MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace championed the Wall Street Journal editorial board during her Wednesday show after they shamed President Donald Trump for his trade war with Mexico, Canada and China.
Wallace called it a "master-troll" because the board wrote that the "trouble with trade wars is that once they begin they can quickly escalate and get out of control."
"All the more so when politicians are nearing an election campaign, as Canada now is. Or when Mr. Trump behaves as if his manhood is implicated because a foreign nation won't take his nasty border tax lying down," Wallace said, reading a quote from the Journal.
Washington Post syndicated columnist Catherine Rampell said no one is clear on the trade war plan.
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"Other than the fact that Trump himself is personally enamored with tariffs, and perhaps the fact that the advisors who are guiding him on trade policy used to work in the steel industry, which, by the way, is the industry that is being protected or who's honor is being protected in service of, you know, picking these wars or these trade wars with our friends and allies, including Canada and Mexico," she said.
The one thing Trump has been consistent on, she said, is that he wants "some kind of concessions on fentanyl" even though Mexico and China present a far larger problem with the drug than Canada.
"Is it about that? Is it about immigration? Is it about something else?" Rampell asked. "Ostensibly, these things are grounded — this is the steel and aluminum tariffs — are grounded in national security concerns. I'm not sure how the president's ego became a critical national security concern, but it's really difficult for any of these countries to figure out how to deal with him. Because how do you negotiate with someone who doesn't know what they want?"
Wallace said that perhaps the solution is to call in a psychiatrist or a hostage negotiator.
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