'Makes no economic sense': Trump adviser flips on tariffs five months after praising them

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

September 18, 2025 9:39AM ET


With Donald Trump out of the country, one of his most prominent economic advisers is bashing him for costing America jobs. The U.S. president is currently in the UK, being feted with banquets and parades, while the effects of his trade war with the world are taking effect and that has alarmed Stephen Moore, long associated with Trump going back to his first stint as president.

In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Moore lashed out at Trump’s aluminum tariffs, explaining it is not only crippling job creation but that they make no “economic sense.”

That is a far cry from the stance he took in April of this year when he told Fox News personality Sean Hannity, “Nobody in the media will give Trump, you know, a fair hearing here. It looks like he's getting these deals coming in, and that is good for America. In fact, frankly, it's good for some of these other countries -- to American farmers and American manufacturing products and our technology products. So it looks to me, Sean, like this is kind of going according to plan.”

Almost five months later, he is no longer so sure.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tariff-2674006204/

[underpants]

1. Jesus, when you lose Stephen Moore 🙄🙄🙄😂

Stephen Moore is a moron but even he can see this was one of the dumbest ideas ever.

I figured he was sucking up to Trump for a position with those giant charts in the Oval that one morning. What, was that A MONTH AGO?

[Javaman]

2. No shit Sherlock nt

[sop]

3. 'Republicans Could Stop Trump's Tariffs, But Keep Voting to Make Themselves Powerless'

"If Congress wanted to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, it could have done so at any time by voting to end the White House’s declaration of a national emergency, which, Trump claims, grants him sweeping trade powers. But Republicans have repeatedly ceded their authority over trade to the executive branch using sneaky and sometimes bizarre legislative maneuvers to avoid voting on one of the administration’s most controversial policies."

"Earlier this week, House Republicans passed the latest measure to effectively prevent members from challenging Trump’s unpopular global tariff regime, suspending until March 31, 2026 a section of the law that dictates how Congress can terminate a president’s declaration of a national emergency. In recent months, House Republicans have accomplished something similar through an even more creative means: redefining the term 'calendar day,' so far as it applies to Congress’ ability to vote on national emergencies, to last many months. (Any resolution to terminate a national emergency must be brought to the floor within 15 days of being introduced; the maneuver effectively lets Congress avoid any such a vote indefinitely.) A House Democratic aide speculated to TPM that, for procedural reasons, House Republicans could not use their 'calendar day' trick again."

"Voiding their constitutional ability to regulate trade through such creative means is yet another way congressional Republicans are further empowering Trump specifically and the executive branch in general, while giving away their own authority. As tariffs push inflation up month after month and economists sound the alarm about the economic calamity they expect from the U.S. effective tariff rate reaching nearly 19% — its highest since the Great Depression — Republican leaders in the House are rendering themselves powerless."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/republicans-could-stop-trumps-tariffs-but-keep-voting-to-make-themselves-powerless

[travelingthrulife]

4. The GOP could probably stop Trump in a week. At any rate, all this wreckage is on their heads.

[Cheezoholic]

9. The problem is the longer they let him hold the keys the weaker the keychain gets. If he gets much more it may break

The powers that have been bestowed upon the Executive over the last 25 years are enormous compared to years prior (non full on war). Even Obama and Biden didn't want to give them all back. This greedy piece of shit feels the power slipping (him or ESPECIALLY Vance) he's liable to declare full on martial law or some shit and effectively neuter congress. They are really playing with fire.

[BamaRefugee]

10. The "wreckage is on their heads" but it's also going to be in our wallets and our hopes for our future.

We're just collateral damage.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. The Headline Shoukd Be....

"Major Breaking News: Stephen Moore Actually Gets Something Right."

[ananda]

6. So it took his fucking "adviser" 5 months to figure out tariffs are bad.

What an idiot.

I think a qualification for a job in Trumpworld is
no knowledge of history whatsoever.

[patphil]

7. The guy's supposedly and economist, but thought Trump's tariffs would be good for the economy.

He should give back the Masters of Arts in Economics he got from George Mason University.
Couple the loss of all the jobs this head-up-rectum tariff policy has cost us, plus the higher prices on imported goods, plus the lower revenue from exports, plus all the tourist dollars lost, plus investor jitters stifling new business growth, and the economy is going down the toilet by years end.
Oh, then we can add all the ill will this has caused us world wide. You can't put a price on that, but it will be expensive.
Oh, and don't forget the damage to the economy the mass deportation of immigrants has caused.

I guess he didn't see that Trump would weaponize the whole tariff thing, and try to bludgeon the economic world with it. He'd been around Trump long enough to know that's what would happen.
It's evident that 5 months ago he didn't have the skill to see how bad this economic policy would be, and how it was bound to wreck the economy. Or maybe he was just sucking up to get a good job in the administration.

Maybe Mr. Moore has finally given up on getting rewarded for his loyalty, and decide to bail to rescue his career.

[thought crime]

8. Another Broken Clock moment.

I doubt Stephen Moore can remember anything he said yesterday. That would be too complicated for him.

[BaronChocula]

11. Super!

Has he started paying back alimony and child support too?

[moniss]

12. Moore has never been anything but a

bootlicking a**hole. He might be an early one to jump ship and lick boots elsewhere.

[progree]

13. Coincidentally, Leading Economic Indicators fell more than expected in August, it was reported today

U.S. Leading Economic Index Falls Much More Than Expected In August, RTT News, 9/18/25

"In August, the US LEI registered its largest monthly decline since April 2025, signaling more headwinds ahead," said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board.

"Among its components, only stock prices and the Leading Credit Index supported the LEI in August and over the past six months," she added. "Meanwhile, the contribution of the yield spread turned slightly negative for the first time since April."

The Conference Board said the leading economic index tumbled by 2.8 percent over the six months between February and August 2025, a faster rate of decline than the 0.9 percent contraction over the previous six-month period.
More: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/us-leading-economic-index-falls-much-more-expected-august

From the source (with graphs) https://www.conference-board.org/topics/us-leading-indicators/

Here's the main one:


Too bad it goes all the way back to 2000 -- 25 years, so is hard to see the recent action. Not much to note though - there was an increase in July -- with a magnifying glass and a big monitor and zooming in, one can see a tiny little uptick there for July followed by the bigger downtick in August.