, but you were. You were great.

[April Ryan]

Started when I was five years old, but no, actually four. But here's the problem. We've never seen this. The first time was an experiment with Donald Trump. And we told you guys, this man is going to go in like we've never seen him. And he's doing it.

[Jim Acosta]

He's doing it. And you reported it. I reported it. People reported it. He reported it. We did.

[April Ryan]

I didn't listen. You didn't listen.

[Jim Acosta]

As I like to say, they heard. They did listen.

[April Ryan]

He doesn't want us to recognize this country because he hates us.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

I don't know if he hates us. I think what it is, and I'm gonna be honest with you, and I'm saying this, I'm gonna get in trouble for this. But those people, those grassroots people that love him so, that are fighting for him, he doesn't want him want them in there in his posh hotels. He doesn't want them there. And not only that, I do believe the ones. This golden age reminds me of old Europe when the haves had and the have nots were out in the streets and dirty gutter water. The caste system, that's what gutting the middle class. It would be extremes, polar opposites. The haves versus the have nots and that's it.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, April, as always, you. You crystallize it perfectly. My sister from another Mr. Thank you so much, April. Really appreciate the time. Always love talking to you. We could just keep going on and on and on and on and on.

[April Ryan]

But we could. But guys, listen. But. But here's what I'm gonna tell them. Keep watching for what's happening at the African American Museum of History. American History. The National Museum of African American History and Culture. Just keep watching because it's not over yet. And they have.

[Jim Acosta]

I'm not letting up.

[April Ryan]

They haven't reversed this one yet. And so I'm waiting to see. Slavery is a big deal and that museum chronicles it so well. And guys, just please, we have to be there for one another as press. You gotta. I need you guys to read and know the truth and listen to the truth and you guys have gotta support one another because that's what's getting ready to happen.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[April Ryan]

All we have is each other now. Because I think what's going to happen, Jim, honestly, I think people are going to cry out so much. These Republicans are going to turn on him like they did with Nixon. Now the question is, will he leave? The question is, will he leave?

[Jim Acosta]

He didn't want to last time. That's what I'm worried about this time.

[April Ryan]

And I said it. And everybody's like, why? Who she thinks she is prognosticating. I told y'all so I'm not going to be that when they told you so. But when you know someone, when you've worked around someone and you've seen them at their worst, or at least seen them in ugly moments, you know who they are. Jim and I have seen this man. You know who they are.

[Jim Acosta]

We know who he is.

[April Ryan]

Oh, trust me, know too well.

[Jim Acosta]

April, thank you so much. I. I appreciate you. Thank you. Love you.

[April Ryan]

Love you more. Y'all take take care, my friend, because.

[Jim Acosta]

Follow April's work everywhere. Okay, Take care. Bye. Bye. That's the great April Ryan. You know, she. There's a reason why I bring April on. I bring April on because there are moments when we just have we just got to hear it the way we need to hear it? And when April says, I don't recognize this country, folks, when she has been covering the White House for 28 years, that many presidencies, that many presidents, you have to listen, you have to listen to the wisdom that April brings to the table. I did want to close out with a couple of things. One is I forgot that this little gem is out there on the Internet. Please go and find it and watch it. It's David Letterman once confronting Donald Trump back in 2012 on Letterman's old late night show, Letterman pulling out some Trump ties that have been made in China. Please go give that a look. I mean, you know, this was, you know, Donald Trump, you know, when he was a businessman and was hawking ties. And remember when he had the clothes at Macy's and all that stuff? You know where he made a lot of that stuff? China, places like Bangladesh. If you have not seen this video, you need to go and watch it. It's just Google David Letterman Donald Trump ties and you will find this video back from 2012. I wanted to mention that because of the hypocrisy that we're seeing right now displayed by the President of the United States when he complains about China and he used to make money off of making crappy ties in China. He is, he is the biggest hypocrite when it comes to this issue. The other thing I want to mention is that Michael Cohen and I were talking about this town hall that we have coming up. We're hoping that this is all, this is all going to come into focus here, the plans, the details, everything else. We believe it's going to be next Tuesday in New York. That's where I'm at right now. I'm in New York. You see Lady Liberty. This is not an accurate picture of what's happening right now in the New York Harbor. That's an old one, in case you couldn't tell. It's the wallpaper in my hotel room. But it's beautiful. But we're going to try to do this next Tuesday. We're working on lineup. We're working on lots of things, the time and setting and so on. But we're still working in that direction. So stay tuned for more details on that. But in the meantime, want to thank Justin Wolfers, the professor of economics at the University of Michigan who just gave us a terrific, Please go back and watch this terrific explanation of how tariffs work, why the way Trump is imposing them right now is so dangerous for the global economy. That was absolutely terrific. My thanks to Joe Walsh. We had some tech issues there with Joe. This happens from time to time. We need to put some more quarters in the substack machine, maybe over Joe's house. I'm not sure. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it was his fault, maybe it was our fault. Maybe it was just something that happens. Who the hell knows? And of course, last but not least, the great April Ryan, who I bring April Ryan. And we just need to hear the truth. And there are some stories in this fire hose of horseshit and craziness that's coming out our face non stop. Something as important as Trump trying to tear down the Smithsonian, tear down what is essential to the history of our country, the African American history museum, Washington, D.C. that is something that I am not going to let go without talking about on this program. And it is vitally important that the Smithsonian be saved. It is vitally important that the history of this country be saved. It is vitally important that we not erase our history. If you erase history, you are erasing us. You are erasing you and me. The history of this country is the reason why we're all here. And there might be some aspects of our history that, that folks don't want to talk about that they're ashamed of, that that makes them sad, makes them feel bad. Yes, of course that's history. But we have to learn from it. And you can't learn from it if it's been erased. And let me tell you something. You know how I am. You know how I am on this show. Not on my watch. You are not erasing the history of this country. Donald Trump, on my watch. That is not going to happen. You are not going to tear down the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. from the inside out, which is what he's trying to do. Not on my watch. And maybe that's what we need to start saying. Not on my watch. And I was trying not to get emotional about this when I had April on, because April was getting emotional, but I'm going to get emotional about this right now. Not on my watch. Watch. You're not going to tear down the history of this country. Donald Trump, you tried to erase the history of this country when you wouldn't concede defeat in 2020. You've been trying to erase the history of January 6th ever since. And now you're trying to erase the history of the Civil War and Harriet Tubman in the Underground Railroad. To hell with that. To hell if that's going to happen on my watch on our watch. It's not going to happen on our watch. So that's why I had April Ryan on. This kind of stuff pisses me off. And ladies and gentlemen, I just want you to know that when you're wondering, when you're watching the tv, you're watching the news, you're picking up the newspaper, you're looking at your phone and stuff is pissing you off, you need to know that you're not alone. You need to know that you're not alone. You need to know that there are people who care about this country, care about the history of this country, care about the truth, care about what matters. And we are just not going to let it happen. Not on our watch. Now, somebody was just saying that there might have been a development in the AP case, and I don't know if that has happened fast enough or maybe it's going to show up in the feed here. But I just want to thank everybody for joining me on the program. If I missed some breaking news here right here at the end, please forgive me and we'll cover it tomorrow. But in the meantime, thanks everybody for watching. Still reporting. I'm Jim Acosta. Not in Washington. I'll be back there tomorrow. Not on our watch. Not on our watch. Not gonna happen. We'll get to the breaking news tomorrow. Really appreciate everybody tuning in. I tried to see if I could find it quickly and I just don't want to delay putting this recording out there so everybody can see it. And we'll get to the breaking news tomorrow, guys. Thanks everybody for watching. Have a good night. Not on our watch. Have a good night.