The liberal media and their Democrat allies are in full meltdown mode after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs against China and other trade partners, including a massive 104% retaliatory tariff set to take effect at midnight. These measures, part of Trump’s “Make America Wealthy Again” agenda, are designed to finally hold China accountable for decades of economic exploitation—something Democrats once claimed to care about before partisan politics overrode their principles.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismantled the left’s sudden opposition to tariffs during a fiery press briefing, exposing their blatant hypocrisy by replaying their own past statements. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Sherrod Brown once railed against China’s unfair trade practices and demanded action—yet now, when President Trump delivers exactly what they once asked for, they shamelessly flip-flop for political gain.
Leavitt didn’t hold back:
“Everybody in Washington, whether they want to admit it or not, knows that this President is right when it comes to tariffs and when it comes to trade. In fact, Democrats have long said that the United States of America has been ripped off by the countries around the world. They just don’t want to admit it now.”
She then played Nancy Pelosi’s 1996 House floor speech, where the then-Congresswoman demanded reciprocal tariffs against China:
“How far does China have to go? How much more oppression, how big a trade deficit, how many jobs have to be lost for the American workers? How much dangerous proliferation has to exist before members of this House of Representatives will say, ‘I will not endorse the status quo?’”
Leavitt fired back: “Those are the words of Nancy Pelosi in 1996. Well, President Trump is finally answering her call 27 years later. Nancy Pelosi can thank President Trump today for the 104% retaliatory tariff that will be going into effect on China.”
But Pelosi isn’t the only Democrat exposed. Chuck Schumer once lamented America’s trade deficit in 2007, declaring:
“These are the kinds of records the American people don’t want us to be breaking. The administration needs to move beyond words, take action now to reverse a trend that threatens our prospects for future economic growth.”
And Sherrod Brown, the recently defeated Ohio Democrat, admitted in 2012 that the U.S. trade deficit with China had “cost American workers millions of jobs.”
Now, these same Democrats are attacking President Trump for doing exactly what they once demanded—proving their outrage is nothing but political theater. The liberal media, ever the obedient mouthpiece of the left, refuses to acknowledge this glaring hypocrisy, instead parroting false claims that tariffs will “raise prices” and “hurt families.”
But the truth is clear: Trump’s tariffs are a long-overdue reckoning for China and a revival of American manufacturing. While Democrats and their media allies whine, President Trump is delivering on his promise to put America First—restoring jobs, rebalancing trade, and ensuring that no nation can exploit American workers without consequences.