National political correspondent Maggie Haberman said President Trump’s decision to skip the dignified transfer of four American soldiers who died last week and his sweeping tariff agenda show one thing: “He’s going to do what he wants.”
“I think long ago he stopped caring about certain optics. And he’s made very clear during this presidency, he’s going to do what he wants,” Haberman, a veteran New York Times reporter, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday evening. “And, you know, it’s not just playing golf.”
“He is not messaging this in a way that suggests that he understands what average people might be going through right now,” she continued. “And part of what you know it is, is he is convinced he is right, he is convinced he is going to show people he is right.”
Her analysis comes a day after the president chose to stay in Florida for a golf event instead of attending the transfer of the four American soldiers killed in a training exercise in Lithuania last week. Instead, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive the bodies.
Haberman pointed to his announcement Wednesday of a 10 percent baseline tax on nearly all foreign trading partners, plus reciprocal tariffs that vary by country — a promise he consistently made on the campaign trail.
“He has believed in tariffs for 40 years. You know, he wanted to do this last time, and he was stymied by a bunch of advisers who were much more pro-free trade,” she said late Friday on “AC360.”
“And now, he is going to do what he’s going to do. He’s doing it in a very different economy post-COVID,” Haberman added. “He is doing it on a much broader scale with these tariffs.”
The trade war brewing from the tariffs have raised concerns over the economy, a potential recession and how the additional import taxes will impact consumer prices. Recent polling from the Wall Street Journal shows that more than half of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handle on the economy since returning to office.
The Journal’s survey was conducted prior to the latest tariff announcement, but 44 percent of voters said they were against additional tariffs on imported goods. Another 42 percent said they backed the measure.
On Saturday, Trump doubled down on his belief that despite some short-term pain, the tariffs would ultimately bring jobs back to the U.S. and boost domestic manufacturing.
“We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast!” he wrote on Truth Social.
““THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN,” he added. “HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”