Political commentator and former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Monday that President Trump has “no strategy” with his recent talk about the price of dolls amid growing economic uncertainty.
“There is no strategy. Donald Trump is not a calculated speaker,” O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert. “He doesn’t sit around with his advisers saying, ‘What should I say?’ Says anything he wants to say.”
“Rich guys say anything they want to say, okay? And since he fits into that category from the time he’s been seven years old, he said whatever he wants to say,” he added during the “On Balance” appearance.
O’Reilly’s analysis comes after Trump said last week that children could have fewer toys as concerns mount among U.S. consumers over rising costs associated with the president’s latest tariff rollout.
“They’re having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business. They made a trillion dollars with [former President] Biden … selling us stuff. Much of it, we don’t need,” Trump said last Wednesday, referencing China, the world’s second largest economy.
“You know, someone said, ‘Oh, the shelves, they’re going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,” he continued. “But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way. They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which — not all of it — but much of which we don’t need. And, we have to make a fair deal.”
White House aide Stephen Miller made similar comments last week, suggesting Americans would likely be “willing” to pay more for dolls made in the U.S. Trump and his key allies have argued that the steep tariffs would boost domestic production and investment.
The president’s trade war in the first few months of his second term has rattled global markets, strained relationships with longtime trading partners, like Canada and the European Union, and raised fears of a potential recession.
Trump, however, has seemingly changed his tune on the economy in recent days, suggesting that Americans should buy less and may pay more amid the uncertain economic landscape.
O’Reilly suggested later in the interview Monday that the president’s comments could have some “meaning.”
“There is a little bit of meaning behind the doll comment,” he told Vittert. “He would like Americans to sacrifice a little to bring China to its economic knees.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
