Maddowblog-White House eyes punishments for economists who told the truth about tariffs, consumers

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Donald Trump’s top economist didn’t just disagree with consensus economic research, he also suggested he wants to see researchers “disciplined.”

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-eyes-punishments-for-economists-who-told-the-truth-about-tariffs-consumers

Unfortunately for the White House, almost a year after Trump advanced his tariffs agenda, experts have scrutinized the evidence and concluded that their predictions were correct. From the Congressional Budget Office to international scholars to the National Bureau of Economic Research, all of the available data points in the same direction: American consumers, not foreign companies, are paying more as a result of the Republican president’s policy.

Last week, still more evidence emerged. Research published by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Columbia University found that, through last fall, 90% of the economic burden from Trump’s tariffs fell on Americans, not foreigners.....

The trouble is, Team Trump doesn’t want economists and researchers to make reality clear.

Hassett on new study from NY Fed showing 90% of tariff burden is being shouldered by US firms & consumers: "The paper is an embarrassment. It's I think the worst paper I've ever seen in the history of the Fed system. The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-18T14:18:16.156Z

....Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, mocked Hassett’s on-air comments, writing via Bluesky, “Happy Kevin wants economists to be disciplined by their bosses for contradicting the regime’s understanding of The Truth.”

Paul Krugman released a related video on the subject, making a compelling case that Hassett’s call to discipline economists was “thuggish.” Krugman added, “That’s incredible. That’s like saying, ‘If you carefully study the data and come up with results that we in the Trump administration don’t like, we will punish you personally — or we will try to.”

In all likelihood, if the White House were serious about targeting the researchers, those efforts would fail. But as Krugman concluded, the public threat is itself “horrible.”

The war on dissent is ongoing, and there’s every reason to believe it’s getting worse.

[SamKnause]

1. Reward the liars.

Punish the truth tellers.