The Keith Edwards Show - Interview with NV Congressman Steven Horsford

Episode Date: April 12, 2025

​Keith Edwards discusses his interview with Congressman Steven Horsford of Nevada, who criticized the Trump administration's erratic trade policies during a House hearing. They focused on the 90-day pause of most tariffs—excluding those on China—and emphasized the need for Congress to reclaim its authority over trade decisions to prevent such unilateral actions.

We have a rep Stephen Horsford who is coming on the show right now. Now, you might not have seen this, but, and maybe you did. It went super viral last week, or this past week, where this, I mean, you could not write this better. You could not write this better. The rep was just getting ready to grill the person who's supposedly in charge of the tariffs. Okay. And what happened was that Trump removed the tariffs minutes before Rep. horseword was about to speak to him and ask him questions. This man did not know, Greer did not know

that this has happened, and it was just an amazing, amazing moment. Let's just see a bit of that. Mr. Trade Representative, are you aware that the terrorists have been paused? I am, yes. When were you made aware of that? Well, I understood the decision was made a few minutes ago. Sitting here. Under discussion. Sitting here, under discussion. So did you know that the that this was under discussion and why did you not include that as part of your opening remarks? So typically what I don't do is divulge the contents of my discussions. What are the details of the pause? Excuse me? You, we are, China increased their tariffs on the United States. Trump blinked.

What do you know about this pause? What are the details of it? Well, the details, as I understand it, is that China continues to retaliate. Other countries didn't retaliate. The president two or three days ago said, We wanted to negotiate with those countries that asked for meetings. That's what we're doing. What are the details? How long is the pause? How many days?

How many weeks? I understand it's 90 days. I haven't spoken to the president since I've been in this hearing. So the trade representative hasn't spoken to the president of the United States about a global reordering of trade. Yes, I have. And yet he's in the hearing with you. But yet he announced it on a tweet.

WTF. Who's in charge? Yeah. Amazing moment. And so I'm so grateful that Rep. Horsford is here right now to talk to us about this a moment. Thank you so much for joining. I am just so grateful that you're here. And I have so many questions about what happened with this hearing. And I guess, you know, the audience just saw that viral moment. And how did you, how did you come to find out? Because you're in the middle of grilling this guy.

And how did you come to find out that Trump had totally just changed his position on tariffs? So kind of to provide a little backdrop. I went into the hearing really expecting to talk about the impact of these tariffs on tourism. I represent Las Vegas. We've already seen a drop in the number of international travelers as a result of these erratic policies and approach. And minutes before it was my time to question the trade representative, the post by the president was made. I was made aware.

I literally watched as the staff for the trade representative came to the witness stand to notify him. I could see the shock on his face. And I had, I think, a mirror two or three minutes to prepare for how I would pivot from what I plan to talk about, which was tariffs and its impact on Nevada, to how this unfolding event was happening right before us and what I would do to ask questions of the trade representative, who should have been advising the president throughout this process.

I guess when I heard about this, and I knew you're going to come on the show, So the thing I wanted to know immediately is like, what is going through your mind for those two minutes when you realize, all right, we've got this guy because he's straight up lying to us for the past two hours. Like you have him red-handed. And what is going through your head during those two minutes before you're about to like lay into him? Well, if I can be frank, I said W-2 in the hearing, but it was what the fuck. Yeah, I love that we're swearing now, by the way. I love that Democrats are swearing. I'm like, are you really kidding me right now? Yeah.

Then initially I just wanted to get him on the record about what he knew about this pause to understand how long it was, who the tariffs applied to, who they didn't. And as he's responding to me, I'm realizing, oh, this guy knows nothing about what's happening. Literally, the president pulled the rug out under him. And for a moment, I was a little empathetic for him. But then I'm like, oh, no, people got screwed over the last five days at that point. They've lost their retirement. They're losing their savings.

I had constituents calling me talking about how much uncertainty this is causing them. And then I'm like, it made me enraged that this administration could be so reckless and that the president could care so little that he even sent his trade representative and pulled the rug up under him at the same time. But then I'm like, well, I don't really care about this trade rep guy. I care about the people that I'm here to represent and fight for. And so my questions turned into concern turned into rage. And then I asked the question, was this market manipulation?

And I literally could tell from his tone and his demeanor that I had tapped into something that was real. And now it is very apparent that this was the plan to make billionaires rich and to screw all the rest of America, all the rest of them. So that's, so that is your, that is your opinion on this is that Donald Trump did the tariffs, knowing the economy was going to crash, or at least the stock market was going to crash, and that he would always rescind them, but he would tip off his friends ahead of time. I mean, I think we have seen there's like, I don't know, I'm not a stock person, but there's charts that show like the calls for that like S&P 500, for instance, that happened 10 minutes before the tariffs, the tariff pause was announced. So there's definitely a lot of evidence there. But it is your suggestion because of the way he was responding that that's more likely than not what happened. What I do know is it's a game for Donald Trump, but it's real life for everybody else. You know, the stock market might be a game to rich people, but for the people who put their

retirements and their savings, their health savings accounts, for those of us who have invested for our children's college in their future, to have all that put at risk for someone's game. And look, the facts are now proving themselves out. Bloomberg reported that billionaires made $300 billion in a day. after he rescinded or issued the pause. Meanwhile, that's after trillions of dollars was lost for everybody else. You know, they literally are gaming the system, but they're putting all of us at risk in the meantime. That's why just yesterday, my colleague, Representative Terry Sewell and I,

She's the ranking member of the Oversight Committee for Ways and Means, along with 131 of my other colleagues issued a letter, a demand letter to the administration on this alleged market manipulation to find out who knew what when to get the documentations before they appear to be lost and to get to the truth. because somebody, if there was market manipulation, that is a crime, and there needs to be accountability, regardless of who did it. I've heard members of Congress may have gotten information about this. Respectfully, Representative, I guess I know a lot of the audience is a little fed up, because I kind of feel like between Merrick Garland and the original 2008 financial crash, where we bailed out the billionaires and the companies that fucked us all over, quite frankly. It just is like, all right, well, then it's all so well and good, but I would really love to see someone actually, a lot of people actually get, if this has happened, to get in trouble. It is a huge crime.

I'm thinking about the 65-year-old mom who doesn't have the stomach for volatility in her 401K and pulled it out only for to go. back up and she's probably lost, you know, a large percentage of retirement. Meanwhile, billionaires are the ones who are making gangs from this. And so it sounds all well and good that we want to prosecute, but like how? Because Merrick Garland had everything he possibly could have had to go after Donald Trump and he chose not to. So do you think it's like 2028, we have to just nominate a president who's like, listen, we are going to get these crooks immediately when I get into office? Or is there something we can do beforehand? We have to do something beforehand. I get the long game and 2028 is absolutely the long game.

But in the immediacy, you cannot let people get away with committing crimes in the broad daylight. I mean, literally he posted at 937 a.m. go by. And then his trade representative starts testifying before our committee at 10 o'clock. He's defending their actions for hours. And then in the middle of that, they come out and say there's a pause. Now, the pause is not actually a pause on all the tariffs. There's still actually a lot of tariffs that are being imposed. But the bottom line, as you said, is people are fed up. The system is broken. It's not working for us, but it's working for billionaires just fine. And that's, That is what I think the moment does require.

And this is not even about politics. This is about the moment that we're in and what we're willing to fight for. So no, I'm not willing to turn another eye at this. I am looking to get the facts to make sure that we know who knew what when, and to get the documentation, and to allow that to go wherever it goes, and to hold anyone and everyone accountable in the process.

Well, the server lining is these are not sophisticated people. So I am sure if they committed crimes, they did it in places where we can find it very easily. I mean, these are folks who are making war plans on signal. So I do not doubt that if you go looking, you're gonna find a wealth of evidence. So I just gotta say, I'm just- It's also on top of, this is at the very same time,

Keith, that they advanced the budget plan, which I call the Screw America bill, to also give more tax cuts to billionaires, not permanent tax cuts to moms and dads, not to small businesses. That's not who they're giving tax cuts to. So, yes, they do have a coordinated strategy, and I believe these tariffs were a part of it. It's part of what I was trying to get on the record and why I became a bit enraged at the moment about it because I started to see, oh, this is also part of the master plan. And it's a part of market manipulation is about stoking the markets, but stoking it for who? Stoking it for Donald Trump and his billionaire friends at the expense of all of us. And now they're going to advance a budget

that further screws America that cuts taxes permanently for billionaires and big corporations, but then cuts health care, cuts nutrition programs, cuts housing for people here in Nevada and across the country. Like, that's the shit that really has me bothered and why it is imperative that we speak up, that we use our voice, that people organize, that we hold everyone accountable on both sides of the aisle, and that we don't turn a blind eye, whether it's Donald Trump or members of Congress. Well, I will speak for everyone when I'm saying. I'm grateful we have fighters like you

on our side because we need them. Keep swearing, keep getting loud. We need as much a righteous indignation as possible. So thanks for joining and I hope you'll come on again. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.