President Donald Trump is acting boldy because the Biden administration left him with "enormous messes" and "it's not going to be easy" to clean them up, Sen. Ron Johnson said Sunday when asked about the potential of a recession.
"I'm old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan took office and inflation was completely out of control," the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "He and Paul Volcker had to take some pretty bold and swift actions to tame inflation. That included a pretty severe recession, but that's what it took."
Trump, he added, inherited "enormous messes across the spectrum," including an open border, 40-year-high inflation, and "endless wars."
"It's hard to clean up those enormous messes, so I appreciate that President Trump has acted boldly, swiftly, and decisively to clean up some of these messes," said Johnson. "And yeah, it's not going to be easy, and sometimes the results are going to have to be reevaluated and relooked at, some actions reversed. But you have to act boldly when you have that responsibility."
He acknowledged that Trump's negotiating strategy has "thrown the entire world off balance," which could cause issues.
"President Trump has a negotiating strategy, negotiating style," said Johnson. "I think he's thrown the entire world off balance. I think he understands that creates uncertainty and instability, which is not good for economic activity. He understands those things, but that's his negotiating strategy."
That also means other nations are coming to the table and negotiating in "better faith than they have had in the past," said Johnson. "I think a lot of people are hoping he fails. I hope he succeeds."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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