By Wonderwall.com Editors
10:56am PDT, Apr 7, 2025
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Well, this is awkward…
Donald Trump is fueling a schism in the GOP, with many prominent Republicans speaking out again the president's
wildly unpopular package of new reciprocal tariffs. Several of the former reality star's biggest supporters have publicly pointed out that his tariffs are likely to hurt the average American. (In fact, U.S. markets suffered their steepest declines since 2020 after the president celebrated "Liberation Day" on April 2, according to the
Wall Street Journal.)
Keep reading to see what Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Ben Shapiro and more MAGA faithful had to say in the wake of Liberation Day…
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On the April 4 episode of his "Verdict" podcast,
Ted Cruz warned that a trade war prompted by Donald Trump's new tariffs "would destroy jobs here at home and do real damage to the U.S. economy."
There could be dire consequences for the Republican party: "If we go into a recession, particularly a bad recession, 2026, in all likelihood, politically, would be
a bloodbath," he wanred. "You would face a Democrat House, and you might even face a Democrat Senate."
Said the conservative senator from Texas, "I want this to succeed, but my definition of 'succeed' may be different than the White House's.
That's success for the American workers, American businesses, American growth, American prosperity."
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On April 2, former VP
Mike Pence took to X to speak out against Donald Trump's new tariffs: "The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year," he
wrote.
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Conservative talking head Ben Shapiro spoke out against Donald Trump's new tariffs on the April 3 episode of The Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show: "If you like the products that you have at the quality that you have them and at the price that you have them, you're not gonna get to keep them. You don't get to keep [them]," he said. "You don't get to keep your Xbox at the same rate with the same quality. You don't. That's just not the way that these tariffs are gonna work."
"This is a massive tax increase on American consumers. That's what it is. And it is designed to be so. And it is talked about in these terms by the Trump administration that this will cost 600, 700 billion dollars in additional revenue to the government," he continued. "You know what we call revenue to the government typically, paid for by Americans — because that's who pays for it. If you're importing a product and nobody buys it, then you stop importing the product and nothing gets paid to the government. It has to be sold. That is the — the consumer pays the tax. That is what we would call a tax increase."
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Kentucky Sen.
Mitch McConnell previously spoke out against the tariffs Donald Trump slapped on Mexico and Canada, writing in a February 12
Louisville Courier Journal op-ed, "Indeed, it's high time for America's closest neighbors to take the crisis at our border seriously. But no matter our best intentions, tariffs are bad policy. … Republicans ought to be clear-eyed about the full, unadulterated impact of tariffs as we work to restore sound fiscal policy to our government."
After Trump unveiled even more tariffs on April 2, McConnell made a major move to shut down the president: According to
People magazine, he voted for Democratic Sen.
Tim Kaine's resolution to repeal the emergency declaration that allowed Trump to place tariffs on Canada. The measure passed 51-48 but is unlikely to pass in the Republican-held House.
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"Preserving the long-term prosperity of American industry and workers requires working with our allies, not against them," Mitch McConnell wrote in a mid-February
Louisville Courier Journal op-ed speaking out against Donald Trump's tariffs.
"Trade wars with our partners hurt working people most. And the president has better tools to protect American workers without forcing our families and businesses to absorb higher costs."
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Sean Hannity, meanwhile, urged Americans to wait out the initial pain inflicted by Donald Trump's new tariffs, promising that the long-term results will be well worth it: "I personally don't want the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, taken advantage of anymore. And for whatever short-term, minor pain that may be inflicted on us, the long-term benefits are going to be massive. All of these critics, I promise you, will have egg on their face, and it's only a matter of time," the conservative talking head said on the April 4 episode of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show.
