The Keith Edwards Show - Trump Abandoned By His Own Billionaire As Market Crashes

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Keith Edwards discusses how billionaires are turning on Trump over damaging tariffs and concerns that he's hurting the American brand, possibly leading to a trade downgrade. He also highlights Trump’s soft stance on Putin’s Kyiv attacks and Kevin O'Leary’s defense of steep China tariffs—despite growing economic pain and most Americans disapproving of Trump’s economic handling.

This GOP mega donor, billionaire, CEO of Citadel, has just come out against Donald Trump and his trade policy. This man voted for Donald Trump twice, and now he's saying what Donald Trump is doing is ruining the country and the economy. And wouldn't you know it? The Lincoln Project has a new ad out talking about this very thing, that Donald Trump is ruining the economy. Donald Trump said he had a plan. What happened? Stock market crashed. Trillions of dollars lost. Retirement accounts gutted. Chaos. So Donald Trump backed down. Inside traders on Wall Street made a fortune. But about the rest of us? Our retirement accounts are worth less than when Trump took office. Thousands of jobs down the drain. Small businesses devastated. There's no plan. No grand strategy. Just bad ideas that make the rich richer and hurt the rest of us. It's a clown show. His chief trade advisor was in prison last year.

Mortgage rates are up. The price of eggs skyrocketing. Retirement funds. Dow. Republicans control Washington. Wow. That is really good. I actually don't know why I forget that Donald Trump's...

His chief trade advisor was in prison last year. His chief trade advisor was in prison. prison last year. I forgot about that. But yeah, that seems like an important point that we should bring up every now and then. The Lincoln Project crushed it again. And this is obviously resonating. This message is going across party lines because Ken Griffin has said that Trump is bad for America's brand. Quote, can be a lifetime to repair the damage. CEO Citadel Ken Griffin, a former GOP mega donor who voted for President Trump, said, on Wednesday that the president's trade wars are nonsensical and have already hurt the country's brand.

Let us watch this, shall we? Okay, you actually picked exactly the right word, the American brand, right? The United States was more than just a nation. It's a brand. It's a universal brand, whether it's our culture, our financial strength, our military. America rose beyond just being a country. It was like an aspiration for most. the world. And we're eroding that brand right now. And if you think of your behavior as a

consumer, how many times do you buy a product with a brand on it because you trust that brand? You know you could buy like a similar dress with no name for less money, but you want the dress that you think is not fall apart in two weeks. You want the handbag that you think is well made. You want the television that you know that when you turn it on it's going to work perfectly. You want the car that when you turn the engine on, it's going to run. And we want the television, And when it comes to the money management, for example, there are many great American institutions who's the power of their brand that they will deliver a fair service at a fair price, that they'll do well by their investors and put their investors' interests first, whether it's a black rock or fidelity.

These are global brands of immense power. But in the financial markets, no brand compared to the brand of the U.S. Treasuries. U.S. Treasury market, the strength of the U.S. dollar. Notice how he used past tense there? compare to the brand of the U.S. Treasury's. U.S. Treasury market, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and the strength, the creditworthiness of U.S. treasuries. No brand came close.

We put that brand at risk. And as you and I both know, it can take a very long time, very long time to remove the tarnish on a brand. So the president and the Secretary of Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce need to be very thoughtful that when you have a brand, you need to behave in a way that respects that brand, that strengthens that brand, because when you tarnish that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done. Okay, well, who'd you think you were voting for? Who did you think you were voting for? Ken Griffin? This is exactly who Donald Trump is. You think he was good for

the American brand after January 6th? This is a story. It's incredible that these people just can't see 10 feet in front of them. I cannot believe that that is his message. You're hurting the American brand. No shit. That's what he did the first time. And you voted for him again when we could have had Kamala Harris, who actually would have done something. And universities are also going after Trump.

Over 150 have said that the Trump administration is intruding on their independence. We need to see much, much more of this, much, much more of this. Donald Trump is very aware that things are not going well. And here's his message to President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, saying, I'm not happy with Russian strikes on Kiev, not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop. 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done. Doesn't, I mean, that sounds, this is like the weakest statement ever.

This is the weakest. Vladimir, please stop. Please stop killing people. We're the United States of America. Why don't you tell him to stop and show him what it means if he won't? This is why we should be defending Ukraine. This is why we should be defending Ukraine. And there's also increasing signs that what's happening with tariffs is actually affecting the economy.

Container bookings have collapsed. Ports are seeing reduced activity. Trucking is decelerating. and retailers say in a few weeks, store shelves will be empty. We are now seeing the first signs of the tariff impact on the real economy, particularly in the goods and trade sectors and logistics that support those areas. Bookings for container ships almost immediately collapse after, quote, Liberation Day. Further, in the last couple of weeks, we have seen the first signs of deceleration and trade at L.A. ports.

Given the shift, it's no surprising that trucking activity is now very weak in L.A. and a week and weak enough to now be making a noticeable dent and trucking activity on the national level. This is what happens. This is a recession. This is the beginning of a recession. This is a trickle-down economics isn't work, but trick-down pain does. It's clear that tariffs are now much more meaningfully impacting actual business activity. The Bayes book this month, for instance, showed a dramatic rise in mentions of tariffs. Well, this is Donald Trump's, I mean, this is what he wants. This is what he wants, and this is, I guess, what we get.

He ran on this. He ran on this. I feel bad for the people who didn't vote for this, but this is what he ran on. And we told everyone that this is what's going to happen. But look at this. Now Donald Trump, this is Fox, a Fox News poll, say that Trump is handling the economy. Their approval of it is 38% versus disapproved 56%. That's Fox. That's hardcore Republicans.

I don't know. Who are those 38%? 38% of the country approves what's happening with the economy. My guess is it's because it hasn't personally impacted them. It will, as that previous Twitter thread showed, that this is, it's starting to bubble. It's starting to bubble. And it's going to hit us in a month or two. And that's right.

This has nothing to do with anything. But Mark Wayne Mullen wore this. on Fox. What is he doing? Isn't he like a multi, multi, multi-millionaire? Why do they have to cosplay like cowboys? Just own the fact that you're rich. Meanwhile, O'Leary, Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank, yeah,

is saying that the tariffs, the rate we're giving China is not enough. He wants it to be 400%. This is the type of person that Donald Trump is listening to. Let's just watch a bit of this. I love the Chinese people. I want to do business there with the government. cheats, steals, robs, and does not play by any rules, I don't think 125% is enough. Ross, are you convinced by that point?

Are you convinced? You know, once again. I want to hear from Ross now. Kevin, Ross, go ahead. I don't consider the debate over whether China does things that are bad to American businesses. We all agree with that. It's how we deal with it, which you don't want to answer the question, which is, tarnishing the American brand globally.

This isn't just about China. You're Canadian, and the Canadians couldn't be more angry at us. Now, I live in California, and the Canadians are like, oh, we're just not coming to California now, and I can't tell you how much money in California we make. Exactly. And Gerber goes on to say Americans have never had

things disappearing from shelves since COVID, and O'Leary said have some backbone your week. Imagine six months ago, Joe Biden, telling the American people, just have some backbone. Have some backbone. We're going to go through some hard times. Okay? Everyone would have lost their minds.

It is insane to me. The part of the Republican talking point around this stuff is that, you know, well, we're going to have to just like stiffen, stiffen up and, you know, get through it. Well, we actually didn't have to get through anything. We had the economy that was the envy of the world. And just to go to show how awful Donald Trump. knows this is, is that he is now just lying, point blank. Not that he doesn't always lie, but there is absolutely no basis of truth with this. Gas and grocery prices are way down.

Just like I said, they would be eggs are plentiful and down 87% nice. Not true. Prices are higher than ever, and people know it. And that's why his approval rating is where it is. It's the lowest it's ever been historically low. 44%. And just look at the rest of the approval marks for other presidents. Biden 54. Trump in his first term, 45%. Obama's 62% Bush, 63%. So this is not working. And you cannot become a dictator if people are not supporting you. So we have to just keep pushing the message, but to me it is a good sign that Fox News viewers, a majority of Americans, are seeing what's happening and saying, I don't like it.