Politics
Geraldo Rivera Flips, Heaps Praise On Trump For ‘Brilliant’ Move
Perennial cable news punching bag Geraldo Rivera flipped his script on President Donald Trump’s tariffs Wednesday night, praising him for “suckering China in” with a game of chicken that has stranded the country’s communist government out on an island while dozens of other nations saw their tariffs disappear overnight.
The former Fox News guest, now contributing at NewsNation, referred to Trump’s tactics as “brilliant” while reacting to yesterday’s surprise 90-day pause on most tariffs around the world. They had been in place since last week when the president demanded that more than 70 countries with lopsided trade surpluses come to the White House and “make a deal” with more favorable terms for the U.S.
“I believe that he ambushed China. I believe that he suckered the whole world into believing that he was going to go down in this harry carry, this suicide mission against the world,” Rivera said on “NewsNation Now.”
“I think with him it’s so much spontaneous, but I believe it evolved. I mean, Monday, so many people were feeling terrible pain. The markets were tanking. It was no end in sight. People were watching their 401Ks, their IRAs disappear.”
He continued: “The whole nation was, I think, trembling over the uncertainty of where we were going with this. He was picking a fight with the entire world. So I said Monday, ‘Isn’t the problem with China? Why are we getting everybody, U.K., European Union, Japan? China’s the problem.’ I couldn’t understand it.”
Rivera recalled a recent breakfast with friends where the cohort agreed to hold their positions in the stock market amid the turbulence.
“We all are talking. ‘Oh my God, this is awful, but we’re doing the right thing. You have to have courage. You have to stick it out.’ I went to my Twitter followers,” Rivera said. “I said, please don’t sell. This is on Sunday and Monday. Please don’t sell unless you absolutely have to. And then, you know, look what he does. Surprise. You know, this is why Trump is triumphant. This is why you can’t beat this guy.”
Although temporary pain was inflicted on the U.S. economy, Rivera said he believes Trump made the right moves to checkmate a powerful adversary.
“China’s been cleaning our clock for a long time, making a lot of money on the U.S. trade in a lot of different ways. Dumping product, not taking ours at all,” Rivera said, the Daily Caller reported. “I think that what he did was brilliant. And a lot of people are heaving a huge sigh of relief. People were staring at the abyss. No one knew how far this was going to go, whether we really were off the cliff forever. And I just feel sorry for all the people who chickened out and sold out.”
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The quixotic cable news contributor hasn’t always been in the same corner as conservatives. Last year, he was mercilessly roasted after chiding President Trump for referring to “savage” illegal immigrants in Ohio, and in late 2023, he went out of his way to defend Hunter Biden amid his ongoing criminal investigations.
