The Chris Cuomo Project - How Trump’s Tariffs Could Backfire on America
Episode Date: February 6, 2025Chris Cuomo breaks down the truth about Trump’s tariff plan, explaining why it’s misleading economic policy that could fuel inflation rather than help American workers. He dives into how tariffs r...eally work, the impact they’ve had in the past, and why targeting China, Mexico, and Canada could backfire on U.S. businesses and consumers. From Smoot-Hawley’s economic disaster to China’s retaliatory tariffs, Cuomo challenges the myths surrounding Trump’s trade rhetoric and explains why tariffs are often more about politics than economic success. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Support our sponsors: Cozy Earth Surprise your Valentine / Love with Cozy Earth. Get up to 40% off at cozyearth.com/CHRIS with my code CHRIS. iRestore Give yourself the gift of hair confidence this February. For a limited time only, our listeners get $625 off their iRestore Elite when you use code chris at iRestorelaser.com Factor Eat smart with Factor. Get started at FACTORMEALS.com/cuomo50off and use code cuomo50off to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. Oracle Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in HALF if you move to OCI. For new US customers with minimum financial commitment. Offer ends March 31st. See if your company qualifies for this special offer at Oracle.com/CCP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian Superstore with PC Express.
Shop online for super prices and super savings.
Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points.
Visit superstore.ca to get started.
Do you want to hear the truth about tariffs that people don't want to hear?
I'm going to tell you, but you have to be ready for a lot of drama.
You sure?
All right. I'm gonna tell you, but you have to be ready for a lot of drama. You sure? Alright.
Let's get after it.
I'm Chris Cuomo.
Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project.
We're gonna be talking today for my subscribers, my followers, and those who want to be able
to say, just don't even try it. Okay, let's do that with tariffs
because this is the game writ large.
There is so much bullshit about tariffs going around.
Okay, first of all, people really don't get what a tariff is.
It works one of two ways, okay?
Let's go deep, it's a podcast.
Tariff is an Arabic word.
Why?
Because it has been a tool of leverage in trading
for many, many, many, many, many eons,
and not eons, but for a long time.
And who has an older trading culture than the Arabs?
All right, so that's why it is an Arab word, tariff.
All right, now we say it tariff, right?
And it's used as a verb, I'm tariffing you.
It's also a noun, a tariff.
Okay, why?
Because within the vernacular of business,
it was a constant way to even things out.
They work one of two ways, okay?
The first way is I'm gonna tariff you,
you're gonna suck it up,
it's gonna change your margin,
but that's the price of entry for you doing business with me.
Okay?
That's what you think Donald Trump has been talking about.
All right?
That's what a lot of his people say he's been talking about.
That is not what he's talking about.
The other way, and the most common way, and certainly the way it's worked in American history in the modern era, is
I tariff you, it's almost always protective, but much more often our trade partners, our allies, the people who you say we're bullying,
they tariff the poop out of us.
Okay? Way more than we tariff anybody else. Why? Look,
in truth, it's kind of an indirect aid package.
All right. Now, they'll say, stop it.
That's not fair. You're doing trade with us.
Yeah. But you charge us in a way that isn't free trade, right?
Which is an operative term here that I'll get to in a second
in the evolution of what tariffs were versus what they are today.
You put the tariff on.
They pass it on.
Some absorb a little bit, but even that they find way
to increase into their price structure, okay?
So even when they absorb a little bit,
most of the price differential between what they wanna charge
for their product and this tariff, okay?
And what kind of ceiling that puts on it
is paid by the importer.
So let's say China.
China can't just set up shop in America
and bring its goods in here and sell them.
It's not how it works.
They're gonna have to use a US entity, an importer, okay?
And you can argue whether that's good or bad
and whether it just created a whole additional level of price structure and middleman that we don't really need.
And that's a legitimate argument, but that's what we're dealing with.
And the importer pays the fee.
And what do you think that importer is?
It's an American company.
And what do you think that importer does to balance out its share?
It charges us more.
So that's why people are saying,
you think that you're going to tariff them and punish them,
you're just punishing me as the consumer.
There is a legitimate argument to that.
And I know Trump folk don't want to hear that right now.
No, no, no, tariffs are going to boom our economy.
If Trump can convince the US Congress
to get rid of the income tax and just use tariffs,
it will explode our economy.
No.
No effing way.
We won't see anything like we have since Reagan.
Reagan?
Did you see what happened to the deficit and the debt under Reagan?
It was the biggest single time increase
that was non-major war related we've ever seen.
Why?
Because cutting taxes for the rich and trickle down
only makes you have to spend a ton
to provide necessary services.
So even that reference point,
you know, we won't have seen anything since Reagan.
Yeah, in a bad way.
And you know what would happen if you tried to survive on tariffs as opposed to an income
tax, which they passed for a reason, right?
Side note, everybody says, we've got to get back to the Constitution.
Got to stop violating the Constitution.
We're a constitutional republic.
Got to get back to it.
Have you read it?
Have you read the Constitution?
Because if you had read the Constitution, let's be honest,
less than one in three of us can name the three branches of government.
Can you fucking believe that?
George Carlin, thank you.
Thank you for waking me up when I was a kid.
Thank you.
It's always about the money.
It's always about the moneyed interests.
They want you to just follow along and believe someone in a ski hat with a microphone like
they have some hidden truth.
And they just gobble things up.
Be a critical thinker.
Do your own homework.
Read the Constitution.
The 16th Amendment is the income tax.
So the idea, well, Trump can get rid of that.
No, he can't.
A USAID, Trump can get rid of that.
No, he can't.
The Department of Education, Trump can get rid of that.
No, he can't. The Department of Education, Trump can get rid of that. No,
he can't. Not unilaterally. Anything that Congress funds, you need Congress to defund.
Okay, back to tariffs. A president can control tariffs because of power given to him from
Congress to conduct foreign policy. All right? so yes, he can put the tariffs on,
but the idea that they're gonna explode our economy,
no, they're gonna add to inflation.
That's the irony here.
That's how I knew Trump was bluffing with the tariffs
with Mexico and Canada.
And guess what, it worked.
He brought them to the table.
We'll see what kind of deal he can get out.
What we've heard from so far
is mostly what
they've already committed to. But they certainly weren't going to tariff us back. Why? Because
as a percentage of what we make and sell to them, what they could tariff of ours,
it's literally single digit. Them, we're a fifth to a third of their economies, what they trade
with us. So we tariff them, it hurts. They tariff us, it's no big deal.
So I knew they didn't want to get into that kind of a trade war,
and most did.
That's why so much of this media hype and even the right,
you know, the right got themselves in a worse position,
because they were like, we need the tariffs.
It'll make such a big difference.
We need them. Well, now you don't have them.
So are you disappointed?
Oh, no, it's a win. Wait a minute.
I thought you said we needed them.
I thought they were going to explode our no, it's a win. Wait a minute, I thought you said we needed them. I thought they were gonna explode our economy.
It's a joke.
It's all propaganda.
And this magnified minority, this fringe mentality
that wants extreme things that cause the main,
the majority, nothing but division.
So, tariffs were used early on as revenue.
And that's what they're referring to.
It used to be great when we did that.
No, we had no income tax
because the 16th Amendment wasn't until 1913.
So in the late 1700s and the 1800s,
all we had were tariffs, okay?
And it had very middling success
because we had very little government.
Yeah, that's good.
No, because we needed the services.
Remember, remember why they went from the Articles
of Confederation to the Constitution.
They went from the Articles of Confederation
to the Constitution because of our needs, not our wants.
We needed a military.
You needed to put down Shays' Rebellion
and other things like that when people had uprising
and the states couldn't handle it.
You needed it for the services
and to regulate trade among the states
and to regulate that people were having
the right kinds of living conditions.
I mean, we did this for a reason.
The Founding Fathers, who we all revere,
they went from the Articles of Confederation
of the Constitution for a reason, okay?
You could at least read the damn thing.
So, it was 90% of our revenue, the tariff structure,
early on like that, but we had no budget requirements.
They made the income tax in 1913 for that reason. There were other reasons also.
They were trying to break up some of the robber barons. You should Google who the robber barons were,
because the idea that, oh, there's an oligarchy.
Oh, so now we have a fancy word on it and we're pretending like it just happened again.
George Carlin, thank you. It's always been about the money.
It's always corporate interests.
Why do you think the tech bros are hanging around with Trump?
Cuz he's cool.
No, they want him to build the infrastructure for AI for them.
Why do you think Elon put 290 million into the guy?
Because he got back 2 billion off that investment in his stock price
by everybody seeing that he's going to be in bed with Trump
with whatever he wants.
It was a good investment.
Money always wins in America.
That's the upside and the downside of capitalism.
So part of the thing of restraining them was 1913.
1913 was the 16th Amendment.
Income tax was two things, income tax and there was an adjoining payroll tax.
Payroll tax is what the businesses pay.
That was they were trying to get a piece of these corporations that were raping us.
Okay, so once we passed the income tax, tariffs went away and they became exclusively protective.
Now, the assumption that protective tariffs are a good thing, I don't know.
I don't know.
Let's jump forward in time.
Well, Trump tariffed China, and it must have worked great because Biden kept them.
Okay, now the truth.
No, the deal he made with China included them paying for a lot more of our goods than they
were at the time, and they never fulfilled that requirement. Why? The pandemic. They said they couldn't at
the time because the markets had changed but they just didn't do it and they're
still not doing it. So what was the net effect of that tariff? Well first of all
they tariffed us back. Again, weird imbalance because they make a ton of shit
that they send to us, right? We don't make so much stuff that we send to them and
they keep keep us out of their markets. They're going after Google right now.
So we do not have the same kind of leverage with China
that we do with Mexico and Canada.
They own a lot of our debt and a lot of our manufacturing,
a lot of our companies are trying to get in there.
And that's true with Mexico and Canada too,
but we can bully them around in a way that they can't deal
with the way China can.
But what was the other net effect of the Trump tariffs?
Added to inflation, why?
Because the prices went up to deal with the tariff
because the importer paid it and passed it along to us.
This is a fact.
Yes, some of it was absorbed by Chinese corporations,
but I don't know that it was ultimately absorbed
by them at all.
I don't know how they passed it along
in their cost structure.
I don't know, you'd have to research it. And that's assuming that the information is even available,. I don't know how they passed it along in their cost structure. I don't know, you'd have to research it.
And that's assuming that the information is even available,
which I don't know.
Now, what, but Biden kept them, so they must've been good.
He kept a couple on steel and some types of manufacturing.
Why?
Because there's a need there.
But again, it's a very dicey proposition.
How do we know?
History, that's why studying history is everything.
When you look from 1812 on, right,
the real pivot point is in 1930s.
Smoot-Hawley, remember Ferris Bueller's day off?
Ben Stein, Ferris Bueller's day off?
Anyone? Anyone?
Smoot-Hawley, anyone?
So in the 1930s, to deal with the Great Depression,
they tried tariffs to raise revenue
and hold off some of the foreign competition.
And what did it do?
Easy to check.
It tanked us.
It made everything worse.
Why?
People didn't have the money to pay the increased prices.
And I'm telling you, when you tariff, you raise prices.
I know you're hearing Trumpers say,
no, it's gonna free the economy.
It's bullshit.
Do you understand?
That can be true too.
I can have a lot of passion behind what I say.
I could have a ski cap on and a microphone
that's twice this size and headphones
and make it sound like I'm getting special information
from other places that nobody else can get it.
And here's the other thing that they won't tell you
and the deep state and the establishment and the elites, and I am full of shit."
Okay, that can be true too.
So the idea that tariffs are the key to a strong economy has never been the case for
us, certainly not in the modern era, and when they did try it during the Great Depression,
it made it worse.
What was the key?
Free trade.
That was one of the best effects of World War II.
All right? And free trade took root, created more partnerships for us where you weren't
punishing them. New markets, new access. This dovetails into this BS that we're dealing
with with the USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. Why do you
think we give money to these people? First of all, Congress allocates it. They make it
sound like it's some kind of slush fund.
Congress allocates the money.
The State Department is overseeing it.
They wanted it independent.
Why?
So it would be less beholden to political agendas,
but let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story,
like that it's all corrupt and secret.
But the reason we give money to people
is not because we're nice.
We give money to them because it's strategic.
It's strategic.
You keep down dissent in those places
and insurgencies and bad guys getting in who hate us
and the trade relationships and our corporate safety
and our American interests that are in those places.
It's self-serving, okay?
So you want to cut waste, great.
I'll talk about that in another episode,
but don't make it sound so simple
because when it's simple, it's so simple because when it's simple,
it's simplistic and when it's simplistic, it's stupid. Again, when you make things sound
too simple, it's usually simplistic and if it's simplistic, it's stupid. All right? You
want to give context. You want to give all of the hard things that don't come through
on social media is what matters the most. And that's why social media has turbocharged,
just turbocharged the tensions and the most. And that's why social media has turbocharged, just turbocharged,
the tensions and the division.
Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from select quote. So, here I am in my mid-fifties,
okay? I got three kids. I'm blessed to have a wife. I've got financial responsibilities. I've got real estate.
I have a very uncertain estate tax environment.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about what I need to secure for my family.
Same concerns you have.
And you know where it takes you?
Into the world of life insurance.
And man, is that a scary world.
Everybody seems to be on the make. Everybody seems to be on the make,
everybody seems to be looking to take.
But, but even though I've been in this business a long time
and it takes a lot for me to be surprised,
there is something new to worry about,
but I have a solution for you so don't worry.
There's so much out of our control
when it comes to insurance and rates
and how they get you on the back
end and it or it gets canceled in a ways you didn't expect, right? How do you get control?
Because this is about your financial future. Go to Select Quote. Get your life insurance
right. Get it for you, for less. Go to selectquote.com slash Chris C. Selectquote.com slash Chris C.
Get there today and get your quote.
Support for the Chris Plomo Project comes from AG1.
I dig it, I'm one and done, I use it every day.
When I travel, I take it with me.
I put it in warm water, it's great to drink, tastes fine,
and I get my day started with all of the nutritional
supplement needs met.
And that is the end of the story for me.
I no longer, except for my long COVID treatment,
have all these different bottles and different supplements
that I have to take at different times
and in different combinations.
All that work is done for me by AG1, okay?
And that's why I use them.
That's why I like being partners with them
and I would like to do more.
It's never too late to create a new healthy habit, okay?
Try AG1 for yourself.
It's something I've actually been able
to stay consistent with,
and that's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long.
AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift
when you sign up.
You'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2,
and five free travel packs in your first box.
So make sure to check out drinkag1.com slash CCP
and get that offer.
Drink ag1.com slash CCP.
Start your year on a healthier note.
Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Cozy Earth.
I like Cozy Earth. I like their sheets. I like the softness.
I like how they hold up. I love the sustainability concept
with them using viscose bamboo. And I think that's very cool.
It makes me feel like I'm being responsible as well as being reasonable.
Why?
Because the price is great.
They have this ridiculous guarantee at Cozy Earth
where if you don't like it, you return it
and you can use it for like 100 nights before that.
Like I don't even know that my sheets
usually make it 100 nights.
But now I know that basically I have a built-in proposition
of no loselose.
Surprise your Valentine.
Love them all with Cozy Earth.
You can get up to 40% off at CozyEarth.com slash Chris with my code Chris.
That's CozyEarth.com slash Chris.
That's a great deal 40% off, by the way.
I don't get it.
I should use my own code.
And don't forget, if you're asked in a post-purchase survey, tell them you heard about Cozy Earth from me,
Chris Cuomo on The Chris Cuomo Project.
Now we get into the modern era and what tariffs really mean, okay?
Tariffs represent what percentage of the US federal budget?
Take a guess.
You're not going to get it.
Well, unless you Google it, right?
Critical thinker.
If you looked it up, you knew this answer like that.
And that's the point.
You don't need me to tell you shit.
You need me to help you frame the questions
and the contours of your intellectual construct.
What you're gonna wanna think about,
how you're gonna wanna think about it is up to you.
What you're gonna wanna research,
what you're gonna wanna push back on,
these are all your choices.
Not to eat up what I tell you like I'm some kind of profit.
I'm not a profit.
I'm a searcher like you.
I'm in the struggle like you.
I'm doing my own research like you should.
Yes, I'm a resource, but be your own as well, as well.
Less than 2%, about $80 billion.
Well, that's real money.
Not saying it isn't, okay?
But when you're talking about the US federal government,
it's always, that's why that famous line
from that politician, you know, a million here,
a million there, after a while,
he's talking about real money.
You know, that was ironic, why?
Because it's so much money that we spend on everything,
but that's true.
And you have to be careful about that
when people are telling you about savings and about how much they're doing. You know,
that these by percentage are usually a very little piece of what we're doing overall.
And why does that matter? Because very often big things take big investments. So tariffs
are now less than 2% of our budget. Oh, you should make it more. No, because it winds
up being counterproductive because it spikes inflation.
And that's why Trump, another reason I knew it had to be a tactic, is that as soon as
he saw how the markets tanked when the tariffs were about to be put in, why would they care
about that?
Why would the rich guys and the gamblers on Wall Street worry about prices or tariffs?
Because they worry about prices.
Why?
Because the higher prices are, well, that's good. Companies are going to make more, right? No, people buy less.
You see? So that's why. And there was another reason. When he saw the market tank, he doesn't
want that on his watch, right? If that had happened under Biden, he would have been,
you know, on truth social all day until his fingers hurt, right? About how screwed up it
was. He's tanking the markets. He's bad for this. He's bad for that.
So it had to be a tactic.
And good for him, it worked.
We'll see what he gets done at the table.
But it worked.
It worked.
We'll see what he can get done with Mexican President Scheinbaum and what he can get with
Prime Minister Trudeau.
We'll see.
China, very different situation.
We'll talk about that when it takes more shape.
So the World Trade Organization in 1995 was a key moment because
it was proof that, look, you're not going to punish each other into relative advantage anymore
through tariffs. You're going to trade, it's going to be open, and the more roots that we have,
the better. That was the promise of the internet, right? Was that we're all going to be connected
and there'll be this great thing. Now we see it as a bad thing. Globalists. What is a globalist?
A globalist is a cynical reckoning of somebody
who wants to create partnerships around the world
instead of just doing what's best for you
in a very short-term thinking sense all the time.
I'm telling you, I'd rather be a globalist.
I'd rather be somebody who's reaching out
to try to create new avenues for success for myself
than just thinking, I can just watch everybody else struggle
and somehow that's better for me.
I don't believe in addition through subtraction.
I believe that you make more pie
and the more pie you have, the more you can eat
as opposed to thinking about my slice
in a shrinking pile or a smaller pie.
That's me, that's a matter of perspective.
You can look at it however you like.
Certainly Trumpism is about being anti-global.
It's about doing more at home.
That's why he likes tariffs.
But I'm telling you,
there is a price and you will pay it. Okay? You will pay it. And remember, Trump makes all his shit where? China, maybe Bangladesh, okay? Maybe Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
Pakistan. Why? Because it's cheaper. Okay, so it's guys like Trump, ironically, who are creating
the basis for a need for a tariff. Because they're making so much of the shit there that we're buying that that's the leverage point. Now, so I'm sure in some twisted world, Trump will say,
yeah, I'm helping us by making all my stuff over there, because that gives us more to tariff.
Trump will say, yeah, I'm helping us by making all my stuff over there because that gives us more to tariff now bullshit Make it here start with you
Man in the mirror start with you and make all your stuff here. Why don't you do that? Mr. President, right?
Why because it's too expensive just like everybody else. That's why the idea that he's gonna bring jobs back here is poppycock
That's why the idea that if we just got rid of all the Mexicans, we'd be in great shape
because we'd have all these production jobs opening up.
It's bullshit.
They're doing jobs that weren't wanting to be done in the economy already.
Now, what's also true is that the sub-market wages these scumbag businesses are able to
pay these people sink the low-skill job market altogether.
That's what I don't like.
That's what I don't like.
And they don't pay payroll taxes on these people,
only about half to about 60%.
That's what I don't like.
I think we should be thinking about it that way,
not just how do we vacuum them all out of the country.
I think that's nonsense.
I think that's something that feeds the passion of outrage, but not the practicality of purpose. Oh, that was good. That feeds the
passion of outrage, but not the practicality of purpose. Which is if you want to get to a better
place, a safer place where they're not costing as much and they're contributing more, and you have
more vitality economically and in terms of building your communities, and also you are safe and warned
against bad people who are sneaking
in through a porous border, you have to do both.
And the idea of vacuuming them all out is really surrendering half the fight.
Now currently the U.S. budget is $4.4 trillion.
Okay?
Okay?
So, if you were just tariffing, right, how are you gonna pay for all the services?
How are you gonna pay?
Through a tariff structure that pays for it?
What would that do to our prices?
How would you make these countries absorb them?
In what world does that work?
Why do you think we have the income tax?
Do you really believe that all these waves
of administrations have never seized on the opportunity
to get rid of the
income tax and tariff our way through it.
And again, no, Trump can't get rid of the income tax.
You need Congress.
Dan Bongino has that right.
It would take Congress.
I don't agree with Dan on the implications for doing that.
It's highly speculative.
And I believe ignoring our history.
I respect his ability to make the case,
but I don't agree it's the right case.
But he is right, you need Congress to do it,
and I don't think it's ever gonna happen.
I don't even think it's a fucking chance
any more than the idea that they're gonna
put in a constitutional amendment
for him to have a third term.
Well, but a member of Congress proposed it,
so aren't we on the path?
Read the fucking Constitution.
No, you're nowhere near it.
Because when he proposes it or she proposes it
in the House or in the Senate,
you need two thirds of Congress
to even send it to the states.
And then if you send it to the states,
you have a ratification process
that takes a gazillion years in most cases. Why? Because you have to wait if there's no constitutional
convention, which we haven't had since the first one, three-fourths of the state legislatures
to approve it. When's that going to happen? How is that going to happen? There's no chance.
I don't think you could get a constitutional amendment on what the name of this country
is.
Think about it. You don't think that the lefties would come flying up and saying,
a miracle Vespucci was a bad man.
Think about it. So,
tariffs as a way of getting us to a better place. Okay, right now we're tariffing more than usual when we're about a hundred billion dollars.
Here's what these three largest, I'm not even including the military,
which by the way, it's great to hear Republicans being open
to cutting spending in military
for the first time in my lifetime.
I would love for them to overhaul
how much money we spend on defense.
Love it to make it more strategic,
more reflective of the current requirements
and responsibilities and risks.
I think it would be awesome.
However, the top three,
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Social Security all by itself is 1.4 trillion.
Okay, so it's like 14 times what you're making in tariffs.
So you're gonna increase tariffs 14 times
just for that one program?
You see what I'm saying?
Then you have Medicare and Medicaid,
you know, Medicare is 850,
Medicaid 600 billion. Okay, you see what I'm saying? Then you have Medicare and Medicaid there. You know, Medicare is 850, Medicaid 600 billion.
Okay, you see what I'm saying?
So it's not even reasonable,
it's not even rational if you've done your homework.
If you haven't done your homework,
yeah, I don't wanna pay taxes.
It's better this way, yeah.
Mouth breather, lemming, all of the pejoratives apply.
Don't let them play you for a sucker.
Don't be a sucker, okay?
Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from iRestore.
We're in the new year,
but everybody always needs a fresh start.
This February, how about self-love?
How about trying to do something that may
help you look and feel better? Now, I thought that iRestore Elite was like another red light
gadget and I'm not really a believer. But then I did my research. iRestore Elite has an FDA-cleared laser cap that has clinical results that suggest
proven hair regrowth.
I gotta tell you, when I first took it out,
I thought it was like a bicycle helmet,
and I thought it was gonna be a little weird,
but you know what, I'm alone a lot.
And I put the helmet on, I wear it,
and there are different program times
and what you do it for, and it's been really easy.
There's certainly absolutely no downside, and I'll tell you. And it's been really easy. There's certainly absolutely
no downside. And I'll tell you what, it's a lot less expensive than a lot of the other
stuff that's come through my house that's supposed to help me keep my hair.
Give yourself the gift of a chance at looking better and feeling better. For a limited time
only. Our listeners get $625 off their iRestore Elite when you use the code Chris at irestorelaser.com.
At 625 bucks off the iRestore Elite
at the irestorelaser.com site.
Okay, use the promo code Chris.
I really hope you use the promo code and check it out
because it supports the show
and telling them that we sent you
helps me keep my relationship with iRStore and that matters to me.
Hair loss is frustrating. You don't have to fight it alone, thanks to IrisStore.
Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from AG1.
Listen, new year, new you, look, whatever. I believe every day is a chance to try again.
And for me, AG1 is a fundamental part of my routine.
This year, you wanna get to a better place,
try AG1 for yourself.
It's the perfect time to start a healthy new habit.
Everybody's doing that right now anyway, right?
Why not do something that could actually work for you?
The AG1 special offer.
New subscribers will get a free $76 gift when they sign up.
You're gonna get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2.
Why D3K2?
Because the K helps the absorption of the D.
You see what I'm saying?
Science.
Supplements you'll see are now doing D3K2.
AG1's been doing it for a long time.
Why?
They're ahead of the curve.
They're also gonna give you five free travel packs
in your first box.
So you get five free travel packs,
you get the bottle of D3K2 and some other gifts.
So make sure to check out drinkag1.com slash CCP and you'll get this offer.
Drinkag1.com slash CCP for the Chris Cuomo project and you can start the new year on
a healthier note.
Now income tax payroll, very important, very important.
Tariffing your way to a better place, not going to happen.
Strategically, yes, but let us review.
People say Trump's right, the tariffs are going to grow our economy.
Bullshit, never happens, not even what they're designed for in the modern era.
They're purely protective and punitive, okay?
And how do we know that we're right?
Well, history, facts, economics,
but also why did he pull back then?
Why didn't he put them in place if they were so great?
And if we needed them so much,
and that's why they were justifying them,
didn't they know they were a tactic?
Probably not, why?
Because they're about propaganda all the time and Allah, inshallah, Trump, yes, praise
Trump all the time instead of being critical thinkers about what is actually good for you
and what isn't.
He was using it as a stunt.
You sold it as a reality because everything he does is Jesus touched, right?
So now he didn't put them.
So does that mean he failed?
I don't think so, but you must, because you said we need the tariffs.
He used them as a negotiating tactic.
He got people to the tables.
And look at all the concessions.
I don't know them yet.
Most of what has been promised, the big dollar figures from Mexico and from Canada, were
promised to the Biden administration and, in Canada's case, previously to Trump.
So there were some add-ons, but it's no home run yet.
Let's see what he does with this window of negotiation.
But the idea that it's going to boost our economy never happens.
Okay?
The idea that you can tariff your way and not have an income tax anymore, not going
to happen. The idea that you're gonna apply a tariff
and it doesn't affect inflation, not true.
And here's a little bonus for you.
Have you noticed the price of eggs?
You know why they're up?
Trump.
That's not true.
You know why they're up?
Because Trump didn't deliver on his promise
to lower prices.
It's been a few weeks. That's not fair. That's bullshit. That's one side always having to prove
that the other side is worse to gain advantage because they don't know how to be better anymore.
Just to scare you into thinking the other side is worse. So then why are eggs more expensive?
Ah, same reason that they were picking eggs as one of the prices to pick on against Biden.
Bird flu and stock management has been a huge problem in recent years.
You know how you heard that case of people having bird flu all of a sudden?
We didn't know it could jump to humans.
It turns out it can, but in rare instances when someone might be immune compromised or
handling sick livestock all the time, sick chickens, ducks, whatever, fowl, F-O-W-L.
That's why the price of eggs has skyrocketed.
That's why I paid $10.33 and they weren't even organic.
Uh-oh, I hope Christie didn't hear that.
Why are they up?
Bird flu.
Bird flu was also true during Biden.
Well, then why didn't he get the benefit of that?
Because that's politics.
Trump was pissing all over egg prices then.
Now he's not even talking about him.
Inflation is still a reality.
And if he keeps tariffing, which I think are just threats, so I don't think it's going
to happen, but if it does, he will add to inflation and he will hurt the markets.
And that's why I do not believe he will do it and that this 30-day window is just that.
It's just a window.
He's not going to tariff at the end of it because it doesn't work for us.
And that is the reality.
Okay?
That's what an independent critical thinker, where they need to be, that's the space.
How much weight you put on the different variables I gave you, that's up to you. But the idea that tariffs are a great
thing, it's great that he thought about it? No. This has been something that have
been chewed on, weighed, measured, and found lacking by most Republicans and
Democrats. Republicans even more so. Okay, it was a Democrat FDR that did Smoot Hawley,
that tanked us during the Great Depression.
And it was a lesson about punitive or protective tariffs.
Think about it.
The Republicans used to be free trade.
The Republicans used to be about heart and head
when it came to immigration.
Now we're in this new era of harshness and outrage
and demagoguery, and it's really about Trump,
but that's the side he was on and he co-opted it.
I don't know.
Maybe he would have done the same thing to the Democratic Party if he had started as
one of them.
Well, actually, he did start as one of them.
But if he had run as one of them, I don't know.
But this is where we are.
And you need to understand what things mean so you can decide for yourself what role they
play in your understanding of what you want
from the people in power.
Because I'll tell you what I know for sure,
the days of saying, well, which one is worse
and holding your nose to make a choice must die.
And we have to push these people
to be doing things at all times.
Act, act, act, act.
Good actions, bad actions.
At least we can measure them.
At least people are doing things
other than just pointing fingers
and making us hate ourselves.
Because I'll tell you who that works for.
The guys with the ski hats, the big microphones,
and the cans.
These profiteering podcasters, okay?
That's why I entered the space, to balance it out.
And they can attack me and they can have their following.
They're still magnified minorities.
Social media is not reality.
It is not the majority.
Most people are not sucked into their phone 90% of the time,
not when they're adults with jobs and relationships
and things to manage in their lives.
We're living a life that's meant for kids
and it's toxic for them and it's toxic for us as well.
Get your fucking nose out of social media
and in to researching if you want to get to a better place
in space in terms of understanding our politics.
And it will all become so painfully clear to you if you do
because the game is afoot.
And these profiteering podcasters want you to think
that COVID was designed by the US government to hurt you
and that the vaccine is poison.
And then if you just took ivermectin,
you'd never be sick again. All that bullshit is the same crop that's now saying
tariffs are great and Trump has the answer to everything. When Trump does something that
works like he just did with this negotiation ploy, give him an attaboy. Because what we
want is progress, not relative advantage. And when he does things that don't make any
sense and don't work the way they're supposed
to, there'll be ample opportunity for scrutiny.
Now you know, and you're going to talk this tariff talk to people and they're not going
to like it.
And that's their problem.
You, me, do our research, come to our reckonings, and then let's get after it.
Thank you for subscribing and following.
It's great to have you here at The Chris Cuomo Project.
It's great to have you on News Nation, 8P, 11P, every weekday night Eastern.
And like the podcast, hate the ads.
One place you can get it ad free, Substack.
Now Substack is a home for a very different side
of who I am, which is my wellness journey,
dealing with being an aging athlete, 50 plus fitness,
long COVID, which I have, all of the things that I'm doing.
You see the videos in real time, all of the doctor advice
that I've gotten is on there with my doctor, Dr. Robin Rose,
all the foods that I'm trying, the supplements I'm trying, everything I'm doing is on there.
Five bucks a month or 50 bucks a year. It's a great deal for what it is.
And I'm keeping the price down there because I want to encourage people to join.
All right. I'll see you soon. Yes, the free agent gear is still out there.
You want to wear your independence and show that you're a critical thinker
and not some party lemming, then do it.
Buy the free agent gear and I'm using that money to give to places when I get enough
of it.
All right?
I'll see you soon.