President Donald Trump is pursuing a sweeping new economic order and shows no signs of retreating from his aggressive tariff policies, according to a CNBC host. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—calling it a “reordering” of trade and a “re-levering” of the private sector—says the administration expects thousands of fired federal workers will transition into the manufacturing jobs Trump aims to restore from overseas.

In an interview published by RealClearPolitics over the weekend, Secretary Bessent was asked if he thinks there are enough people in the U.S. workforce to fuel Trump’s goal of dramatically increasing manufacturing in the U.S.

Bessent explained that he believes factories will be automated and run by artificial intelligence, while the thousands of federal workers fired by the Trump administration will fill the manufacturing jobs.

“I think we do,” have the labor force to transition the U.S, from a mostly service economy to one with massively increased production, Bessent said.

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“I think with AI, with automation, with so many of these factories are going to be new. They’re going to be smart factories that I think, we’ve got all the labor force we need,” the Secretary said.

“So what we are doing on one side, the president is reordering trade,” the Secretary continued. “On the other side, we are shedding excess labor in the federal government and bringing down federal borrowings? And then on the other side, that will give us the labor that we need for the new manufacturing.”

“And we’re going to relever the private sector. So the private sector, in essence, has been in recession during the Biden years,” he said — a claim disputed by experts and data. “And this is an opportunity to right-size the federal government and unleash the private sector again, because it’s been hemmed down by excessive regulation, and it’s been crowded out by the government.”

Political and investigative reporter Roger Sollenberger remarked that he thinks it’s “insane” that Bessent is “saying here is federal workers — the same people Trump et al describe as useless freeloading administrative bloat — are the people who will form the backbone of the new factory labor market.”

Others have noted that many of the fired federal workers held office and “white collar” jobs, whereas manufacturing jobs often require different skill sets.

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Secretary Bessent, in fact, has been promoting the claim that the private sector has been in recession during the Biden years, for months.

Back in February, reporting that “Bessent has a gloomy economic view,” Axios noted that “Bessent said … the private sector has been in a recession, but official economic data shows ongoing growth and hiring among private businesses.”

In a “reality check,” Axios added that a “private sector recession is a regular recession by another name.” There was no recession during the Biden years.

“‘The secretary’s comment flies in the face of productivity, GDP, and jobs data,’ Jared Bernstein, the former Biden-era chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, told Axios.”

Bernstein also warned that it is “very important that the economics team sticks to the actual facts.”

CNBC’s Kelly Evans on Monday wrote, “I don’t think this White House is looking for opportunities to back down. I think they view this as a one-time shot to remake the entire U.S. economic order, with high tariffs being a necessary catalyst for that.”

“‘I believe that this is going to work,’ Bessent said,” Evans continued. “‘What I do know is that the old system wasn’t working. And if you look at a system that’s not working, you’ve got to be brave to change it.’ Does that sound like language from an administration looking for an exit route? Especially from Bessent, who has the most Wall Street experience of the bunch.”

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Image via Reuters

President Donald Trump is trying to get the military parade his “generals” blocked him from having during his first term, reportedly planning to spend millions of taxpayer money to honor himself on his 79th birthday in June.

In 2018, “Trump angrily and reluctantly canceled his plans after military leaders said it would cost $92 million and after District officials complained that heavy military equipment—tanks and planes included—would tear up the roadways and cost $21 million just for parade public safety,” Washington City Paper reports. “Now, second-term Trump apparently won’t be denied.”

Citing a D.C. source, the paper reports that “Trump has commandeered Saturday, June 14—the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and, as it happens, Trump’s 79th birthday—for his military parade. It would stretch almost four miles from the Pentagon in Arlington to the White House, according to the source, who stressed that local officials are just learning of it.”

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Critics are blasting the Commander-in-Chief’s efforts, with some noting that military parades are what fascist and authoritarian countries do, and others pointing out how Trump’s massive cuts to the federal workforce, immigration policies, and new tariffs have decimated American families.

“So what if you go broke or your kid dies of measles?” asked NYU professor, historian, and scholar of fascism and authoritarian leaders Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Trump “gets to golf and have his military parade.”

“Trump wanted this military parade in DC so much in his first term — even after the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs bluntly told him in the Oval Office ‘it’s what dictators do,’ per our reporting,” noted The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser.

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“When President Trump returned from the Bastille Day military parade in France in July 2017, he was enamored of the display, calling it ‘one of the most beautiful parades I have ever seen.'” The Washington Post had reported in 2019. “Months later, Trump made a decision: He wanted his own parade. Ideally, a bigger and better show than the one he had watched in Paris. ‘We’re going to have to try and top it,’ he said.”

The Daily Beast adds that Trump “did get a scaled-down version in 2019 with his ‘Salute to America’ event, featuring tanks and military flyovers. That cost $13 million, more than double the usual July 4th celebration.”

Political strategist Chris D. Jackson noted that Trump “craves strongman vibes. If Obama or Biden tried this, impeachment would be instant. It’s pathetic—and we’re footing the bill.”

“We’re going to cap off torching $12 trillion by hosting a big military parade,” wrote Democratic strategist Max Burns, appearing to refer to the approximate amount the stock markets have lost since Trump was inaugurated.

RELATED: Trump MIA as Lithuania’s President Honors Fallen U.S. Soldiers

Image: Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks via Flickr/Public Domain

As President Donald Trump’s top billionaire allies and influencers are turning tail and revolting against his “big, beautiful tariffs” that have caused three days of stock market collapses across the globe, top White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett says that when he’s ready, the President will “sign with that big long beautiful signature and he will have made a great deal for America.”

Jamie Dimon, Bill Ackman, and Elon Musk all expressed concerns over the weekend, after U.S. markets crashed.

Call For ’90-Day Time Out’

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a longtime Democratic donor who endorsed Trump in 2024 and went on to become a top cheerleader for Trump’s policies, blasted the President over his tariffs that in just two days caused $6.6 trillion in lost wealth in the U.S. alone (and $11 trillion since Inauguration Day.)

In a lengthy social media post, Ackman warned of a pending “self-induced economic nuclear winter” should Trump not reverse course on his oppressive tariffs.

Calling for a “90-day time out,” Ackman accused Trump of  “placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike,” and “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once,” which he says puts the U.S. “in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.”

“If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” he warned.

And he chastised Trump, warning that the President “is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.”

Markets Turn Positive Until White House Cries ‘Fake News’

On Monday morning, Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council reportedly said, according to Reuters, that the President is considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.

That caused an immediate spike, with U.S. markets turning positive on the third day of devastating, massive drops.

the Dow turns positive as CNBC talks about reporting that Kevin Hassett is saying Trump is considering a 90 day pause on tariffs for all countries other than China pic.twitter.com/ODJOsGVqWU

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2025

But the turnaround lasted only minutes, and the markets plunged again into the negative, as the White House called the possibility of a 90-day pause “fake news,” as CNBC reported.

More Billionaires

Other notable billionaires have also urged Trump to rethink the tariffs.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, who was not a Trump supporter but in January announced he supported Trump’s tariffs—saying if there’s some economic hardship people should just “get over it”—now warns that Trump’s tariffs “will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession.”

“The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars,'” he writes. “The quicker this issue is resolved, the better.”

CNN calls Dimon’s warning “blunt,” and reports that “rarely has Dimon been so blunt about a single US economic policy.”

“We face the most perilous and complicated geopolitical and economic environment since World War II,” he said.

Even top Trump cheerleader, ally, and administration special employee Elon Musk came out in favor of free trade — the opposite of tariffs — and against at least some of Trump’s tariffs.

Calling it “one of the strongest examples yet of the billionaire SpaceX founder’s break with Trump on tariffs, CNBC reported that early on Monday morning, Musk reposted video of the late Nobel-awarded economist Milton Friedman explaining the importance and benefits of free trade.

pic.twitter.com/azqwPMa0om

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2025

Musk “also said [that] he hopes Europe and the U.S. can move ‘to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone,’ during a virtual appearance at a meeting of Italy’s far-right League party.”

Also on Monday morning, top Trump economic advisor Kevin Hassett, opened the door to Trump negotiating “deals” on his highly-controversial and, at least so far, highly-destructive tariffs.

‘BIG, LONG, BEAUTIFUL SIGNATURE’

Claiming that 50 countries have approached the White House to negotiate on tariffs, Hassett on Monday morning had told Fox News, “I’ve seen some deals that are great, and President Trump is going to decide if they’re great enough.”

“But again, after after decades and decades of mistreating American workers, it’s going to be tough to get him to decide to really come to the table and sign on the dotted line. But when he does, he’s going to sign with that big, long, beautiful signature, and he’ll have made a great deal for America.”

EARHARDT: If you’re saying that Trump is waiting on great deals, and 50 countries have already come to the table, have any of them been great deals? Good enough for him?

HASSETT: When he does, he’s gonna sign with that big long beautiful signature and he will have made a great… pic.twitter.com/H3dsTsGv85

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2025

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