Jonah Goldberg rips into the US Commerce Secretary: “Howard Lutnick is what social scientists call a moron”

“Howard Lutnick is what social scientist a moron,” said conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg during his Monday night appearance on Bill Maher show on HBO.

Lutnick, a former president of Cantor Fitzgerald, is currently serving as Secretary of Commerce under Presidnet Trump, and has been a champion of the White House’s move to impose sweeping tariffs on some of the country’s most important trading partners.

Some may remember comments made by Lutnick where he said that American workers were going to be hard at work in Apple factories screwing in the tiny screws used to produce iPhones.

Earlier in the administration, he defended actions taken by the Social Security Adminstration to reduce fraud that could have left some without a payment, saying that his mother-in-law would not be that upset if she missed one of her benefit payments. These comments were widely condemned, including by independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who highlighted that if most seniors had a billionaire son-in-law, they might not worry so much either.

Scott Bessent the ‘turd polisher’

Goldberg did not hold back his criticism of Lutnick, whom he sees as a Trump sycophant, who holds a “thumbless grasp of international trade.”

On the other hand, the writer sees Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as a “smart guy” with a deep understanding of economics, who, like many in the first Trump administration, is just trying to keep the White House on the “straight and narrow.” However, because of the comments made by Lutnick and the fact that he doesn’t push back against the president, Goldberg seems Bessent’s job as a ‘turd polisher.’

“Bessent is trying to polish turds every day, and it’s getting really, really hard,” explained Goldberg.

Bessent works to reach a deal with China to avoid embargo-level tariffs

Last week, President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China held a call to discuss the ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries—talks that, according to Bessent, had stalled since the two delegations last met in Switzerland.

On the Sunday shows, the Treasury Secretary made it clear that, in his view, unless the two leaders spoke directly, there would be no way to move the discussions forward.

The agreement reached between Bessent and his Chinese counterpart in Geneva led to a significant reduction in retaliatory tariffs against China, resulting in a decrease from 145 percent to around 30 percent, depending on the product. However, the deal is only valid for 90 days, meaning that Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are under pressure to deliver more than just an extension.

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