Jesse Watters Triggers Democrat Strategist by Brushing Off Tariff Panic

Fox News host Jesse Watters triggered Democratic strategist and fellow co-host Jessica Tarlov on Wednesday after telling her not to panic over tariffs and quoting President Donald Trump.

Arguments over Trump’s reciprocal tariffs against an estimated 60 countries broke out after he announced the “Liberation Day” move on April 2, causing the stock market to take a nosedive for two days straight. On “The Five,” Tarlov said that while Trump has put a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs, except for China’s, the baseline 10 percent tariffs will “jack up prices.”

“You have people from small business owners to huge investors that were backing Donald Trump in the election, very publicly coming out and saying that what he’s doing is crazy,” Tarlov said.

“I can’t use the expletive that [GOP megadonor] Ken Langone, for instance, used, but I think that he knows what’s going to be good for Main Street when you have Walmart coming out and say they can’t even do their normal economic forecasting because of the impact of these tariffs.  And that’s why it’s so important to note the fact that he took off some of the retaliatory tariffs, but he still has this 10 percent baseline tariff, which will jack up prices,” Tarlov added.

Fellow co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro jumped in and pushed back against Tarlov. The Democratic strategist conceded that while the stock market was down, it had a “rebound day” on Tuesday. Pirro then pivoted to Watters, asking for his thoughts.

“She’s just a panicin’. You heard what he said, ‘Sit back and be cool,’ Jessica,” Watters said. “You can’t get so freaked out.”

“Do you know how obnoxious it is to tell a small business owner to ‘be cool’?” Tarlov snapped back.

Trump on Tuesday posted on his account, telling supporters to “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!”

“Jessica, I’m telling you to be cool. I’m telling these small business owners I’ll be around Sunday, and I’ll buy the whole place up,” Watters said. “Relax. He’s doing something that needed to be done. It’s a little bit crazy right now, but it’ll end up good in the long run. We’ve talked about this all week. You haven’t been here.”

A handful of countries were hit on April 2 with a baseline 10 percent tariff, with some countries, like China, facing higher tariffs based on their own tariffs against the U.S. Since the “Liberation Day” announcement, Trump said Wednesday that over 75 countries have contacted U.S. representatives, including “the departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR,” to negotiate a deal with the U.S.

Watters continued to point out how Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer arrived at the White House on Wednesday, as Trump signed an executive order to help her state with critical infrastructure updates.

“Biden didn’t do it. Obama didn’t do it. He did it. He spent the money, and he did it. And Big Gretch was there to thank him. You know why, Jessica?” Watters asked. “He’s problem solving.”

“That’s the bottom line.  And that’s why young Democrats are mad at their old fogies, because they had power just a little while ago, and they squandered it. They spent trillions, and they have nothing to show for it,” Watters said.

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