Trump's Tariff Fever Dreams and Robots! Robots! Robots!

A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 4/6/25

Last week, as trillions of dollars of value were lost on the stock market and other global trading markets, Fox News hosts promoted the idea of a bipartisan Senate and House investigation into Joe Biden’s cognitive decline during his presidency.

They couldn’t have come up with a worse solution for improving investors’ confidence in the U.S. economy than a never-ending inquiry of a former president.

Perhaps Rep. James Comey and Rep. Jim Jordan could start a publicly traded company called “Wager the Waste of Time,” where people could place bets on the least damning evidence, the craziest witnesses and the number of nude photos of Hunter Biden displayed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in any given hearing.

I cannot imagine that most Americans are deeply concerned about the mental acuity of the last president especially as nearly every economist is warning that Trump’s trade policies could crash the global economy and increase prices across the board.

Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, made the argument that low wage workers in developing countries would be replaced by robots in American factories.

Jesse Watters kept comparing Trump’s impending trade war with World War II which made absolutely no sense. Brian Kilmeade didn’t seem to realize that the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement) was brokered by Donald J. Trump in 2018 to replace NAFTA.

As usual Steve Doocy was the only Fox News employee, along with Dana Perino, to show some skepticism regarding Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly every country.

Anyone exclusively watching Fox News last week might have missed out on a solemn ceremony held by the government of Lithuania for four fallen U.S. soldiers, the return of family detentions at the southern border and the death of a high-ranking Catholic clergy member who sexually abused both children and adults.

Shows I covered last week:

• Fox & Friends

• The Five

• Jesse Watters Primetime

Investigate Biden Now!

Last week Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes made the rounds at Fox promoting their book, “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.”

“Fight” is described as “the backstage story of bloodsport politics in its rawest form—the clawing, backstabbing, and rabble-rousing that drove Donald Trump into the White House and Democrats into the wilderness. At every turn, the combatants went for the jugular, whether they were facing down rivals in the other party or their own.”

Segments criticizing Joe Biden took up 9% of the total airtime in the shows I covered last week. The word ‘Biden’ appeared 194 times in the transcripts.

Fox News hosts, especially Jesse Watters, portrayed Biden’s declining health as a vast conspiracy led by the Democratic Party to mislead the public and protect a puppet president.

There is no evidence the Joe Biden plans to run for president again or pursue any role in the U.S. government.

On Wednesday Jesse Watters brought up the need for a formal investigation into the Biden administration on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

“There needs to be consequences for the people who covered it up. A commission, a special counsel, something . . . releasing the tapes from Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur,” said Watters.

The next night he claimed the Democratic Party had committed a crime.

“We need a commission to investigate. Democrats committed a crime against this republic and everything that's happening to the party now, they deserve it.”

Later during the Thursday night episode of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich also called for an investigation.

“Well, there has to be a special commission. Both the House and the Senate should impanel special committees to just focus on this issue. It ought to be a truly bipartisan committee.”

On Friday on “The Five,” Watters used the same language Gingrich had from the night before.

“Biden was a vegetable for four years. They should impanel a joint House and Senate committee to do a full investigation of this coverup.”

Trump’s Tariffs Were Just Like World War II According to Jesse Watters

On Wednesday Jesse Watters opened “Jesse Watters Primetime,” with an extended monologue celebrating Trump’s newly unveiled tariff policies.

“Happy Liberation Day . . . Today, Donald Trump fundamentally changed the country as we know it. This is the biggest shift in economic policy since World War two, when we liberated Europe and Asia . . . after we saved Europe from Hitler and Asia from the Emperor. We created a free trade system to help the allies’ economies recover,” said Watters.

He included a long list of benefits to the post-World War II economy including, “wives didn't have to work if they didn't want to.”

He went on to massively oversimplify the history of international trade.

“The United States finally won the Cold War, gave birth to globalization, and then other countries, even our allies, took advantage of us . . .China, a country we basically created. . .free trade, basically destroyed your life . . .The American dream has been dying. Americans have been demanding fair trade for years . . .They're about the forgotten men and women of this country. If you care about restoring the American dream. Trump says, you got to be all in on the trade war. . .The media says Americans can't afford tariffs. We can't afford not to have tariffs. . .America used to be an industrial powerhouse. It's how we won World War Two. We beat the Germans and the Japanese on opposite sides of the planet. At the same time,” said Watters.

Watters went on.

“The world got called out and they're starting to fall in line. . .This administration says they're rescuing the economy from a recession. The stock market can't get a handle on any of this because they don't know if Trump's tariffs are long term or just a negotiating tactic. And companies need to plan years ahead. But Wall Street's going to be fine, and everyone's investments are going to be fine long term. This is an administration focused on Main Street, not Wall Street. The same people complaining about tariffs never complained once when the middle class got savaged by other countries. . .Fair trade isn't the silver bullet. It's a part of a bigger package. Tax and regulation cuts, cheap energy, and border security, DOGE, and spending cuts. If Congress can get its act together tomorrow, when you look at the Dow, it might not feel so liberated. But neither did the day after D-Day.”

The full monologue was over 11 minutes long.

There’s a lot to unpack but I’m just going to fact check a couple of things he said.

“China, a country we basically created,” said Watters.

The history of China predates that of the United States by a few thousand years. Although there is some debate among historians about the exact start of the Chinese empire, the first confirmed dynasty started in 1600 B.C.

I don’t have space in this newsletter to go through the entire history but both Republican and Democratic presidents played a role in establishing and maintaining trade between The People’s Republic of China and the United States.

It’s incredibly insulting to imply that the U.S. “created” China.

Watters also made the following inaccurate statement.

“We beat the Germans and the Japanese on opposite sides of the planet. At the same time.”

Jesse Watters has a degree in history. His remarks about World War II are disrespectful and inaccurate. The U.S. did defeat the Nazis and the Japanese during the same war but our military received a lot of support from other Allied nations.

The Soviet Union suffered massive civilian and military casualties of around 26-27 million people during the war.

The Red Army had to fight Nazis on their own soil while multiple Soviet cities were decimated by sieges and invasions. The Soviet Union also repulsed Axis attacks, such as in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk, which marked a turning point in the war.

The British valiantly fought back against the Nazis for six years. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights starting on September 7, 1940. Other major cities that experienced significant bombing included Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, Sheffield, and smaller towns.

The British had several decisive victories in the war including the Battle of Britain, the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Burma Campaign.

China battled the Japanese for eight years in the Pacific. China's military resistance forced Japan to maintain a large force in China, preventing those troops from being used elsewhere in the Pacific against other Allied forces including the United States.

The Allies also got support from several other nations which only grew in number as the war dragged on.

Comparing a trade war to the most destructive event in human history is beyond the pale. There seems to be a trend lately in some right-wing circles of minimizing or rewriting the history of World War II.

Other Folks on Fox News Had Their Doubts About the Tariffs

On Wednesday “Fox & Friends,” opened with a segment about the tariffs.

“Goldman Sachs has raised the odds of recession in the U.S. to 35%. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says the new tariffs will bring in $6 trillion over the next decade, which is being called the largest peacetime tax hike in modern history, which will be paid for by the American consumer,” said Lucas Tomlinson a Fox News correspondent.

Steve Doocy asked Tomlinson to elaborate about Goldman Sachs’ prediction.

“Now Lucas, you say that one of those big investment firms says there's a 35% chance of a recession now,” asked Doocy.

“I did Steve. Goldman Sachs. They raised the up to 35%. It was like 15, 20% earlier because of the tariffs. We have to watch the markets at the starting bell,” said Tomlinson.

Later during the first hour Doocy expressed more concern about Trump’s tariffs.

“That’s we've heard from the administration. And they're putting all their eggs in that basket. If it works, it will be fantastic. But it is a gigantic experiment. If they implement that, which would be immediate according to the White House. It would bring the effective U.S. tariff rate to almost 33%, which is the highest since 1872, which Brian you were talking about McKinley. With the very high rates back then,” said Doocy.

“It might, in the short term be a little painful for Americans. But overall, this is about being fair,” said Ainsley Earhardt.

Brian Kilmeade added his opinion.

“He really feels as though this has been his vision since the 1990s with this is the World War II structure of trade. He wants to balance it out. And when you take these Titanic plates and move them, there's going to be rumbling. People are going to get dislodged, but hopefully they're going to get to get the keys. And the foundation will be real strong,” said Kilmeade.

Kilmeade might have been searching for the word tectonic plates which refers to rigid sections of the earth’s crust that shift and cause earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain ranges. He said Titanic plates instead. The R.M.S. Titanic was the British ocean liner that sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg, killing approximately 1,500 people.

Steve Doocy brought up the many market crashes that happened since Trump’s tariff announcement.

“In the hours since rattled markets all around the world, as other countries are considering retaliation, perhaps . . . and it would not be a good day to retire. This, when the numbers came out, because there was a briefing, an off the record briefing for a lot of reporters down in Washington yesterday. It sounded like that across-the-board thing was going to be it. It sounded like, okay, 10% a baseline. But then all that other stuff was glommed on top of it depending on the country. So, this is much worse, much tougher on a lot of countries than, Wall Street thought,” said Doocy.

On Friday on “The Five,” guest host Piers Morgan expressed his doubts.

“But if in two months’ time it's not working, the pain could be pretty enormous. And that could be presidency threatening.”

That night on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Stephen Moore, one of the authors of ‘Project 2025’ and Trump loyalist, brought up the market disruption.

“And I think you summarized the situation very well. But we should acknowledge that people are feeling very worried right now. They're very nervous. I've lost a lot of money. A lot of people lost a lot of money in the last week. It's been a brutal week.”

Howard Lutnick Thinks Robots Will Replace Cheap Labor

On Thursday on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” United States Secretary of Commerce enthusiastically promoted the idea of robot filled American factories.

“Robotics are going to replace the cheap labor that we've seen all across the world . . .and we've trained to do robotics mechanics. It's kind of like a super charged BMW mechanic, you know, like you just can fix those robots. You can build, air conditioning as an example . . . but that's for in America is going to retool. It's going to do manufacturing, and robotics can sew as well. . .you've never seen anything like what you're going to see the renaissance. . .these robotic manufacturing factories are all over the world now. You know they're just the high tech. Like when Apple says it's going to come back and build $500 billion worth of plant and equipment here in America, do you think it's going to be with 100,000 people like they do in China? No, no, no, it's going to be robotics and it's going to have 10,000 people. But those 10,000 people are going to fix the robots. They're going to I mean, these are different kind of robot. These are the ones that can literally build things. I mean, if you go to China and you look at the factories, they have hundreds of thousands of 19 to 21-year-olds screwing in little screws and iPhones obviously, a computer and a robot can do that. Not the kind of robot we were talking about, but the kind of robots that you've seen work in. Auto factories are fully automated, and you need people to fix them. You need people to build them,” said Lutnick.

Lutnick is not a robotics expert. He worked as the CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald for over 40 years.

I’m not sure how extremely expensive robots would make the best replacement for the low wage workers.

He then pivoted to talk about non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies.

“I mean, think about it's the non-tariff trade barriers. It's the subsidy. It's the manipulation. It's the rebates. It's all sorts of things. They don't let us bring our beef in. They don't let us bring our corn in. You got to realize it's a tip of an iceberg. So, it's going to be the America we know and love. And we just had to wait for the AI technology boom to be here now, to let us compete with all that cheap labor all around the world. It's coming home,” said Lutnick.

U.S. farm subsidies are one reason why some countries place tariffs on American agricultural exports. The U.S. farm subsidy program has existed since the Great Depression and includes most commodity crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice along with livestock and some dairy products.

In 2023, the USDA's total outlays were estimated at $209.3 billion, with $169.4 billion (80.9%) going to mandatory programs (like crop insurance and nutrition assistance) and $39.9 billion (19.1%) to discretionary programs.

Some countries also ban imports of GMO (genetically modified organism) crops which would include many U.S. farm exports.

PBS Interview Three Economists - They All Said the Same Thing About Trump’s Tariffs

The PBS News Hour included multiple segments about Trump’s tariffs that included interviews with economists.

On Monday the network included Ha-Joon Chang of the University of London.

“It is going to take a lot of time. Yeah. And you don't have the time. You have run down the industrial base over the last four decades. It cannot be built up in two years, you know, or whatever, tariff policies that you have. In the meantime, things will be very expensive, especially if you are putting tariffs on the main trading partners like Mexico and Canada. And can people tolerate any more inflation?” said Chang.

Willy Shih of Harvard Business School echoed Chang’s opinion later in the same segment. The two men were recorded separately and did not interact with each other.

“Let's say you wanted offshore production from the U.S. to China. You had to set up a new factory. You have to hire the workforce. You have to train the workforce. You had to bring in suppliers. You had to set up your logistics. And what paid for that was you got lower cost of product. That's going from a high-class country to a low-class country. Now, if you want to bring stuff from a low-cost country to a high cost country and you have to set up a factory and you have to hire the workforce, and you have to train the workforce and bring in your suppliers, what's going to pay for it? Your product cost is going to be higher,” said Shih.

On Friday, Amna Nawaz, the co-anchor of the PBS News Hour interviewed Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan.

“Boosting manufacturing, encouraging more investment they point to some of those large amounts of investment that have been coming in recent weeks. Could these tariffs given enough time? Could they have some of those intended impacts?” asked Nawaz.

Wolfers did not mince words.

“No. And unfortunately, we have the White House chaos to blame for this. Look, here's the theory. You try and make it more attractive for companies to build their factories in the United States, rather than elsewhere. That's so far. That makes sense. Here's the problem. When I go to build a factory today, that factory is not going to be complete for another three, four, or five years and then that factory is going to exist for several decades after that. That means my decision about whether to build in the United States has nothing to do with tomorrow's tariffs, but rather has everything to do with my expectations of tariffs in five years’ time and through the decades after that. The problem is this is a chaotic White House. When they announced tariffs on Wednesday, you're not sure they're still going to be there on Thursday. No one in the business community feels confident that they know the status of tariffs. Next week, next year, let alone what really matters, which is next decade.”

Brian Kilmeade Seemed Confused about the USMCA - Trump’s Trade Deal

On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Brian Kilmeade interviewed Brian Pavlack of Steelworkers for Trump.

“Brian, what was the effect of the first steel tariffs? On what country were they hit and how did it affect your business?” asked Kilmeade.

“Oh, the first when President Trump was office the first time. He puts a 25% tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada. And that affected us a lot. It helped us out a lot. I mean, we've been trying to get tariffs put on steel because, other countries are importing cheap steel that our country, especially China. But they go through Mexico and they come in to come to the United States,” said Pavlack.

“Because of course, the USMCA gives, the U.S., Canada and Mexico special deals for each other, free trade virtually. So, if China goes ahead and establishes themselves in Mexico, they get they get the benefits of being the USMCA. So that's got to be renegotiated,” said Kilmeade.

Donald J. Trump was extremely proud to replace NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) with USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) which he negotiated in late 2018. The USMCA was formally enacted on July 1, 2020, during Trump’s first term.

Trump Picks Winners and Losers in the U.S. Economy

On Thursday PBS co-anchor Geoff Bennett interviewed CNBC contributor Ron Insana about the Trump’s tariff policy.

“Looking at these tariffs as economic policy alone misses an important aspect, and that is of political control that these sweeping tariffs set up the president to be the decider of winners and losers instead of economic competition. Tell me more about that. The degree to which this sets up a pay to play dynamic that distorts the free market,” Bennett.

Insana brought up specific examples.

“Yeah, well, it's interesting that you bring that up. So, you know, Amazon, for instance, Jeff Bezos reportedly wants to buy TikTok. And so the president this afternoon suggested that they could get a great deal on TikTok, from the Chinese company that owns that ByteDance, that he might roll back tariffs on China that would benefit any domestic purchaser of TikTok, whether it's AppLovin, which is a company that just recently become popular on Wall Street, Amazon or any other. And yeah, he can pick those companies, those industries that are exempted from the tariffs and, and effectively, those who play ball with the president might get favorable treatment. Those who don't would get unfavorable treatment. So it sets up almost, if you will, a crony capitalism type situation in which, you know, those in favor benefit, those out of favor lose. And not only that, that's true with other countries as well. Whoever capitulates first will get a break, and whoever retaliates first will get hit even harder. In fact, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said early this morning and I believe yesterday afternoon that other countries shouldn't retaliate. Well, we've all already heard that many countries will. And so that could just escalate the trade war further and complicate what is already a, I would argue, a chaotic situation,” said Insana.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not. Source - Transcripts PBS News Hour. This list is slightly truncated due to space.

• Updates in the Israel-Hamas War

  • The Israeli military ordered sweeping new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Residents there packed up and headed north. The order indicates Israel may launch another major ground operation in Rafah after resuming its war against Hamas earlier this month. Fifteen emergency responders were killed last week by Israeli fire. Israel says their vehicles were acting suspiciously and that several militants were killed in the attack. (PBS News Hour)

  • Israel cut off all imports to Gaza in recent weeks. A U.N. food agency said that has led to the closure of all of its bakeries in the territory. The World Food Program says hundreds of thousands of Palestinians relied on their bread and warned of dire food insecurity. (PBS News Hour)

• In France, a court found far right politician Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement and barred her from running for office for the next five years. Le Pen abruptly left the Paris courtroom before the judge even finished reading her sentence. This effectively dashes Le Pen's 2027 presidential hopes. She had her eyes set on what would have been her fourth election bid. The ruling paves the way for her heir apparent, 29-year-old Jordan Bardella, to represent the National Rally (RN) party in the next election to succeed Emmanuel Macron. (PBS News Hour)

• Thousands in Lithuania gathered to send off the bodies of the four U.S. soldiers who died during a training exercise in the Baltic nation last week. A bugle sounded during the solemn farewell ceremony as four hearses carrying the soldiers left the capital of Vilnius before being flown to the United States for burial. The U.S. Army has identified the soldiers. They include Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California; Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam; and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan. Three of the soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. (PBS News Hour)

• PBS included a short discussion in its Walter & Keith segment hosted by Amy Walter of the “Cook Political Report with Amy Walter” and Tamara Keith of NPR about President Trump’s recent comments about seeking a third term as president. The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms. (PBS News Hour)

• PBS produced a segment about the history of tariff restrictions between the U.S. and Haiti. During the Reagan and Clinton administrations U.S. trade policies along with the International Monetary Fund forced the Haitian government to bring down tariffs on foreign goods, which allowed American farmers to export their crops cheaply. But that made it too expensive for Haitians to eat the food grown domestically. Former President Bill Clinton has publicly apologized to Haiti for his role in his misguided plan to industrialize the struggling island nation. (PBS News Hour)

• The US Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could dramatically change how Medicaid recipients can choose their own medical providers. The case went before the court after South Carolina attempted to remove Planned Parenthood clinics from the state's Medicaid program, since it also provides abortions. (PBS News Hour)

• A U.S. official confirmed that senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev was at the White House. He's the top economic and investment envoy in Moscow, the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and a close advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He's the most senior Russian official to visit the White House since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022. The administration has not said what came out of the meeting. (PBS News Hour)

• The Pentagon's acting inspector general says he will review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal messaging app. He'll look to determine whether Hegseth and other defense officials complied with DoD policies and procedures when they use the app to discuss attack plans against 14 militants in Yemen. (PBS News Hour)

• The Biden administration largely ended the practice of detaining families of undocumented immigrants, but President Trump is bringing it back. In recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has prepared facilities near the southern border to detain families. Advocates have raised concerns about the living conditions and how long families will be held in detention. (PBS News Hour)

• Marco Rubio met with his NATO counterparts in Brussels, where other foreign ministers from Europe also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in the ongoing cease fire talks. Rubio told reporters the U.S. won't allow that. Russia hasn't slowed its assault on Ukrainian cities. Smoke rose over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown after a Russian ballistic missile killed at least 14 people. Ukrainian officials say six children were among the dead following the strike. Zelenskyy renewed pleas to allies to increase pressure on Moscow. (PBS News Hour)

• South Korea's High Court has removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office, four months after he declared martial law and threw that nation into turmoil. Their decision was unanimous to uphold his impeachment, thus ending his presidency. It ignited divided reactions across the country. On top of Yoon's dismissal, he still faces criminal charges for inciting rebellion, which carries the death penalty or life in prison if he's convicted. South Koreans will head to the polls within the next two months to choose a new president. (PBS News Hour)

• Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has died. Once one of the most public figures of the Catholic Church, the infamous and disgraced Cardinal was defrocked in 2019 by Pope Francis after a Vatican investigation found he'd sexually molested both adults and children. That same nearly 500-page report said that Pope John Paul II knew about the allegations against McCarrick, even as he appointed him Archbishop of Washington in 2000. (PBS News Hour)

By the Numbers