Trump, who enacted tariffs on steel and aluminum in 2018 during his presidency, sat with the podcaster in a nearly three-hour long episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan asked Trump if he was “serious” about using tariffs to offset the elimination of income taxes.

“To me, the most beautiful word — and I’ve said this the past couple of weeks, in the dictionary today — is the word tariff,” Trump told Rogan. “It’s more beautiful than love, it’s more beautiful than any — it’s the most beautiful word. This country can become rich with the use, the proper use, of tariffs.”

Trump said he would impose a 200% tariff on John Deere’s tractors if it closed an American factory and moved production to Mexico in September.

“Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs?” Rogan asked. “Were you serious about that?”

“Why not?” Trump responded. “Our country was the richest, relatively, in the 1880s and 1890s, a president who was assassinated named McKinley, he was the tariff king. He spoke beautifully of tariffs. His language was really beautiful: We will not allow the enemy to come in and take our jobs and take our factories and take our workers and take our families unless they pay a big price and the big price is tariffs.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has claimed in ads and in speeches that Trump’s plan to impose tariffs would act as a “national sales tax” and insisted that it would cost American families $4,000 a year in higher prices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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In an interview with Fox Business host Liz Claman, Paulson, founder of Paulson & Co., outlined the stark contrast between the economic visions of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. He pointedly criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s intention to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and the capital gains rate from 20 percent to a staggering 28 percent.

“The difference between the Trump administration and Harris is very, very different,” Paulson stated.

He elaborated on the specifics, noting, “Trump is — wants to extend the current, very successful tax policy, which was implemented in 2017. The Biden-Harris group, on the other hand, wants to change that. They want to change the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, they want to raise the capital gains rate from 20 percent initially to 39 percent now, they flip-flopped back to 28 percent.”

Now, after seemingly rushing to implement their agenda, the Biden-Harris administration is facing pushback not just from the public but from influential figures like Paulson. When asked about the potential for future investments, Paulson made it clear that the upcoming election would weigh heavily on his financial decisions.

“Well, I would say it very much depends on who is in the White House and who controls Congress,” he explained.

This statement raises a critical question: why should the American people trust a leadership that seems intent on flipping the script on successful policies? Paulson expressed deep concern about a Harris presidency, particularly regarding her proposed tax plans.

“I’d be very concerned if Harris is elected and pursues the tax plans and other economic plans that she articulated. You alluded to the tax on unrealized gains — if they do implement a 25 percent tax on unrealized gains that would cause mass selling of almost everything. Stocks, bonds, homes, art. I think it would result in a crash in the markets and a immediate, pretty quick recession,” Paulson asserted.

It’s hard not to see this as a politically charged warning. Could it be that the Biden-Harris administration is so out of touch with economic realities that they would jeopardize the financial security of countless Americans? The implications are staggering.

When Claman pointed out that people pulled their money out of the stock market during the tenures of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, despite the markets rising under their administrations, Paulson reiterated his stance.

“It depends on the policy,” he said.

The bottom line is crystal clear:

“I think if Harris was elected, I would pull my money from the market. I’d go into cash and I’d go into gold because I think the uncertainty regarding the plans they outlined would create a lot of uncertainty in the markets and likely lower markets,” Paulson concluded.

In a political landscape riddled with uncertainty, Paulson’s warnings should serve as a wake-up call. The stakes are high, and the implications of a Harris presidency could reverberate throughout the economy, affecting not only the wealthy but everyday Americans as well. As we approach the 2024 election, one must ask: is this the direction we want for our country?