Larry Kudlow was dispatched to make the cable news rounds on Sunday, and as expected, he parroted the party line on the trade talks.
On Thursday, during his second photo op with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in as many months, Trump again attempted to do the impossible, where that means simultaneously pre-announcing a “granddaddy of them all” trade deal while insisting that no such deal has been sealed.
“We’re getting very close to making a deal, but that doesn’t mean a deal has been made because it’s not, but we’re certainly getting a lot closer and I would think within the next four weeks, or maybe less, maybe more, whatever it takes, something very monumental could be announced”, Trump said (verbatim).
Some call that “strategy”, some call it “lying” and others just call it “dementia.”
Here’s what Kudlow had to say on Sunday:
Asked whether it makes sense to threaten Mexico with punishing auto tariffs before the ink is even dry on the USMCA (as Trump did this week), Larry clearly wanted to say “no”, but instead, he pseudo-sighed on the way to delivering this rejoinder:
You’ve got to love that first part: “Well, at the moment, the president has said, ummm…”
But the real highlights of Larry’s Sunday cable news jaunt came when he attempted to downplay the obvious attempt by the administration to politicize the Fed by installing Herman Cain (who actually chairs a PAC founded by, quote, “a group of President Trump’s most committed supporters” with the goal of combatting “disrespectful, dishonest and destructive news”) and legendary moron Stephen Moore to the Fed. Here’s what Kudlow had to say to Jake Tapper:
That last question from Tapper is obviously the point. Nobody is questioning whether Trump has the “right” to nominate who he wants for the Fed. So, when Kudlow starts off by saying “the President has every right…”, he’s attacking a straw man. The issue is that Cain isn’t qualified to sit in the same room with anybody who is currently on the Fed (Herman’s experience in Kansas City notwithstanding) and Stephen Moore isn’t qualified to sit in the same room with Herman Cain, with that latter point meant to underscore the fact that while “Cain for Fed” is absurd, “Moore for Fed” is something that ought to be illegal.
Of course neither man is what one might call a shoo-in.
Moore apparently owes the IRS roughly one-half of a Trump porn star payoff and here’s what happened in 2013 when Stephen failed to pay his ex-wife some $330,000 in alimony and child support:
- A court in Fairfax County, Va., ordered Stephen Moore to sell his home in order to pay his ex-wife, Allison Moore, the money he legally owed her but had failed to pay for months. Stephen Moore ended up paying $217,000, although only after the court sent several police officers, two real estate agents and a locksmith to his home to change the locks and prepare the property for sale, records show.
I know – it’s so bad it’s funny.
As far as Cain is concerned, you already know the story there and we’re not going to rehash it. Suffice to say his confirmation will be “complicated” by the same issues that derailed his long-shot bid for the White House.
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Herman Cain For Fed Board! Let’s Talk Pluses And Minuses (If You’re Trump)
Ultimately, Larry’s efforts to suggest that Trump isn’t trying to politicize the Fed will fall on deaf ears for the same reason that all efforts to defend the president against allegations that he’s encroaching on central bank independence fall flat: Trump goes out of his way to let the whole world know he intends to commandeer monetary policy every chance he gets, whether it’s on Twitter, in front of actual cameras, over the phone and even at dinner over well-done steaks.
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On CNBC Arthur Laffler just said (legendary moron) Stephen Moore is “eminently qualified” to be on the Fed.
So there’s that haha.
The Laff is also a big fan of Herman Cain for the Fed