The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump Top Advisor Hides From Press After Causing Crash

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s top economic advisor Howard Lutnick refusing to do interviews before crashing the markets. Get 15% OFF Get The Perfect Jean 15% off with the code MEIDAS15 at https://theperfectjean.nyc Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I posted on my social media accounts, not a good sign that the weekend before what Trump calls Liberation Day on April 2nd, when all of his tariffs are going to go into effect, Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has been on TV nonstop up to this point, acting like a sham, wow, infomercial salesman, all of a sudden goes MIA and refuses to do interviews. So over the weekend, for example, on CBS Face the Nation, they said, we try to get Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick on, because he's been the one talking about the tariffs and all of these things. He's been promising an economic boom, but our economy's

crashing. But Howard Lutnick refused to show up and do interviews this weekend at a critical time. This is what went down on Face the Nation. Play this clip. We had hoped to speak to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick today, but the White House declined our request. We do hope to have him on in the near future to discuss tariffs. In other words, Howard Lutnick refused to face the nation. Now, where was Howard Lutnick? A few signs of where he was. We saw him going into the helicopter and heading out to Mar-a-Lago. So he seemed to be vacationing with Donald Trump. You can see right there the arrow. That's Howard Lutnick right there. But as I said in the post, Howard Lutnick

is like a sham wow salesman. He's been on TV all this time and he's been pushing and peddling the most ridiculous stuff by Donald Trump. For example, a few weeks ago when he was asked, hey, you know, the Atlanta Federal Reserve shows there's going to be a 2.4% contraction in the economy, and we're heading for a great recession, if not a depression. Howard Lutnick, how do you respond to what the economists are saying? And Lutnick's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, say that again. That's not going to happen here. Play this clip. We've seen worries about growth. I know you said you're not expecting a recession, but investors are on edge over the possibility of a recession this year after the Atlanta Federal Reserve said that it's predicting a 2.4 percent contraction in the first quarter. And, of course, President Trump would not.

Wait, wait, wait. Say that again. A what? A what? The Atlanta Federal Reserve. 2.4 percent contraction? Correct. Correct.

First quarter. Right here. Right here. Right now. Right here. Right now. Right here, right now. That is ridiculous. Okay. Now, Howard Lutnick, for example, was at the cabinet meetings,

and he would be glazing Donald Trump nonstop. This guy is the ultimate glazer. He just says whatever he needs to say to get in Donald Trump's good graces. So here is that the most recent cabinet meeting, again, before he went MIA this weekend, where Howard Lutnick started talking about April 2nd, Liberation Day, this Liberation Day, that here play this clip. Well, what is so exciting is April 2nd is just around the corner, and that's American Liberation Day. That's the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect. And your leadership, understanding how the rest of the world treats us and what balance and what fair trade finally is going to be, is going to take care of America. It's going to launch the external revenue service to start to build the power and prestige of America back. And I'm honored to be

helping you on that course. I got to show you quickly, though, what my ShamWow reference is. I may be dating myself here, but there was this infomercial ShamWow and the guy would say, I got a shammy. It's a wow. I know this guy reminds me so much of Howard Lutnick. This was the short clip of the ShamWow infomercial. Play this clip. Hi, it's Vince with ShamWow. You'll be saying wow every time you use this towel. It's like a chamois. It's like a towel. It's like a sponge. A regular towel doesn't work wet. This works wet or dry. This is for the house. Yeah, now Howard Lutnick once again was nowhere to be found this weekend to answer questions heading into what Trump's referring to as Liberation Day, when all of these countries will start being tariffed even more, which many

expect will further crash the economy. Of course, the markets are already crashing. People's 401ks and life savings are absolutely destroyed. But a few weeks back when Howard Lutnick was on Fox, he was asked by Maria Bartiromo, how much time is it going to take? How much time is it going to take? To which Howard Lutnick blamed former President Biden's administration. But to be clear, there was no mess that the Trump regime was left with. If you want to call it a mess, they were left with 4% unemployment, record low unemployment, record highs in the stock market, about 16.2 million new jobs in the last four years, hundreds of billions of dollars in investments teed up and being pumped into the economy for infrastructure, the CHI pact act infrastructure act inflation reduction act

american recovery act things were doing great and then these idiots screwed it all up here was howard lutnick before he went mia play this clip gonna take secretary okay the donald trump economy we own the economy in the fourth quarter we We start to get, you know, we get shovels in the ground. We cut regulation. We get shovels in the ground of this two trillion dollars of a commitment to build factories, to build production back to America. You've got everybody coming back to America to build. That starts really strong in the third quarter. First and second quarter are sort of a little bit our optimism, you know, egg prices down, interest rates down, energy prices down. We get a little bit of benefit

from us, but it is the mess that we were left with. But it's not that bad. Remember, you know, overstating ridiculous things. I mean, you feel it, Maria. Are you did you feel deep, Maria? Did you feel deep, deep pain in the first quarter? I've watched your show all along. I don't remember you saying, oh my God. No, come on. Come on. Here's Howard Lutnick again being asked, hey, you know, does the president want the stock market to rise? Because confidence is being shaken, to which Howard Lutnick's like like the fact that the stock market goes down here there who cares we don't care about the stock market seriously that's what you're going with this is what he said a few weeks ago again before he went MIA play this clip this secretary Lutnick does the president want a rising stock market because we do have stock six percent off the highs and

confidence is being shaken here a little bit around business. I know you guys wanted lower interest rates, and you're getting that, but kind of for the wrong reasons, because now there's worries about growth and potentially recession because of a trade war. The president wants American growth and American prosperity, okay. And the fact that the stock market goes down a half a percent or a percent, it goes up a half a percent or percent. That is not the driving force of our outcomes. Now, Howard Lutnick is also the guy who went on the all in podcast, the podcast, a bro podcast thing of like rich guys. And he was saying that if you complain about social security, the reason that you complain is probably like not getting your social security

check is because you must be committing fraud. So let's just say a social security check doesn't arrive here or there. If you whine, you're probably a fraudster, he says. Here, play this clip. Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining. And here, Howard Lutnick is asked on that Rich Guy podcast, do we need to, oligarch podcast,

do we need to speak in a more empathetic way about what Doge is doing? Should we be more empathetic because, you know, they're firing veterans and all these federal workers, and then they're defaming them and saying that it was for performance-related reasons when there was not performance-related reasons, and you're destroying people's lives,

and you're making people terrified to, like, fly on airplanes and travel or do basic things. Should we be a little bit more empathetic? To which Howard Lutton is like, no, no, definitely no, no, no. Here, play this clip. Before we get there, I want to ask one last question on the cuts. Can we speak in an, do we need to speak in a more empathetic way? Because that trillion dollars of spending flows into someone's pocket.

Some percentage of that pays people a salary and they live on that income. And I think a lot of the- No, no. Okay, I think this is important for you to highlight because a lot of people are reacting. By the way, if you wanna see what's going on in right-wing propaganda TV land,

one of their shows, Mike Lindell has a show, Lindell TV. You just gotta watch this because I was trying to find out where in the world Lutnik was over this past weekend. And he's in Mar-a-Lago. But one of the ways I found out was they apparently cover like where Trump's traveling and like the people who go on the helicopter on this like right wing propaganda TV. I have to show this to you just so you can like literally see how crazy this stuff is. But this is what's going on a right wing TV right now. You're playing this clip.

Is that Robert Kennedy Jr.? There is Robert Kennedy Jr. Amazing. And it looks like Howard Lutnick is with him. They're going to join the president on the helicopter. Wow, what a great question it would have been for me today if I was actually going to get to ask President Trump if he was working out with Robert Kennedy Jr. Because both of them look great. I mean, President Trump looks healthier than ever before. And that's not just me saying that because, obviously, I do support the president. It's me just as a health and fitness person noticing that he does look healthy.

And that's important, obviously, for a commander in chief to look healthy, to be healthy and to obviously be fit. It's very important. Let's talk about jeans. You know, those stiff, uncomfortable leg prisons that cost a fortune, squeeze all the wrong places and make bending over a high stakes operation. Yeah, I used to hate jeans, too. Then I tried the perfect jean and let me tell you, I have seen the light. I'm talking about jeans that stretch, jeans that move,

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sent you. F your khakis and get the perfect gene. Now here is Howard Lutnick talking about taking over Panama and Greenland. Let's play this. incredible to see what a privilege this is the first time i've seen uh robert kennedy jr never i always it's always the first time i've seen him get onto the helicopter with president trump and exit this way i don't know if he's going down to florida or mar-a-lago obviously they're going in the same direction so will he be spending the weekend on mar-a-lago i don't know generally like i said it's always elon musk so this is the first time that elon musk is not in the helicopter entourage generally it's him but today it, it's Robert Kennedy Jr. and others. Yes.

Now, let's just take a look, too, about what happened as Howard Lutnick was going on that helicopter to leave Mar-a-Lago. This is what Fox was reporting about the stock market last week. And folks, things are going to get even worse this week, in my opinion. Play this clip. So much woo, folks. This is a tough way to end the week if you're long the market. week and folks things are going to get even worse this week in my opinion play this clip so much folks this is a tough way to end the week if you're long the market if you're long gold you're happy but uh dow is losing about 724 the s p down 113 the nasdaq down 484. that will do it for us hello folks welcome to kudlow i'm lar Kudlow. So markets crash over 700 points today

after a bad inflation report, more tariff confusion. Oh, and by the way, Republicans really going to raise taxes? That could have done it. Our own Sandra Smith, Taylor Riggs and Jerry Wills be right here on set to break it also on sunday you had elon musk attacking the federal reserve and saying um end the fed and the federal reserve why are there all these people working there yes they're going to try to attack the federal reserve at a critical time while they're sending the united states into a great depression play this clip second of all my question is what is your opinion on the Federal Reserve and do you have any intentions of doing anything with them?

And the Fed. Yeah, I don't know, I always wanted to say that. But I mean, I think there's like 20,000 people that work at the Fed, seems pretty high. In fact, there's a lot of people that work at the Fed seems pretty high. In fact, there's a lot of people who work for the Fed on things like why do we have so many people at this at the Fed and what do they do? And, you know, sometimes I wonder which one would win, you know, the federal for interest rates, the federal, the board of the Federal Reserve or a magic eight ball. Now, all of the indicators are showing just how unpopular the trump regime is you know trump's approval rating is sinking and plummeting it's

less than 43 percent right now only 24 percent of americans say that their income is keeping up with inflation right now all this trade war stuff is doing is moving uh outside of the U.S. So China, South Korea, Japan strengthening their trade, Canada strengthening trade with China, Mexico strengthening trade with China, Europe strengthening trade within itself, and Australia, Canada, Europe, and just isolating the United States, icing the United States out as a result of this horrific, horrific policy. From Canada's The Globe and Mail, Trump's self-inflicted recession begins to take shape. I think America will be lucky at this point if it's a recession. I think we're heading into a great recession, if not a great depression as a result of what Trump's doing right now. I mean,

this is what's caused depressions in the past. It's not hard to predict what's taking place. And the fact that now you have Howard Lutnick not going on TV on the weekend after scaring the crap out of people with social security, saying that Doe shouldn't be empathetic, lying about the state of our economy, saying that, oh, it's not going to be that bad, doing his ShamWow infomercial routine, while the reality is that the Atlanta Federal Reserve believes there will be a 2.8% contraction. And it makes sense that there's going to be with all of their horrific policies. It's obvious that that's where this is headed. And then there's going to be successive quarters over. So this is not complicated. This is not complicated economics here. They're crashing

the economy. They're crashing it right now. I'll show you this. This is Rahm Emanuel. I asked him, I said, do you think they're crashing the economy on purpose? You got to watch this. Rahm Emanuel, former Obama chief of staff, former ambassador to Japan, and former mayor of Chicago. Guy knows, guys know stuff. And he says, we worked hard to stop recession. These idiots like want to create a recession. Here, play this clip. You think he actually has a desire for, does he want a recession? I don't know why he said it, but well, first of all, I don't know if he wants it, but I worked for President Obama when we inherited what's called the Great Recession. And it was this close to going and tipping into a depression. We stopped it, pulled the economy back.

I worked for President Clinton, who inherited a recession. We worked as an administration, the presidents led them, to pull the country out of a recession and to then build an economy that became, in both cases, examples of great growth and job creation. This administration, through their tariffs and chaos, are driving a healthy, and we just got today, you're asking me, today they showed the report the economy was doing well and had forward momentum. go up 401ks go down peak consumers have pulled back and uh the when the consumers pull back the economy tips over stat straight and he said well there could be a recession i've never seen anybody be so cavalier with people's uh own personal economy uh and economic security for the working middle class of this country. But he said it using his words and his treasury secretary.

They basically, oh, that could be the consequence. I don't know. I work for two administrations tirelessly that worked every day, 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year to get out of a recession and to build the economy. You have an administration that shrugs their shoulders and says, well, there could be a little pain here. Well, if you have 11 billionaires in your cabinet, what do they know about pain? For a family that can't make it to the 31st of the month on their paycheck and is trying to get it to Walmart or to Target, and they are buying less and less and less, as noted by the Walmart CEO, this is real economics. And I think one of the things that's missed in the past is those who are doing well were actually healthy as consumers. The rest of the consumers in our society, we're actually living in a recession.

Our job is to help them economically, not hurt them. There you have it, folks. MIA, Howard Lutnick. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus sub stack for ad-free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps

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