Trump On Gary Cohn: ‘He May Be A Globalist, But I Still Like Him’

Gary Cohn, the National Economic Council director, announced his resignation on Tuesday, after unsuccessfully urging the president not to impose steep new tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. Donald Trump said Thursday he suspected Cohn would be back, saying he “may be a globalist, but I still like him.”

Trump is out doing everything he can right now to prove he isn’t putting America first like he campaigned on. The tariffs will only raise the cost of goods and essentially be a tax on Americans. And now he’s got kind words for the globalists he has attacked in the past. “This is Gary Cohn’s last meeting in the Cabinet,” Trump said at the beginning of the meeting, which was partially televised. “He’s been terrific. He may be a globalist, but I still like him. He is seriously a globalist. There’s no question. In his own way, but you know what, he’s a nationalist. He loves our country.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be back. I don’t know if I can put him in the same position though,” the president said of Cohn, drawing laughter. “He’s not quite as strong on those tariffs. But, seriously, on behalf of all of us, I want to thank Gary. He’s been great.” The White House has not yet announced Cohn’s replacement but did say Wednesday that Trump has “a number of people to choose from.”

According to Politico, Cohn, who left his post as president and chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs to join the White House in 2017, hasn’t specified what his next steps will be. Some members of Trump’s administration who prefer more protectionist policies have referred to their internal rivals, including Cohn, as “globalists.” Critics say they should stop using the term as they say it has anti-Semitic connotations.

Liam Stack in the New York Time’s “glossary of extremist language” notes “For the far right, globalism has long had distinct xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Semitic overtones … It refers to a conspiratorial worldview: a cabal that likes open borders, diversity, and weak nation states, and that dislikes white people, Christianity, and the traditional culture of their own country.” –Haaretz

With all this extreme language, people are missing the fact that Trump is set on tariffs that will cost the American public. But it has become fascinating to watch those on the right all of a sudden love being tax slaves and those on the left ponder the fact that taxation is theft.