Jamie Dimon: Trump was right about key issues and bashing MAGA will hurt Biden
By Matt Egan, CNN
New York (CNN) — Jamie Dimon has a warning for Democrats: Don’t dismiss Trump supporters as people who are exclusively attracted to his personality. Former President Donald Trump was right about some critical issues, the JPMorgan CEO says.
“I wish the Democrats would think a little more carefully when they talk about MAGA,” Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Dimon, who has clashed with Trump in the past and previously described himself as “barely a Democrat,” said that people are “basically scape-goating” Trump supporters. He said Democrats use the “MAGA” label to accuse Trump supporters of being like the former president instead of listening to their underlying concerns.
“I don’t think they are voting for Trump because of his family values,” Dimon said. “Just take a step back and be honest: He was kind of right about NATO. He was kind of right about immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Tax reform worked.”
Dimon went on to say Trump was also right about some his criticism of China.
“I don’t like how he said things about Mexico,” Dimon said, referring to Trump’s 2015 announcement of his candidacy when he said the country was sending criminals and rapists into the United States. “But he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues and that’s why they’re voting for him.”
Of course, Trump’s critics would argue that his policies failed to address underlying issues such as inequality and illegal immigration. Many of Trump’s opponents argue his alleged criminal behavior while in office and after he left office should preclude him from winning the Republican nomination. Trump faces 91 charges in four criminal cases, including for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Still, Dimon’s comments are notable not just because Dimon is one of the most influential CEOs in the world but because in the past the JPMorgan boss has butted heads with Trump.
In May, Dimon said Trump doesn’t understand the debt ceiling and what’s at stake, telling Bloomberg Television it’s just “one more thing he doesn’t know very much about.”
Dimon’s support for Trump presidential rival Nikki Haley has also irked the former president.
“Highly overrated Globalist Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMORGAN, is quietly pushing another non-MAGA person, Nikki Haley, for President,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social in late November. “I’ve never been a big Jamie Dimon fan, but had to live with this guy when he came begging to the White House. I guess I don’t have to live with him anymore, and that’s a really good thing.”
Still, Dimon on Wednesday urged Trump critics to be “a little more respectful of our fellow citizens” and ask why they are supporting Trump. He noted previous comments from Democrats criticizing voters, recalling Hillary Clinton’s 2016 description of some Trump supporters as “deplorables” and former President Barack Obama’s 2008 comments about people in the Midwest clinging to “guns or religion.”
“I mean, really?” Dimon said. “Can we stop that stuff and actually grow up and treat other people respectfully and listen to them a little bit?…I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign.”
The-CNN-Wire
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