Bulwark Takes - FOX Presses Trump on Possible Recession

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

Tim Miller reacts to Maria Bartiromo's surprisingly asking President Donald Trump if he's preparing for a recession.

Hey guys, it's Tim O from The Bulwark. There's been a surprising person that has been blinking a flashing red light, warning people in the Fox News mega conservative media industrial complex that things aren't as good as they might want them to be, particularly when it comes to the economy. That person is Maria Bartromo. Maria, who lost her mind during 2020 and was one of the bigger pushers of the big lie after Donald Trump lost, seems to still have at least a partial, keyword here, partial contact with reality based on some of the interviews that she's been doing over the past few days. She spoke to Donald Trump this morning and asked about the recession. But here's a couple of clips of Maria earlier in the week. Worried about all of these spending cuts potentially leading to a recession. Now there's new growth worries. As you know, markets were down sharply

yesterday on the tariffs and on this idea that all this cuts happening could, in fact, induce a recession. Now we're expecting a contraction in the first quarter. You know, I mean, Joel, Lindsey Group came out with a report a couple of weeks ago that I've mentioned a few times. Can Doge induce a recession? No, it can't. OK, you're not going to get a recession just from Doge. Now, there are other things that have happened in this economy with this slowdown. We could see a recession, but it's not going to happen just because they're cutting wasted abuse out of this government, Joel. By the way, that's why I said earlier it would be Biden's recession. And I know the haters out there will slam me later. Okay, so you see, I mean, you know, she's calling it the Biden recession, which is like eye rolly and then, you know, defending herself. You know, you got to give the, you know, put the cough medicine down

with a spoonful of sugar, you know, and the spoonful of sugar is going to be trying to blame Dementia Joe on the economy, which I don't, I just don't think is going to land for anybody that is not a, you know, fully lobotomized MAGA supporter, which is a decent number of them, but there are at least some other ones who have not got the full lobotomy, maybe only the half. So that's Maria warning about the recession, asking Congress about the recession, talking about it on her show. And here she is asking the question directly to Donald Trump. Because there are rising worries about a slowdown. You've got the Atlanta Federal Reserve saying we're going to have a contraction in the first quarter. Look, I know that you inherited

a mess and you said that the other night. I've only been here, you know, for a while. But are you expecting a recession this year? I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time.

It takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us. I mean, I think it should be great. Not exactly a confident answer there. No, where is the braggadocio? Where is this is the greatest economy in the world? Where is this is the best? Donald Trump is the best. You're missing a lot of that. You hate to predict things, but there's a period of transition. Did that come up during the campaign, this period of transition? I guess I remember Elon mentioning something like this once, but I don't remember Trump talking about that. I mean, that is a bearish sign for things. If this is something that Trump doesn't even feel like that he can spin right now, it is reminiscent of when he started to change his tune on COVID really. But there was another back and forth in the

interview that I think was also interesting. Before you came into the Oval Office the first time, you were a very successful businessman, very successful real estate executive. And a lot of people said, this is the business president, this is it. He's watching the stock market. He knows all about, he doesn't want the market to go down. And now we've got tariffs and the market has been going down. Well, not much. I mean, in all fairness, you said, look, we're going to have a disruption, but we're OK with that. Is that what you meant? The stock market going down was the disruption. What other disruption were you alluding to? Look, what I have to do is build a strong country. You can't really watch the stock market.

If you look at China, they have a 100-year perspective. We have a quarter. We go by quarters. That's true. And you can't go by that. You have to do what's right. What we're doing is we're building a tremendous foundation for the future, tremendous foundation.

Who knows? I guess you don't have to hand it to Maria, but in this case, I think you do because she is just asking the direct questions. The market is down and Trump is dismissive a little bit, a little bit, and then again, tries to go with the spin about how we need to think like China and centuries. I'm sorry. Like Donald Trump is the most instant gratification person in all of our politics. Like if you had, you know, some deep thinker who was running for office talking about how we needed to think about the battle with China in centuries. Okay. Okay. I'll listen to that argument that, that we are being unwise to focus on quarter to quarter returns. But for Donald Trump to make that argument preposterous, this is someone that is

flailing. This is someone that is very concerned that the market is going down, that he doesn't have any levers to pull. And it's something we've been talking about on the podcast. And it's interesting that it's bleeded into Fox Business World. So there you have it. Maria Barrett Romo. Surprises abound in Donald Trump's America. We appreciate you guys. We'll see you soon.