LARRY KUDLOW: Ignore the liberal media

Of course, the liberal mainstream media is quoting Donald Trump completely out of context with his "bloodbath" comment. Anybody who actually listened to what he said, even the dummies in the liberal media, knows full well Mr. Trump was referring to the assault on the U.S. car business from China and their latest ploy to assemble and sell cars in Mexico to come into the U.S. tariff free.  

Take a listen to what he said for yourself: "Now we're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you're not going to be able to sell those guys. If I get elected now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it, but they're not going to sell those cars." 

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Clearly, Mr. Trump was talking about a "bloodbath" in the U.S. car industry and it's important also that he said he would stop the Chinese auto onslaught, using Mexico illegally as a launching point for cheap cars exported to the U.S. which should be a violation of the USMCA agreement and the former president said if they, the Chinese continue this subterfuge, he would slap up to 100% tariffs on these Chinese-made cars. 

I think that is correct. Here's Mr. Trump's own response: "The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, pretended to be shocked at my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry."

Free trade objections, not withstanding, I say Mr. Trump would be exactly right because it's a case of our adversary or enemy, China, not acting in any reciprocal free-trade manor. 

Remember, Mr. Trump's key word on trade is "reciprocity." If another country harms the U.S. with higher tariffs, or subsidies, or other non-tariff actions, then the U.S. must retaliate reciprocally. In other words, defend America's economic interests. 

The Bidens don't do this, but Trump would and for those skeptics, who think using tariffs to negotiate America First reciprocity, Mr. Trump has lately been talking about a middle-class tax cut, perhaps a payroll tax cut that would be funded by potentially enormous budget cuts and savings. 

It's the middle-class that does pay the bulk of overall tax burdens, so if a trade tariff is implemented a payroll tax cut would offset any possible tariff tax hike. Meanwhile, it would be win-win for the U.S. in trade reciprocity terms and pro-growth tax cut terms. 

That's the real meaning of what the president was saying in Ohio. The other point is, the liberal media will do anything to take a Trump statement out of context and try to bash it and, they will do anything else to distract from Trump's immensely popular policies: protecting America from unfair trading practices, cutting taxes for the middle-class and impounding massive Biden budget overspending, closing the border and ending the Biden illegal immigration crime crisis and, oh by the way, defending Israel which is the only democracy in the Middle East, and one of America's greatest friends internationally. 

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These are enormously popular policies. They would promote economic growth at home, pay raises for working class folks, safety for all families and restoring America's standing overseas. Liberals know how popular these policies are, that's why they keep defending Joe Biden's goofiness and all of the Bidens' support for a two-tiered justice system that would throw Trump in jail for 700 years and take all his cash away.

So, basically, I would say, ignore the liberal media. Just don't read it. Stay with the conservative viewpoint. That's the only objective game in town.

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the March 18, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."