Trump Top Advisor Hides From Press After Causing Crash

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: "Trump Top Advisor Hides From Press After Causing Crash" Release Date: March 31, 2025

In this intense and insightful episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas delve deep into the recent actions and implications of Trump’s top advisor, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The discussion navigates through Lutnick’s sudden disappearance from the press, his controversial statements regarding the economy, and the broader ramifications of the Trump administration’s policies on America’s financial stability.

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1. Howard Lutnick’s Sudden Withdrawal from the Press

The episode kicks off with Host 2 highlighting a significant development: Howard Lutnick, who has been the face of Trump’s economic policies, has mysteriously gone silent amidst escalating economic turmoil.

Host 2 [00:30]: "Howard Lutnick is like a sham. Wow salesman. He's been on TV all this time and he's been pushing and peddling the most ridiculous stuff by Donald Trump."

The hosts express concern over Lutnick’s absence, especially with the impending implementation of Trump’s tariffs on April 2, termed "Liberation Day." They note his absence from critical interviews, citing a missed appearance on CBS Face the Nation.

Host 2 [00:25]: "Howard Lutnick refused to Face the Nation... He seemed to be vacationing with Donald Trump."

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2. Analyzing Lutnick’s Economic Assertions

Lutnick has been vocally optimistic about the economy, often dismissing negative economic indicators. The hosts dissect his statements, comparing him to a contrived infomercial pitchman.

Host 2 [02:59]: "Howard Lutnick... says whatever he needs to say to get in Donald Trump's good graces."

One notable instance is Lutnick’s dismissal of the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s prediction of a 2.4% economic contraction.

Host 2 [02:30]: "Say a couple of words... That is ridiculous."

The hosts mock Lutnick’s communication style, likening it to the aggressive sales tactics of Vince Offer’s ShamWow infomercial.

Host 2 [04:04]: "Howard Lutnick’s like a ShamWow salesman... That guy reminds me so much of Howard Lutnick."

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3. The Impact of Lutnick’s Policies on the Economy

The discussion shifts to the tangible effects of Lutnick’s and the Trump administration’s policies. The hosts argue that despite Lutnick’s assurances, the economy is on a downward spiral.

Host 2 [05:44]: "We're left with 4% unemployment, record low unemployment, record highs in the stock market, about 16.2 million new jobs... But a few weeks back... these idiots screwed it all up."

They highlight the disconnect between high-profile economic achievements touted by Lutnick and the average American’s declining financial well-being.

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4. Criticism of Economic Management and Public Communication

The hosts are particularly critical of Lutnick’s approach to public communication, accusing him of downplaying economic hardships and deflecting blame.

Host 2 [07:06]: "The president wants American growth and American prosperity. And the fact that the stock market goes down... That is not the driving force of our outcomes."

Further criticism is directed at Lutnick’s comments on Social Security and empathetic communication regarding federal workforce reductions.

Host 2 [08:14]: "A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining."

The hosts also highlight Lutnick’s appearance on right-wing propaganda shows, emphasizing his alignment with Trump’s controversial stances.

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5. Market Reactions and Economic Forecasts

The episode delves into the current state of the stock market, showcasing significant declines and attributing them to the administration’s policies.

Host 1 [13:34]: "Dow is losing about 724. The S&P down 113. The NASDAQ down 484."

They reference Larry Kudlow’s commentary on a market crash exacerbated by bad inflation reports and tariff confusion, underscoring the precarious economic situation.

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6. Expert Opinions and Wider Implications

Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is brought into the conversation to provide an expert perspective on the administration’s economic management.

Host 2 [17:31]: "Rahm Emanuel... 'We worked hard to stop recession. These idiots want to create a recession.'"

Emanuel criticizes the Trump administration for its handling of tariffs and economic policies, suggesting that these actions are deliberately undermining economic stability.

Rahm Emanuel [17:31]: "Our job is to help them economically, not hurt them."

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7. Conclusion: The Path Forward

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the impending economic challenges and the potential for a severe recession or even a depression if current policies persist.

Host 2 [15:12]: "I think America will be lucky at this point if it's a recession. I think we're heading into a great recession, if not a great depression as a result of what Trump's doing right now."

They call for listeners to stay informed and vigilant, emphasizing the critical state of the economy under the Trump administration’s policies.

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Notable Quotes:

• Host 2 [00:25]: "Howard Lutnick refused to Face the Nation."
• Host 2 [02:30]: "That is ridiculous."
• Host 2 [04:04]: "Howard Lutnick’s like a ShamWow salesman."
• Host 2 [07:06]: "That is not the driving force of our outcomes."
• Rahm Emanuel [17:31]: "Our job is to help them economically, not hurt them."

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast provides a scathing critique of Howard Lutnick and Trump’s economic strategies, backed by detailed analysis and expert opinions. The hosts effectively communicate their concerns about the administration’s handling of the economy, offering listeners a comprehensive overview of the potential risks and repercussions of ongoing policies. For those seeking an in-depth understanding of the current political and economic landscape, this episode serves as a compelling and informative resource.

Transcript

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As I posted on my social media accounts, not a good sign that the weekend before what Trump calls Liberation Day, on April 2, when all of his tariffs are going to go into effect, Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, who has been on TV nonstop up to this point, acting like a sham. Wow. Infomercial salesman all of a sudden goes MIA and refuses do interviews. So over the weekend, for example, on CBS Face the Nation, they said, we try to get Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick on because he's been the one talking about the tariffs and all of these things. He's been promising an economic boom, but our economy's crashing. But Howard Lutnick refused to show up and do interviews this weekend at a critical time. This is what went down on Face the Nation. Play this clip. We had hoped to speak to Commerce.

[Host 1]

Secretary Howard Lutnick today, but the White House declined our request.

[Host 2]

We do hope to have him on in the near future to discuss tariffs.

[Host 1]

Our folk.

[Host 2]

In other words, Howard Lutnick refused to Face the Nation. Now, where was Howard Lutnick? A few signs of where he was. We saw him going into the helicopter and heading out to Mar a Lago. So he seemed to be vacationing with Donald Trump. You can see right there the arrow. That's Howard Lutnick right there. Um, but as I said in the post, Howard Lutnick is like a sham. Wow salesman. He's been on TV all this time and he's been pushing and peddling the most ridiculous stuff by Donald Trump. For example, a few weeks ago, when he was asked, hey, you know, the Atlanta Federal Reserve shows, there's gonna be a 2.4% contraction in the economy and we're heading for a great recession, if not a depression. Howard Lutnick, how do you respond to what the economists are saying? And Lutnick's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, say that again. That's not going to happen here. Play this clip we've seen worries about growth.

[Host 1]

I know you said you're not expecting a recession, but investors are on edge over the possibility of a recession this year after the Atlanta Federal Reserve said that it's predicting a 2.4% contraction in the first quarter. And of course, President Trump would not. Wait, wait, wait. Say it again. A what? A what? The Atlanta contraction. Correct, Correct. First. Okay, right here, right here, right now. Right here, right now. That is ridiculous.

[Host 2]

Okay. Now, Howard Lutnick, for example, was at the cabinet meetings and he would be glazing Donald Trump nonstop. This guy is the ultimate glazer. He just says whatever he needs to say to get in Donald Trump's good graces. So here is that the most recent Cabinet meeting again, before he went MIA this weekend, where Howard Lutnick started talking about April 2nd, Liberation Day this, Liberation Day that. Here, play this clip. Say a couple of words.

[Host 1]

Well, what is so exciting is April 2nd is just around the corner and that's American Liberation Day. That's the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect. And your leadership, understanding how the rest of the world treats us and what balance and what fair trade finally is going to be, is going to take care of America. It's going to law launch the External Revenue Service to start to build the power and prestige of America back. And I'm honored to be helping you on that course.

[Host 2]

I got to show you quickly, though, what my ShamWow references. This. I may be dating myself here, but there was this infomercial sham, wow. And the guy would say, I got a shammy. It's a wow. I know. This guy reminds me so much of Howard Lutnick. This was the short clip of the shamwow infomercial. Play this clip.

[Vince Offer]

Hi, it's Vince with shamwow.

[Host 1]

You'll be saying, wow, every time you use this towel, it's like a shammy. It's like a towel. It's like a sponge.

[Host 2]

A regular towel doesn't work wet.

[Host 1]

This works wet or dry.

[Host 2]

This is for the house.

[Vince Offer]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

Now, Howard Lutnick once again was nowhere to be found this weekend to answer questions heading into what Trump's referring to as Liberation Day, when all of these countries will start being tariffed even more, which many expect will further crash the economy. Of course, the markets are already crashing. People's 401ks and life saved savings are absolutely destroyed. But a few weeks back, when Howard Lutnick was on Fox, he was asked by Maria Bartiroma, how much time is it Going to take? How much time is it going to take? To which Howard Lutnick blamed former President Biden's administration. But to be clear, there was no mess that the Trump regime was left with, if you want to call it a mess. They were left with 4% unemployment, record low, unemployment, record highs in the stock market, about 16.2 million new jobs in the last four years. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investments teed up and being pumped into the economy for infrastructure, the CHIPS act, the PACT Act, Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, American Recovery Act. Things were doing great, and then these idiots screwed it all up. Here was Howard Lutnick before he went mia. Play this clip.

[Host 1]

Going to take Secretary. Okay, the Donald Trump economy. We own the economy. In the fourth quarter, we start to get, you know, we get shovels in the ground. We cut regulation. We get shovels in the ground of this $2 trillion of commitment to build factories, to build production back to America. You've got everybody coming back to America to build. That starts really strong in the third quarter. First and second quarter are sort of a little bit our optimism, you know, egg prices down, interest rates down, energy prices down. We get a little bit of benefit from us, but it is the mess that we were left with. But it's not that bad. Remember, you know, overstating ridiculous things. I mean, you feel it, Maria, are you. Did you feel deep, deep pain in the first quarter? I've watched your show all along. I don't remember you saying, oh, my God, no, no, come on. I was surprised.

[Host 2]

Here's Howard Lutnick again being asked, hey, you know, does the president want the stock market to rise because confidence is being shaken. To which Howard Lutnicks like the fact that the stock market goes down here, there, who cares? We don't care about the stock market. Seriously, that's what you're going with? This is what he said a few weeks ago again before he went mia. Play this clip this.

[Host 1]

Secretary Lochnick, does the president want a rising stock market? Because we do have stocks 6% off the highs. And confidence is being shaken here a little bit around business. I know you guys wanted lower interest rates, and you're getting that, but kind of for the wrong reasons because now there's worries about growth and potentially recession.

[Host 2]

Because of a trade war.

[Host 1]

The president wants American growth and American prosperity. And the fact that the stock market goes down a half a percent or a percent, it goes up a half a percent or percent. That is not the driving force of our outcomes.

[Host 2]

Now, Howard Lutnick is also the guy who went on the all in podcast, the Like a Pod podcast, a bro podcast thing of like rich guys. And he was saying that if you complain about Social Security, the reason that you complain is probably like not getting your Social Security check is because you must be committing fraud. So let's just say a Social Security check doesn't arrive here or there. If you whine, you're probably a fraudster, he says. Here, play this clip.

[Host 1]

Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother in law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She thinks something got messed up and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.

[Host 2]

And here Howard Lutnick is asked on that rich guy podcast, do we need to oligarch podcast, do we need to speak in a more empathetic way about what Doge is doing? Should we be more empathetic? Because, you know, they're firing veterans and all these federal workers and then they're defaming them and saying that it was for performance related reasons when there was not performance related reasons and you're destroying people's lives and you're making people terrified to like fly on airplanes and travel or do basic things. Should we be a little bit more empathetic? To which Howard Luton is like, no, no, definitely. Now, now, now, here, play this clip.

[Host 1]

Before, before we get there, I want to ask one last question. On, on, on the cuts. Can we speak in. Do we need to speak in a more empathetic way? Because that trillion dollars of spending flows into someone's pocket. Some percentage of that pays people a salary and they live on that income. And I think a lot of the. Okay, I think this is important for you to highlight because a lot of people are reacting.

[Host 2]

By the way, if you want to see what's going on in Right wings propaganda TV land, one of their shows, Mike Lindell has a show, Lindell tv. You just got to watch this because I was trying to find out where in the world Lutnick was over this past weekend and I and he's in Mar a Lago. But one of the ways I found out was I they apparently cover like where Trump's traveling and like the people who go on the helicopter on this like right wing propaganda tv. I have to this to you just so you can like literally see how crazy this stuff is. But this is what's going on on right wing TV right now. Here, play this clip Is that Robert Kennedy Jr.

[Robert Kennedy Jr.]

There is Robert Kennedy Jr. Amazing. And it looks like Howard Lutnick is with him. They're going to join the President on the helicopter. Wow, what a great question. It would have been for me today if I was actually going to get to ask President Trump if he was working out Robert Kennedy Jr. Because both of them look great. I mean, President Trump looks healthier than ever before. And that's not just me saying that, because obviously I do support the President. It's me, just as a health and fitness person, noticing that he does look healthy. And that's important, obviously, for our commander in chief to look healthy, to be healthy and to obviously be fit. It's very important.

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[Host 2]

Now here is Howard Lutnick talking about taking over Panama and Greenland. Let's play this and spread the truth.

[Robert Kennedy Jr.]

Unlike the fake news legacy media Robert Kennedy. I did.

[Host 1]

I just got footage of RFK Jr going into that helicopter. It was amazing to see. He was with the whole cabinet. I think Besant and others. Yeah. So incredible to see.

[Host 2]

What a privilege.

[Robert Kennedy Jr.]

This is the first time I've seen Robert Kennedy Jr. Never I always, it's always Elon Musk. The first time I've seen him get onto the helicopter President Trump and exit this way. I don't know if he's going down to Florida or Mar a Lago. Obviously they're going in the same direction. So will he be spending the weekend at Mar A Lago? I don't know. Generally, like I said, it's always Elon Musk. So this is the first time that Elon Musk is not in the helicopter entourage. Generally it's him, but today It's Robert Kennedy Jr. And others.

[Host 2]

Yes. Now let's just take a look to about what happened as Howard Lutnick was going on that helicopter to leave Mar a Lago. This is what Fox was reporting about the stock market last week. And folks, things are going to get even worse this week in my opinion. Play this clip.

[Host 1]

So much woo. Folks, this is a tough way to end the week. If you're long the market, if you long gold, you're happy. But Dow is losing about 724. The S&P down 113. The NASDAQ down 484. That will do it for us. Hello folks. Welcome to Kudlow. I'm Larry Kudlow. So markets crash over 700 points today after a bad inflation report, more tariff confusion. Oh, and by the way, Republicans really going to raise taxes that could have done it. Our own Sandra Smith, Taylor Riggs and Jerry Wolfsby right here on set to break it.

[Host 2]

Also on Sunday you had Elon Musk attacking the Federal Reserve and saying end the Fed and the Federal Reserve. Why are there all these people working there? Yes, they're going to try to attack the Federal Reserve at a critical time while they're sending the United States into a great Depression. Play this clip.

[Host 1]

Second of all, my question is what is your opinion on the Federal Reserve.

[Host 2]

And do you have any intentions of.

[Host 1]

Doing anything with them and the Fed? Yeah, I don't know. I always wanted to say that, you know, but, but I mean I think there's like 20,000 people that work at the Fed. Seems pretty high. In fact, there's a lot of people that works the Fed on it seems like why do we have so many people at this at the Fed and what do they do? And you know, sometimes I wonder which one would win, you know, the Federal for, for interest rates, the, the federal, the board of the Federal Reserve or a Magic 8 ball.

[Host 2]

Now all of the indicators are showing just how unpopular the Trump regime is. You know, Trump's approval rating is sinking and plummeting. It's less than 43% right now. Only 24% of Americans say that their income is keeping up with inflation. Inflation. Right now all this trade war stuff is doing is moving alliances outside of the U.S. so China, South Korea, Japan strengthening their trade. Canada strengthening trade with China. Mexico strengthening trade with China. Europe strengthening trade within itself in Australia, Canada, Europe and just it just isolating the United States, icing the United States out as a result of this horrific, horrific policy From Canada's the Globe and Mail, Trump self inflicted recession begins to take shape. I think America will be lucky at this point if it's a recession. I think we're heading into a great recession, if not a great depression as a result of what Trump's doing right now. I mean, this is what's caused depressions in the past. It's not hard to predict what's taking place. And the fact that now you have Howard Lutnick not going on TV on the weekend after scaring the crap out of people with Social Security saying that doe shouldn't be empathetic, lying about the stat, the state of our economy, saying that, oh, it's not gonna be that bad, doing his shamwow infomercial routine. While the reality is is that the Atlanta Federal Reserve believes there will be a 2.8% contraction. And it makes sense that there's going to be with all of their horrific policies, it's obvious that that's where this is headed. And then there's gonna be successive quarters overseas. It's not complicated. This is not complicated economics here. They're crashing the economy. They're crashing it right now. I'll show you this. This is Rahm Emanuel. I asked him, I said, do you think they're crashing the economy on purpose? You gotta watch this. Rahm Emanuel, former Obama chief of staff, former ambassador to Japan and former mayor of Chicago. Guy knows guys know stuff and he says we worked hard to stop recession. These idiots like want to create a recession. Here, play this clip. You think he actually has a desire for, does he want a recession?

[Rahm Emanuel]

I don't know why he said it, but. Well, first of all, I don't know if he wants it, but I worked for President Obama when we inherited what's called the Great Recession. And it was this close to going and tipping into a depression. We stopped it, pulled the economy back. I worked for President Clinton who inherited a recession. We worked as an administration. The president's led them to pull the country out of a recession and to then build an economy that became in both cases, examples of great growth and job creation. This administration, through their tariffs and chaos are driving a healthy and we just got Today, you're asking me Today they showed the report the economy was doing well and had forward momentum. Tariffs go up, 401 s go down, consumers have pulled back. And when the consumers pull back, the economy tips over stats straight. And he said, well, there could be a recession. I've never seen anybody be so cavalier with people's own personal economy and economic security for the working middle class of this country. But he said it. I'm using his words and his treasury secretary. He's nac they basically that could be the consequence.

[Host 1]

I don't know.

[Rahm Emanuel]

I work for two administrations tirelessly that worked every day, 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year to get out of a recession and to build the economy. You have an administration that shrugs their shoulder and says, well, there could be a little pain here. Well, if you have 11 billionaires in your cabinet, what do they know about pain for a family that can't make it to the 31st of the month on their paycheck and it's trying to get it to Walmart or to Target and they are buying less and less and less, as noted by the Walmart CEO, this is real economics. And I think one of the things that's missed in the past is those who are doing well were actually healthy as consumers. The rest of the consumers in our society were actually living in a recession. Our job is to help them economically, not hurt them.

[Host 2]

There you have it, folks. Mia Howard Lutnick. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas plus substack for ad. Free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free [e-mail].