Donald Trump Jr., “GrabAGun” SPAC, & Tom LLamas on Nightly News 6/3/25

24:14I want your father and this White House to have all the credibility in the world. And invariably, people are always going to question whatever any president does. But one of the things that people do demonstrably question is they say this meme coin that your father has creates the opportunity for foreign adversaries, people in the U.S., anybody that they want to effectively funnel money. It's as bad as Hunter's art or the Clinton Foundation with her getting back into the White House. It just seems like a way that greases the skids for influence. I think, well, I think the meme coin, you don't know who's actually doing any of these things.

24:51Right. So, you know, it's different because it's hard to influence if you don't actually know where the stuff's coming from. Right. So I wasn't involved in the meme coin. I'm more focused on, obviously, the stable coin, the Bitcoin mining, you know, some of those things. But the reality is, I think a lot of these things are taking responsibility. You're not taking responsibility for the meme coin. The reality of the meme coin is it's sort of a proof of concept that the crypto world understands exactly what I was talking about earlier, that the markets may not necessarily be fair. The traditional banking system may not be fair to them.

25:20And so it's a proof of concept of what I think we can move the needle in crypto. And I think that's going to be the future of finance. It's going to be the future of banking, almost without question. If we can accelerate that process by going all in on it, I'm for it. People in the crypto industry, I imagine some of your friends who have said that some of these coins and what's happening may undermine a little bit of what's happening because people are questioning it. Right. I have not heard that from anyone, actually. What I hear from those people is like, thank you for doing this. You're giving us the legitimacy that we fought for for so long.

25:47And this isn't just a conservative issue. I mean, these are highly libertarian people. You know, this is actually one of those 50 million holders of some sort of crypto, whether it's Bitcoin, stables, ETH, SOL, whatever it may be. There's 50 million in America and they're not all right wing. These are people who just believe in freedom. They've seen what's happening and they're looking for a corollary and a response. I got one more for you, which goes to, do you believe if you believe in the U.S. dollar, which I think we all want to believe in, Do we think that crypto, Bitcoin in particular, but crypto writ large, can ultimately undermine it?

26:21Actually, I think the opposite. When you look at what's going on with so many of the stable coins, and as you create utility and those things happen, what we're doing with USD1, it's literally one-to-one backed with the U.S. treasuries. If you look at some of these big stable coins, they're literally some of the biggest buyers of U.S. treasuries in the world, replacing a lot of the countries that would have been traditionally doing that. So if we want to keep borrowing and spending the way we do for some of these markets, I don't necessarily agree with all of that either. Like, I think these stable coins are actually going to be the savior of dollar hegemony in the world, not a detractor from it.

26:57I think that goes without question. If you look at even, you know, companies like Tether, I think they're the fourth largest holder of U.S. treasuries in the world. What we're going to do with USD1. I mean, this is billions and billions of dollars of triceries that other countries who have not necessarily been good actors or who have taken advantage of those things over the years have said they're going to back away from to try to create their own kind of currency to eliminate sort of the petrodollar, whatever it may be. I think stable coins could be the savior of U.S. currency. I'm going to shift gears a little bit to your relationship with VP Vance and some of the stuff we've read lately.

27:35I don't know if you've seen the journal pieces about, I guess, the the Orrin Cass influence. And you know who I'm talking about on on the vice president, where market forces are no longer as important. There's a populist tinge to everything. I even think some of J.D. Vance's acolytes wanted to raise corporate taxes, raise taxes on the rich. Your dad is some kind of hybrid now between a Republican and a in a Democratic populist. Do you? So I actually subscribe to what you're kind of describing, which is you do. Yeah, I do. Because I think it's how you got former Democrats into the party. You're a former Democrat.

28:15I'm not going to tell anyone who you voted for. I don't think you want that. Appreciate that. You're a good friend. I know. But she was married to a president. So but again, you're not a good friend. In any event, I think what Donald Trump has done and what we were actually central in doing during the campaign, which was getting people like Bobby Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard to endorse President Trump, is an important aspect of what you're picking up on, which is that the tent now incorporates elements that we think are the best of both parties. So MAGA is actually, I think, taking a lot of strong things that the Democrats used to before, which is caring about the middle class and the workers of this country.

28:53Being an unadulterated globalist and capitalist, I think, has failed a large swath of our population. And that's what I think Vice President Vance really picked on earlier than others and has not lost the sense that we can still be capitalists. But if it affects our national security and our middle class, we have to reevaluate some of the assumptions we've made. I came into this, like we've talked about before, in the late 90s, thinking that, you know, we could democratize countries around the world if we just simply open their markets. And I was in favor of a lot of those policies when I was a Democrat.

29:22But they have not worked. China has gotten more authoritarian. And it's not smart for us to have everything made with a country that's four times our size, has slave labor, and can put people out of work. But we don't want T-shirts being made. I didn't say that, though. There are other things. What are we investing in? We're investing in semiconductors. We're investing in technology to mine rare earth minerals here. And those are jobs. Those are great jobs. We shouldn't make our pharmaceuticals in another country. If there are products that threaten our national security like we saw in COVID, they should be made at home.

29:52That's obvious, I think, and that's self-evident. That's one of the things that this administration, I think, is doing a good job. So it's not about being communist or just, you know, socialist for the sake of it. It's we look at the international system that has changed dramatically over the last 25 years. Let's find out what the failures were. By the way, George W. Bush made a lot of failures. Obama. President Trump could not have been elected in 2016 if you didn't have the people feel that backlash. And he certainly couldn't have made a comeback if President Biden had addressed those issues.

30:21And reelected in 2020. Yeah, well, I always think sometimes you have to hit rock bottom. And I think that was for him. It took that was for him. He's talking about. I'm sorry. I take that back. It took four years of Biden. I take it back. That was totally for you. I take it back. But I think it did take the four years of Biden for America to realize how fragile some of these things are. You went from a time of prosperity to a time of poverty. You went from a time of peace to a time of war. These things happened when America wasn't leading with strength. I think it takes a little bit of that for us to understand just how fragile we were.

30:56I think that brought back Trump. And you see, again, the same old news cycle starting when the S &P dipped a little bit. Oh, my God, it's the Trump recession. Oh, my God, you said it just like you're dead. He's related. Joe, relax, Joe. You see that, and it's all Trump's fault. When it bounces back to new all-time highs 10 days later, well, it's other market factors. But you saw yesterday some of the betting markets, I think it was on Calci, said, you know, the sentiment for a recession was we were going to hit a recession by 70 % of the market thought we were going to do that. Yesterday, within a few weeks, it was 30, right?

31:29These things take time. We've gotten spoiled. We've gotten used to, well, someone's in now, so we expect instant gratification. And within three minutes, if the world isn't perfect, you know, nothing happens that way. The process has to happen. You have to take time to go through that. You see what's going on in the negotiations with the other countries around the world. we're going to end up putting America in a better spot. That doesn't mean that everyone else has to live. You can have a symbiotic relationship with our allies around the world. And if we do that while simultaneously pulling some of those things away from China so we're not dependent on someone who has proven around the world to not be a great actor, that's a huge win for America in the long term.

32:05I think even the president, a lot of Democrats sort of wish they'd gotten it out of the way already in 2020. All the Democrats had to do was shut up in 2020. He'd be gone already. He 100 % won anyway. It doesn't matter. You'd have a Democrat president right now. You wouldn't have a strong Republican bench, which we have now of people who are proven fighters who've been in the trenches. It's such a role reversal from what we've always seen. What's the 2028 ticket look like? Listen, we'll see, but the reality is, no, I am not, you know, thank you for even the consideration or the mention, but no, I'm not interested in that right now.

32:41I'll always keep fighting for it. Vance Rubio or Rubio Vance? Listen, I think, honestly, I think both of them have proven to be incredible. Can I just say one more thing? Just to end it with how we started. The show's great. I really enjoyed it, by the way. But also, one out of every two homes in America has a gun. Okay? Bring it back. I want to close on this transaction. I just wanted to make that point that we're trying to make e-commerce available to an antiquated sector, which is brick and mortar. It's happened in other industries. Chewy, Wayfair this is all the same, now we're doing it for ammunition and guns, and that's what grab a gun is and that's what this transaction is and I didn't understand, like pew I thought was pew, but no, what's that?

33:25I just want to be done safely and we're complying with all that and as someone who believes in stuff there's still a component where pop culture decides elections in Supreme Court you don't want haphazard nonsense out there, I believe in that So I'm all for the safety and the training. I advocate for that. I came from a competitive shooting background. Who says to himself, you know, either I'm going to commit suicide, I'm going to order the gun online, that's how I'm going to get it, or I'm going to plan some kind of mass shooting. That's all. That's what I worry about. But just so we're clear, the gun is not going to their house.

33:58You know that, right? Can we just make that totally clear? We're making that clear. He's going to a place where the background check is conducted, and the same as it would if you went to a brick and mortar place. Most important thing you take away from this conversation, we are not circumventing that. And the reality of any of that gun crime, the vast majority, is done with illegal guns, not purchased this way. No one ever acknowledges that, right? These things happen in places that gun culture isn't really a thing. We're totally aligned on that point. Thank you, Omid Malik. Thank you. Thank you.

34:24Don Trump, too. Really appreciate the time. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. There is still more Squawk Pod ahead, tracking possible tariff costs with our retail reporter, Courtney Reagan. If the retailer eats the whole thing, if they pass along the whole thing. And a new anchor takes over at NBC Nightly News. Tom Yam is on the new gig and the big changes remaking media. People are consuming news more than ever before. So how do you stay on top? How do you thrive? I think you have to be everywhere.

34:59You're listening to Squawk Pod. Here's Becky Quick. While tariff policy remains in flux, retailers have to decide what to do. either mitigate the tariff costs, find a way to make up for it, or pass it along in prices. Most large retailers are trying to work on mitigation strategies, although Walmart and Macy's are among those that have said that even with mitigation, some prices will increase. But what if the retailers didn't mitigate it or couldn't and stay in business? Here's Courtney Reagan to explain it. And Court, I get the feeling that even those who aren't talking about it as publicly are realizing they are going to have to pass some cost on consumers in some areas.

35:38Absolutely. And this is very nuanced. We're going to try to simplify this as much as possible in sort of a worst case scenario. The true cost of tariffs is almost impossible to quantify. But if a retailer didn't or couldn't absorb the cost and passed it all on, how much would prices increase? Well, Alex Partners built these example models exclusively for us to illustrate it. So So before the April 2nd tariffs, a cotton men's sweater made in China cost$6.80 to produce. Pre-Liberation Day, a 41.5 % total tariff was already in place for that sweater shipped to the U.S. That equals$2.82. The cost of logistics and sourcing, that adds another$0.95.

36:21So put together, the total cost of making that sweater is$10.57. At a typical initial markup rate to get to a 65 % gross margin, the retail price before Liberation Day for that sweater would have been$30. So here's the same sweater at today's tariff rates. The China manufacturing costs, logistics and sourcing costs, those are constant in this example. But at the 41.5 % existing tariff for that sweater before April 2nd, and then the 10 % universal rate, 20 % fentanyl tariff, the current tariff rate is 71.5 % of the manufacturing cost, or$4.86, making the new cost the retailer pays to make that sweater$12.61.

37:06So holding that 65 % markup to maintain that level of profitability and a new price the consumer would pay,$35.80. So that's a price increase of more than 19%. That's only if you pass the entire cost on. If you pass the entire cost on right now at where we're sitting today. So let's look what happens if the full tariffs announced April 2nd would be enforced. at that 41.5 % pre-April 2nd existing tariff for that sweater, plus the additional 145%, the tariff rate is 186.5 % for the sweater, or a tariff cost of$12.68, making the new cost the retailer pays to make this sweater$20.43. So if you use that same 65 % markup to maintain the level of profitability.

37:57The new price a consumer pays$57.97. That is an increase of 92.3%, almost double the original retail price. So I guess that assumes that they don't do pushback on their suppliers and say, you're going to eat some of this. 100%. This is an example of if there is no mitigation strategy. If that retailer pays the cost of the tariff when that good comes ashore and they take that cost and pass it along, maintaining everything else. And if we pay the full amount in the end. And it assumes those very high tariffs that I don't think anybody on the street, at least, is thinking that all of that is going to go into play.

38:40Let's hope not. But even if you look at where we're sitting today and if they passed along the full thing, you're looking at a 19 percent increase in the price that we pay. Again, on this example, if there's no mitigation on a cotton men's sweater made in China, sold in the United States. And then you can view it whether profit margins right now are too rich because corporate taxes are too low. So I think - I don't know why Democrats don't like this plan because instead of raising corporate taxes, corporations have to eat some of it. So their margins are squeezed a little bit if they don't mitigate it all.

39:15They maybe raise some prices. It raises revenue. Is it, as a Republican, nobody wants - Joe, can I just hire corporate taxes? Nobody wants - I was gonna say - I don't, but Democrats do. If you wanted to frame it that way and say, look. You want to hear it that way. You don't want to hear it. Well, I think it would help, actually, because I think people would go, oh, okay, I understand what's happening. I understand. We want to do a, we think that this is a better way to raise taxes and to raise revenue. You can even say just raise revenue and that if that's how you want to do it. And that's what this is about.

39:42Right. But that's not what we're saying it's about. We're saying it. I know that. It's about fentanyl. Believe me, I understand all those things. But you wouldn't think you'd have Republicans and Democrats both united and just saying it's always bad. In the old days, Democrats liked tariffs. You know, that's funny. I've also thought about that. Look, I'm not a political expert, but you're right. And I know that there's a lot of political inherent bias when you're talking about tariffs on whether you believe it's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, Republicans should hate him. That's why this gets very complicated.

40:10It's a Republican president. Republicans should hate him because it's like raising corporate taxes. But then on the other hand, corporations, if you're Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, they've been controlling things for so long that maybe it's not so horrible that they need to. The problem is from the Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrens of the world, if some of this gets passed on to the consumer, then it's a regressive test. Well, I'm saying if it didn't, if it's not passed on, if it's eaten. And obviously there are studies out of Yale and out of Wharton that are sort of also looking at the scenarios if the retailer eats the whole thing, if they pass along the whole thing, or the 50-50.

40:45And I believe it was Wharton and or Yale that sort of said 50-50 is actually not great either because a retailer eats the cost, but then in order to eat the cost, they have to cut costs somewhere else, which can very often be something like headcount, right? So then you have job losses. So maybe you've lost your job and you're paying more at the cash register. We had somebody here yesterday. It was Peter Buchfar talking about how the tariffs on steel and aluminum might help the steel industry in particular. in terms of jobs, but it may have a greater offset in terms of jobs for related industries that you steal as an input from construction and other places.

41:18And that's why this is so very, very complicated. But across the board, similar things would happen with higher tax rates. And almost across the board, on one side of the political aisle, 25, they would give anything to raise corporate rates from 21 back to 25. And all the same things that you just talked about applied. You might have to lay off people. You might have to raise prices. you might have. All the same things apply, but that's, you can't have a you'd get on a vote to raise 25 in the House, you'd get probably on the Democratic caucus, you'd get 100%. In the Senate, you'd get 100 % to vote for that.

41:53But tariffs, oh my God, the world's ending. You know, this is why I'm not in politics, Joe, because I don't know the answer to these conundrums. Nobody does. Thanks, Courtney.

42:07A new era of NBC NBC Nightly News started this week after Lester Holt signed off after 10 years in the anchor chair. Joining us right now is a man in that chair at our table, though, NBC Nightly News' new anchor. Tom Yarmus, good morning to you, sir. Morning to you, Andrew. Morning to all of you. Thanks for having me. Great to see you. So, OK, we're going to talk about the TV landscape, what it means to be on at 630. I mean, this is like a vaunted chair, first of all. It is, yeah. So what does that feel like? First night out. It feels incredible, yeah. First night was last night. Look, it's the honor of a lifetime, right?

42:39I walked into 30 Rock in the year of 2000. I was an intern making no money. And I'll never forget when I came in, I heard, Tom, Tom. And I thought, oh, all these people know the intern. This is so nice. But it was Tom Brokaw who was just behind me. And I remember thinking how cool that was that people knew him as Tom and not just Tom Brokaw. But I've worked really hard, Andrew. You know, I've been doing it for more than 25 years, worked a lot of weekends, a lot of overnights, every shift, every job in a newsroom. and to take over for somebody like Lester, who's been a friend and a mentor. So here's the hard part.

43:10How do you feel about the fractured media landscape? And the reason I mention it is you mentioned Tom Brokaw. Yeah. There was a time. Three channels. When there were three channels and Tom Brokaw and Dan Rout, you could go down the list, those were names. Right. And hopefully your name will become one of them. But it's a harder environment today to break out and become something where the entire country is watching every single night. Not only three channels, in some cases, no remote controls, right? So if the TV was parked on a channel, it was going to be parked there all day. Listen, it's fractured.

43:39You can't ignore that. But I think people are consuming news more than ever before. So how do you stay on top? How do you thrive? I think you have to be everywhere. And it's one of the reasons why I'm doing nightly news and I'm doing my streaming show. So we're going 90 minutes straight. Right when nightly news ends, they flip a switch. The entire studio changes. It's my streaming show top story. And I believe you have to be everywhere at all times. We're doing three hours. He's doing an hour and a half, actually. An hour and a half a night. Yeah, hour and a half a night. And I think you have to be everywhere.

44:05And it's not just, you know, on television or streaming. You've got to win the text alert war, which is huge, which is basically when there's breaking news, making sure you get your alert out first, which drives people to your site. Three to five years ago, NBC News sort of changed. They reinvested in digital. It's been a revolution. So when I go to a breaking news story now, it's not only 10 reporters on the story. There's 20 reporters because we have all of our digital reporters as well, all on Slack communicating. And I think you need to be there. You need to be. How often are you just grabbing this and just talking to the phone?

44:34Do you think that's the future? I mean, do you think that anchors are supposed to do that? Because it's very interesting. It creates an intimacy, but also one of the things that makes an anchor an anchor is this feeling that they are somehow in this, like, separated space. Yeah, look, I don't think the people on social media, on TikTok or Instagram that are getting their news from there are going to come to nightly news, right? But I think it's good for brand awareness. It's good for NBC News in general because you want to build those viewers early on in their lives and get used to that habit of watching you and seeing you.

45:02So I think it's important. But look, I'm not going to try to be a TikTok anchor. That's not who I am. I'm going to be the anchor of Nightly News. I'm going to be who I am. And the anchor role has changed significantly. I think people have to feel a much more personal connection with you because of how they do feel this with the streaming show, with anything else that goes. I agree with you. But I think, you know, you can't lie to that thing right there. Right. That thing sees right through you. And I think the viewers know that as well. And I think they're way savvier than a lot of people. But I think the viewers have changed over time, too.

45:29I think the viewers are much smarter viewers than they used to be. And I think there has to be an authenticity and a real talk that comes no matter where you are. I completely agree with you. And one of the things we're going to be pushing on Nightly News and one of the things I believe in is immersion journalism. And what is that? That basically you show the viewers that you are working the story. So if you're doing interviews, you're doing two shot interviews. If it's taking you a day and a half to get to a story in Peru to interview the people at the church where the pope came from, Pope Leo came from.

45:57let's show them that because that process is interesting, but it also shows that you are working the story and that you're out there in the field. Listen, I think at the end of the day, and I've been saying this because I've done a lot of interviews about this new gig, I work for NBC News, but I work for the viewer. And the best journalist and the best type of journalism never forgets that. Yeah, I said that, I think, last week. I was kidding, but the only boss we have is the viewer. 100%. Which sometimes gives you some impunity about listening to other bosses, but that wasn't my point. You know what else is important is it's still important that the 6 o 'clock New York guys and gals, you need that lead-in still.

46:35It's still huge, yeah. It is, because when I watch TV during the day on NBC, those are what the commercials are for, are for all of our local people. And I think in the big markets around the country, it's still like that. And then they're tuned in. They watch the local news at 6, and then there you are at 6.30. Local news, I came from local news, spent some of my best years working in newsrooms in Miami and New York City and really honed my skills there. NBC News did something interesting. Over the last month, they actually pulled me off the air in a big way, and I traveled the country going to local stations.

47:07You still have to do that. Getting into local newsrooms, meeting with anchors and reporters from all over the country from places like Memphis and Baltimore and Cincinnati, and getting to know these people, listening to them, making sure that they know who I am, but I know who they are. So when they need, because we ask them for help a lot. There are eyes and ears all over the country in these towns and cities where maybe we don't have bureaus. And it was, I got to tell you, it was thrilling to talk to them. And it was invigorating because local news is great. They're still working real hard. They've never been asked to do more.

47:36And it's really nice to see. Okay, so here's my question. After you've gone on this road show of sorts, you've been around the country. Yeah. How do you think people feel genuinely about the economy right now? Yeah, I think it's interesting. The two stories that I saw in every local newsroom were immigration raids that were happening in these towns and cities and then tariff stories. And those were those were leading the newscast across the board. And it was funny because every time I looked up, I was like, wow, I was like, because usually every lead is different in every city. But universally right now, that's what people are talking about.

48:07That's what people are doing. I think what Courtney did just now, that was a masterclass on how to do the tariff story. I think it's really complicated. I think it's changing people's viewing habits. Someone like myself, I watched the Today Show, and my next move is CNBC because I know I've got to understand the business news of the day. It wasn't always that way. I mean, I've always watched CNBC, but now every day it changes. The tariffs, every day there's new news, and it's going to affect people's bottom lines. How's your life, you think, going to change because of this? You know, I talk to Lester a lot about this because the demands obviously are great.

48:38And every American deals with this, right, the work-life balance. But my day is getting longer. Luckily, my kids and my wife have known me always as a network news correspondent or anchor. So if you have to leave a Little League game or a school play, it's tough. But they understand that dad sort of has this responsibility. My wife, luckily for our marriage and for our family, she's a former executive producer in news. And so she understands this completely. She gets it. And she's our rock. And I owe everything to her. When you travel, you bring a blazer, a shirt, and a tie wherever you go because it's something.

49:10I'm saying when you go on vacation. Yeah. Oh, I bring my passport everywhere. I don't necessarily bring clothes because that'll be too much, but I bring my passport any time I get on a plane, regardless if I'm going to Miami. Because you don't have a real ID. That's why I bring my passport right now. I actually don't have a real ID either. I got my appointment in July, though. But, no, yeah, I always carry a passport. I'm ready to go. By the way, news you can use on the passport thing, because I just learned this. If you have global entry and you have that little ID that comes with it, you can use that instead of a passport.

49:41Oh, I do have that. Okay. I didn't know that worked. You don't have to. Yes. Andrew, thank you. You're trying. We're trying. You're trying. World travelers, man. Tom, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Really, we're very excited for you. By the way, come back. Spend some time with us again. Oh, whenever you guys want. Come back in the morning. Yeah. We've got to work late night, so. I was getting ready for Joe. I feel like I didn't get the Joe treatment, but I'll come back. What do you got? I'll come back. We already talked. And I, your parents immigrated from Cuba. My parents are Cuban-American, yeah.

50:09They came here and they worked really hard. I think there's some solid conservative values there that have been instilled in you. But while you were talking, I was also thinking, yeah, there was Brokaw, Rather, and I don't remember the other one, but... Peter Jennings. Peter Jennings. Yeah, but I remember the days where we sat around and there was a guy named Cronkite who was like, in those days we'll never be back, but think about what Walter Cronkite represented to this country and the way he presented news and when I heard about Kennedy from him And when I heard, I mean, those were the days of the true nightly news.

50:43You're supposed to mention David Brinkley, I think. Brinkley, Chet Huntley, John Chancellor. Remember those guys as well? No. Millions are still tuning in, though, every night. Edward Armour. No doubt. No doubt. They are. Yeah. But you just got big shoes to fill. Looking forward to it. Thank you, guys. Thanks, John. That's the podcast for today. Thank you for tuning in. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Weekday mornings on CNBC starting at 6 Eastern and going all the way until 9. To get the best bits from that three-hour TV show right into your ears, you can follow Squawk Pod wherever you get your podcasts.

51:25We'll meet you right back here tomorrow. We are clear. Thanks, guys.

51:38Thank you.