In a fiery House hearing, radical Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) attacked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on tariffs, falsely accusing him of flip-flopping on their inflationary impact. Bessent firmly debunked her claims with Federal Reserve data showing tariffs don’t cause inflation over 150 years, and highlighted Trump’s plan to cut duties on essentials to lower prices quickly.
Nevertheless, Waters pivoted to woke hysteria, blaming ICE and Border Patrol for “terrorizing” communities and harming housing, ignoring how illegal immigration strains housing supply. Bessent stood firm against her political theater, urging reason even as she begged him to undermine Trump’s pro-American agenda.
Starting with her irritating questions, Maxine Waters yelled at Bessent to “Shut up,” before claiming, “I have a few questions about this, as a former hedge fund manager in 2004, and I don’t want you to go into any long details about this. But did you write a letter to investors raising concerns about the impact of tariffs? Writing that, ‘tariffs are inflationary.’ Did you say that at that time? Yes or No.” Answering earnestly, Bessent said that was untrue.
Meaning around her point, the California Democrat continued, “Thank you. Okay. We have a New York Times article that you know agreed. New York Times, then last summer, when you testified before a Senate committee, you said, ‘There is no inflation. Tariffs are not being passed on to consumers.’ You are quite definitive, and even claim that critics had ‘tariff derangement syndrome.'”
Still not done, Waters whined, “Well, those comments are at odds with the statement you made to investors that tariffs are inflationary again, I want to be clear. So, just let me ask you, are tariffs inflationary? Yes or No?”
Pouncing, Bessent answered, “According to the San Francisco Federal Reserve, with 150 years of data, yes or no, tariffs do not cause inflation.” Trying to regain the initiative, the Democrat interjected, “You told Fox News that the government was going to reduce tariffs on goods like coffee and bananas, and that doing so would ‘bring the prices down very quickly.'”
Still not done with her blatant political theatre, Waters raved, “Well, that’s the Trump logic, but that isn’t reality. It did raise prices across the board, and you know it, I think you knew back in July. Also, the real question is, why would you even impose a tariff on a good that a country doesn’t grow or make, as that would only serve to punish the American consumer?”
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Apparently, she realised that jouseting with the Treasury secretary wasn’t going her way. Waters pivoted to tired woke boilerplate. In addition, the unlawful campaign waged by the Trump administration with ICE and Border Patrol terrorizing American communities has also harmed home construction across America.”
Watch the clip here:
Fishing for a social media sound bite, she begged, “So I ask you, Secretary Bessent, will you be the voice of reason in the administration and urge Trump to stop waging a war on American consumers and on housing affordability and putting the economy at risk?”
Featured image from embedded video