Spinning moderator Neil Cavuto for a curve during Thursday’s Fox Business Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump denied having made a statement Cavuto quoted from the New York Times leading into one of his questions for the conservative front-runner.
Cavuto began his question for Trump, stating, “Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted you as saying that you would impose ‘up to [a] 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods,'” but was suddenly cut off by the Donald, who said flatly, “That’s wrong. They’re wrong,” adding, “It’s the New York Times, they are always wrong.”
Before Cavuto knew what hit him, Trump continued right along in that classic, ancient method of backtracking over one’s tracks to throw the enemy off the trail.
“What I said to the New York Times is that we have great power, economic power over China, and if we wanted to use that and the amount – where the 45 percent comes in – that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get.”
Nice try, Trump, but voters already know you are playing word games hoping no one is paying too close attention. Fortunately for the public seeking the truth as a means of determining their candidate and votes, the New York Times’ editorial team just released audio from their interview with Trump, and precisely what he said is as follows:
“I would tax China coming in, products coming in. A tariff, I would do a tariff and they do it to us. You have to be smart. I’m a free trader, I’m a free trader, and some of the people would tell you ‘Oh, it’s terrible.’ I’m a free trader.
“I love free trade, but it’s gotta be reasonably fair. I would do a tax. And let me tell you what the tax should be, the tax should be 45 percent. That would be a tax that would be an equivalent to some of the kind of devaluations that they’ve done. They cannot believe that we haven’t done this yet.”
Readers can listen in for themselves in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzV0c1auS4
There is no doubt whatsoever that Trump told the New York Times he would tax Chinese imports. The Donald’s only out is the word “should,” allowing merely for a small debate over whether the tax he most certainly did say he would wage against the economic superpower would be the 45 percent he feels it “should” be, or some other figure determined at a later time – hardly grounds for denying he’d said he’d pass a tariff on China should he gain the presidency, but that’s how bullies operate. They throw their weight around even when it isn’t necessary to let you know they’re in charge. Sadly, that trait seems to be taken for leadership by a growing number of conservatives.
Featured image by Michael Vadon via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
