The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Trump Enriches Billionaires, Bleeds Consumers Amid Tariff Reversal
Mon, 14 Apr 2025
Jen Psaki breaks down the disparate impact of Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs, revealing how the wealthy capitalized on the president's stock tip hours before he announced a big reversal on his tariffs this week. Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear joins to discuss the real world implications of Trump's unpredictable and inconsistent economic policies, which are set to blow a "huge hole" in family budgets. Next, Jen is joined by Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico and former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri to talk about the Republican's budget proposal, which puts Medicaid in the crosshairs. Jen also examines Donald Trump's stunning interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling requiring the return a Maryland father who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration and wrongfully imprisoned. Finally, Andrew Weissmann joins to discuss how Donald Trump is using the presidency to extort nearly a billion dollars-worth of free legal services from private law firms.Check out our social pages below:https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsakihttps://www.instagram.com/InsideWithPsaki/https://www.tiktok.com/@insidewithpsakihttps://www.msnbc.com/jen-psakihttps://bsky.app/profile/insidewithpsaki.msnbc.com
Chapter 1: What recent economic changes are affecting consumers?
Well, it's been a hell of a ride for the U.S. economy over the last few weeks. I mean, this past week began with the stock market continuing its nosedive because of Donald Trump's kind of weird obsession with putting in place tariffs based on a completely made-up formula.
Then on Wednesday, he abruptly pulled back on the most egregiously high tariffs on most countries for 90 days, but left a 10 percent tariff across the board on all of them. Then he jacked up tariffs on China to 145 percent before announcing an exemption for smartphones, flat screen TVs and semiconductors late Friday night.
And then it continued to get more confusing because just this morning, his commerce secretary said this quote is not like a permanent sort of exemption, whatever that means. So there's a little bit of a pattern here. He's going too far and then he's caving and it's all a little uncertain and murky.
But it's important to remember that even with all these walkbacks, prices on everything from clothes to toys to appliances are still going to be much higher for everyone. And in less than 90 days, Trump could have a brand-new chart with a brand-new fake equation, and we could be right back at square one.
The point being that, unfortunately, we are not quite out of the woods yet with all the tariffs. One of the things that really stuck out to me this week was how Trump announced his reversal on tariffs, or his semi-reversal, I should say. It all began Wednesday morning, when he issued something of a stock tip from the White House.
In all caps, he said, quote, this is a great time to buy, signing with his initials DJT. You can see it on the screen right there. He posted that at 9.37 in the morning, just right after the market opened. Of course, not everyone has a pile of cash sitting around. Most people don't. But for those who did, we now know that, yeah, that was an awfully good time to put money in the market.
Because less than four hours after that post, Trump backpedaled on many of the tariffs, causing the market to surge as he knew it would. So anyone who took Trump's advice that morning that he posted on Truth Social could have made a whole lot of money. I mean, it was a pretty timely heads-up. And it also produced some very interesting television later that afternoon.
Earlier this morning, before the pause, he put out a message saying it's a great time to buy, and here we are. Here we are, much higher.
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Chapter 2: How did Trump's tariff decisions impact the stock market?
I'd always bet on Donald Trump. Every time I'd always bet on Donald Trump.
He also wrote DJT, which is a ticker for his media company. No, no, no. Every text he does. Every text he sends to me, that's his name. But that was a great time to buy the market, right? I mean, uncanny.
CNBC's Melissa Lee, who you just saw there doing that interview, was kind of all of us on Wednesday. I mean, as it turns out, there were people who did make a ton of money on Wednesday. Well, certain people, at least, to be clear. Bloomberg actually crunched the numbers and found that the world's wealthiest people added $304 billion to their combined net worth on Wednesday. $304 billion.
They said it was the largest one-day gain in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. And look, there are a lot of questions about the timeline of these announcements and lawmakers are rightfully curious about who knew what and when and what they did with that information. A number of them have called for an investigation into possible insider trading to look into exactly that.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's tariffs on American families?
Chapter 4: How will Medicaid cuts affect Kentucky residents?
But one thing we do know is that it was a good day for billionaires, a very good day. And I kid you not, you can't make it up sometimes, because two of those billionaires just happened to be with Trump in the Oval Office on that very same day. And as you can see for yourself, Trump was downright giddy is the only way to describe it, about just how much money they made, all thanks to him.
This is Charles Schwab. It's not just a company, it's actually an individual. He made $2.5 billion today and he made $900 million.
That who you saw in that video was Charles Schwab, that Charles Schwab, and Roger Penske, as in the Penske trucks you see on the highway. Trump says they made a combined total of more than $3 billion in a single day. So he bragged about enriching billionaires with them in the Oval Office. I'm sure you heard the chuckling in the background.
And then a communications advisor on his staff, I really can't get over this piece, thought it was a good idea to tweet that exchange out. So you can just imagine how pleased Trump is going to be if his tech CEO buddies cash in on Monday, which they probably will do because of those new exemptions on electronics, however temporary they may be.
POINT IS, MOST AMERICANS ARE NERVOUSLY WATCHING THEIR 401Ks AS DONALD TRUMP TOYS WITH THE U.S. ECONOMY, AND SOME OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY ARE CASHING IN. THIS SHOULD REALLY BE A SURPRISE, THOUGH, BECAUSE DONALD TRUMP'S PRIORITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN TO REWARD PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY WEALTHY. THAT'S KIND OF BEEN A THEME. It's never been a big secret.
But it does seem to be getting more blatant and more brazen. And then I want you to listen to something one Trump megadonor said this week. And when you listen to it, I just want you to keep in mind that this guy was saying this on a video in an effort to dunk on Democrats who did not give him the access he felt he deserved simply because he's rich.
I was a megadonor to the Democrats. You know, like, DINNER WITH OBAMA LEVEL DONOR, OKAY? I COULDN'T GET A PHONE CALL RETURN FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO SAVE MY LIFE. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT. THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PERSON THERE YOU CAN'T GET ON THE PHONE AND TALK TO.
THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PERSON THERE YOU CAN'T GET ON THE PHONE. AGAIN, THAT'S A TRUMP MEGA DONOR LITERALLY PRAISING DONALD TRUMP BECAUSE HE CAN BUY ACCESS TO HIS TEAM IN A WAY HE NEVER COULD UNDER A DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION. It's not really the sick burn that guy thinks it is, obviously.
But look, while it's easier for billionaires like him to buy political favors, most people like you will have to pay more on almost everything you buy because tariffs are a tax on the American people. When a tariff makes a product more expensive, basically all of the added costs get passed to you, the consumer. That's just a fact.
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Chapter 5: What concerns are being raised about the Republican budget proposal?
Chapter 6: How are billionaires benefiting from current policies?
I was a megadonor to the Democrats. You know, like, DINNER WITH OBAMA LEVEL DONOR, OKAY? I COULDN'T GET A PHONE CALL RETURN FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO SAVE MY LIFE. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT. THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PERSON THERE YOU CAN'T GET ON THE PHONE AND TALK TO.
THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PERSON THERE YOU CAN'T GET ON THE PHONE. AGAIN, THAT'S A TRUMP MEGA DONOR LITERALLY PRAISING DONALD TRUMP BECAUSE HE CAN BUY ACCESS TO HIS TEAM IN A WAY HE NEVER COULD UNDER A DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION. It's not really the sick burn that guy thinks it is, obviously.
But look, while it's easier for billionaires like him to buy political favors, most people like you will have to pay more on almost everything you buy because tariffs are a tax on the American people. When a tariff makes a product more expensive, basically all of the added costs get passed to you, the consumer. That's just a fact.
But regardless of that, Trump still appears to be in some form of denial.
Don't let them keep telling you that this is a tax on our people. I hate that.
No matter how much he hates it, this still is a tax. And this isn't just some liberal talking point, by the way. Take a listen to some of these staunchest conservative Republicans in Washington.
Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I'm not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers.
There's no question about it. A tariff is a tax. Conservatives used to understand that tariffs are taxes on the American people.
It's not even your average tax hike either, by the way. Tariffs are effectively a regressive tax, meaning the less money you have, the harder you get hit. Even after Trump's reversal, the tariffs on countries, including Brazil and Colombia, remain unchanged. And what that basically means is that the two biggest producers of U.S. coffee, Brazil and Colombia,
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Chapter 7: What does the future hold for tariffs and consumer prices?
80% OF THE TOYS WILL BE TWICE AS EXPENSIVE THIS CHRISTMAS AS THEY WERE LAST CHRISTMAS. THEY'RE LIKELY, IN PARTICULAR WITH TOYS, BE A SHORTAGE OF TOYS THIS CHRISTMAS. I MEAN, EVEN A SHORT-TERM DISRUPTION WILL UPSET THE FLOW OF GOODS.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE. THERE ARE FEWER TOYS AND THEY ARE MORE EXPENSIVE. KEEP IN MIND, ALL OF THIS HAPPENED ON THE SAME WEEK, DURING THE SAME WEEK, WHEN HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASSED A BUDGET THAT COULD ALSO INCLUDE MASSIVE CUTS TO So, they're making everything from healthcare to holiday toys more expensive for most Americans.
And when Trump says what she keeps saying, it's a quote, great time to buy, that was his tweet, you have to ask yourself, great time for who exactly? Not most people. Now, the only silver lining here, if you could call it that, is that this is all being done in the light of day.
Billionaires yugging it up in the Oval Office about how much money Donald Trump made them, billionaires bragging about buying access to the White House, and the cost of living going up for everyone else, which people are living every day. Turns out people are taking notice, a lot of people, of course they are.
Millions have turned out at protests, shown up at town halls, and big rallies to demonstrate against what we've seen from this White House. And yesterday, Bernie Sanders and AOC held their latest fight oligarchy event, this one in Los Angeles. They said 36,000 people turned out for this rally. They also said it's the biggest crowd either of them have ever spoken to.
And yeah, Bernie's message has kind of never been more relevant than it is right now.
I invite the president to come to L.A. Tell the people here why you think it's a great idea to cut Medicaid and nutrition and healthcare so you can give tax breaks to billionaires.
The destruction of our rights and democracy is directly tied to the growing and extreme wealth inequality that has been building for years in America.
Across the country, voters are saying they need leaders who stand up for them, not for the billionaires. And more and more, it seems like lots of leaders across the country are listening. One of those leaders, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, joins us right here next in just 90 seconds. As promised, joining me now is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Governor, great to see you.
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Chapter 8: Why are protests against economic policies increasing?
Well, tariffs are going to make life that much more difficult. For so many people who are struggling to pay bills at the end of the month, this isn't just going to make it harder. It's going to blow a huge hole in their entire family budget. I think there was a recent report that suggested that President Trump's newest tariffs could cost the average American family $4,700 per year.
Think about what $4,700 is. That is multiple months of groceries or rent. That's probably your entire deductible if you're on private insurance. It is really hard for a family to make up for that amount of money. And as Rand Paul said it, as you said it, as I say it, it is a tax on the American people. It is the Trump tax on the American people.
The amount your groceries cost more because of these tariffs is the Trump tax. The amount a new home costs more because of these tariffs is the Trump tax. The amount that gasoline may go up or the amount that you pay extra in the upcoming holiday seasons, that is the Trump tax. How much harder it is to pay those bills at the end of the month is the Trump tax. And it's hitting everybody.
It hits farmers. It hits factory workers. It hits everybody who's trying to go to work, work a hard day and support their family. It's bad policy. And again, you don't have to take my word for it. In my state, our two Republican senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and this Democratic governor all agree that tariffs are a bad idea. Why? Because Trump's tariffs are a really bad idea.
That's strange bedfellows in politics, as they call it, Governor. Let me ask you about late Friday night, Trump signed an executive order exempting cell phones, computers, semiconductor chips and other electronics from these reciprocal tariffs. But then this morning, Commerce Secretary Howard Letnick said this is not like a permanent sort of exemption. I'm not asking you to explain that.
I don't know what he means by that. But WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF PEOPLE WATCHING RIGHT NOW, PEOPLE IN YOUR STATE, WHAT SHOULD THEY MAKE OF THESE EXEMPTIONS AND WHERE IT SORT OF SITS RIGHT NOW? BECAUSE THAT FELT LIKE A RELIEF BUT I'M NOT SURE THAT IT REALLY IS.
WELL, THE QUESTION IS ARE WE DEALING WITH INCOMPETENCE OR CORRUPTION? BECAUSE YOU LOOK AT THE INCOMPETENCE SIDE AND THEY'VE CHANGED THEIR MIND 10, 12, 13 TIMES AND LOOK AT WHAT THE CHAOS IS DOING. IT IS TANKING OUR ECONOMY. WHEN THE PRESIDENT CAME INTO OFFICE, OUR ECONOMY WAS AND IT HADN'T CAUGHT UP TO PEOPLE YET, BUT IT WAS GOING TO.
WAGES WERE GOING UP, UNEMPLOYMENT WAS LOW, AND WE'RE SEEING ALL OF THAT TURN AROUND, AS WELL AS THE STOCK MARKET AND PEOPLE'S 401 Ks TAKING A REALLY ROUGH HIT. THAT'S THE INCOMPETENCE SIDE. THESE SPECIFIC EXEMPTIONS OR EXCEPTIONS WHICH TEND TO FAVOR the president's biggest donors, if those are put into place, then we're looking at something much closer to corruption. Either are bad.
Neither should be happening. And the best move this administration could take is to scrap the whole plan.
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