Trump's new message: Trust my gut, not my administration

President Trump has finally hit on a coherent message: His gut instincts are right, even if it means concluding that his administration’s best national security, economic and environmental advisers are wrong.

"My gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me," Trump told the Wall Street Journal in a statement intended as a criticism of the Federal Reserve.

And in a sprawling interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday night, Trump railed against the fourth National Climate Assessment, which was authored by 13 federal agencies and quietly published the day after Thanksgiving. The report spelled out a doomsday scenario in which the U.S. economy is wrecked by warming temperatures, while environmental disasters occur at a greater frequency. But according to Trump, American air and water is “at a record clean.”

It was just one of a number of bizarre claims made by the president in a major interview this week, who spoke to the Wall Street Journal on Monday about his administration’s ongoing trade dispute with China and with both the Washington Post and Politico on Tuesday about his belief that he’ll be able to secure funding for a southern border wall. Here are some other choice claims he’s made this week:

When asked by the Wall Street Journal on Monday whether he’d be willing to delay or suspend a planned tariff increase on Chinese goods, Trump said it appeared “highly unlikely.”

Unfortunately, his advisers disagree.

“But what I’m saying is that I am very happy with what’s going on right now. We’ve only used a small portion of what we have to use, because I have another $267 billion (in imports) to go if I want, and then I’m also able to raise interest rates,” Trump said, regarding the economic pressure he was willing to place on the U.S. trading partner. But the Federal Reserve, which is independent of the White House, sets interest rates and monetary policy. When the Wall Street Journal asked if Trump meant that he would raise tariffs — not interest rates — to threaten China instead, the president acknowledged he misspoke.

This weekend, Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 meeting of global leaders in Argentina. The day after the Wall Street Journal interview, Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, contradicted his boss to say there’s a “good possibility” that the U.S. could reach a deal with China, which would postpone the 25 percent tariff increase, according to the New York Times.

Trump maintained his support of the Saudis in the murder of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in early October. The president has declined to take a stance against the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — in spite of his own CIA's assessment that Salman ordered Khashoggi’s murder.

“Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t,” Trump told the Washington Post.

“But he denies it. And people around him deny it,” Trump said. “And the CIA did not say affirmatively he did it, either, by the way. I’m not saying that they’re saying he didn’t do it, but they didn’t say it affirmatively.”

Trump continued with his most clear and comfortable position on the kingdom, which is that it’s a major oil producer and therefore an American ally.

“I’m saying this: We have $52 barrel oil right now and I called them about three months ago, before this whole thing happened with Khashoggi, and I let him have it about oil,” Trump said. “We were up to $82 — probably two and a half months ago — we were up to $82 a barrel and it was going up to $100 and that would’ve been like a massive tax increase and I didn’t want that. And I called them and they let the oil start flowing and we’re at $52.”

Nevermind that Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, warned on CNBC that such low oil prices aren’t necessarily good for the U.S. economy, and that it wouldd be in the country’s best interest to see Saudi oil production lowered. "We think a production cut is in the interest of all three parties," Currie said on CNBC on Monday. "Oil prices at $50 a barrel dig into the U.S. industry's cost structure. It's not good for the U.S. either at these prices."

Trump told the Washington Post he has a “very high intelligence” and therefore is not a believer in climate change, rejecting the findings of a key report that found climate change is already threatening Americans’ health, the U.S. economy and infrastructure.

“One of the problems that a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence, but we’re not necessarily such believers [in climate change],” he said. “As to whether or not it’s man-made and whether or not the effects that you’re talking about are there, I don’t see it.” The fourth National Climate Assessment found that a shrunken workforce, higher commodity prices and declining crop yields will result in annual economic losses of hundreds of billions of dollars in certain sectors. In a worst-case scenario, it found, climate change could cost the U.S. economy more than 10 percent of its gross domestic product by the end of this century.

Trump pinned the blame for recent economic bruisings like the General Motors layoffs and a rout in U.S. markets on Jerome Powell, the man he nominated as chair of the Federal Reserve last year. The Fed and its policies are intended to be independent of politics, which upset Trump.

“I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed,” Trump said of the Fed’s hawkish monetary policy. “They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”

He said he was “not even a little bit happy” with Powell’s performance, citing higher interest rates. “And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing,” he said. Powell is set to speak this afternoon at the Economic Club of New York, where investors will be watching for any indication on whether Powell will slow his intended rate hike path. Trump also disclosed his displeasure for rising interest rates to the Wall Street Journal, saying the “Fed right now is a much bigger problem than China.” “I don’t like what they’re doing in terms of interest rates,” Trump said.

Trump told Politico that he wants $5 billion for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, regardless of the political stakes, and would “totally be willing” to head toward a government shutdown. Congress has to pass seven appropriations bills before next Friday, or risk interrupting operations at the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and State Department, among other federal agencies.

"But I will tell you, politically speaking, that issue is a total winner. People look at the border, they look at the rush to the police, they look at the rock throwers and really hurting three people, three very brave border patrol folks -- I think that it's a tremendous issue, but much more importantly, is really needed. So we have to have border security,” Trump told Politico. While Republicans have signaled they’ll stick by the president’s wish for $5 billion in border funding, Senate Democrats say they’re unwilling to move past the $1.6 billion they’ve already agreed upon in their version of spending legislation for the border fence and security measures.

Cover image: WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 27: U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn after returning to the White House in the early morning hours from a trip to Mississippi November 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump was in Mississippi to campaign for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) for today’s runoff election. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)