Cognitive Decline? Trump Calls for Open Borders in Rant on Tariffs
Donald Trump responded to a question about confusing tariff language from his administration by adding to the confusion.
During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office Monday, a reporter asked the president about “mixed messages from your administration. You’re talking about negotiations and yet others in your administration are saying these tariffs are actually permanent.”
Trump’s response was anything but clarifying.
“Well, it can both be true,” Trump responded. “There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs. We need open borders.”
Reporter: There have been some mixed messages from your administration, you're talking about negotiations and yet others in your administration are saying these tariffs are actually permanent
Trump: Both can be true. We need open borders pic.twitter.com/xCPA2WrMH7— Acyn (@Acyn) April 7, 2025
Is Trump actually going back on his vehement anti-immigrant, pro–border closure stances? His words seem to make little sense coupled with his mass deportation policies and attempts to restrict border crossings. Perhaps he’s referring to fewer restrictions on trade, which is probably how his surrogates and spokespeople will try to spin his remarks, and it could also be a slip of the tongue related to his ongoing cognitive decline.
Trump’s tariff policy is so erratic and ill thought out that it’s nearly impossible to know what he actually means by “open borders.” In his bonkers remarks about trying to make Canada the fifty-first state, he’s complained about an “artificial line” separating the U.S. from its northern neighbor, but he has also long complained about crime, drugs, and rapists coming from Mexico through the America’s southern border. One thing is likely, though: The president will contradict his own remarks within days or even hours.
