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Billionaire Ken Langone: Trump Accomplished ‘More In Two Years Than The Last Five Idiots’

Published on: September 22, 2018 at 6:22 PM
By Samantha Chang

Billionaire Ken Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot, said President Donald Trump is responsible for today’s booming economy, and has accomplished more in two years in office than the past five presidents did combined.

“I think he has accomplished more in two years than the last five idiots in the last 30 years,” Langone said at Yahoo Finance ‘s All-Markets Summit in New York.

Langone, who was previously not a Trump supporter, said the president won him over after he strengthened the economy and made bold moves to overhaul unfair trade agreements the United States has had in place for decades under weaker leaders.

Ken Langone: Trump ‘Is Getting Results’

Langone said he understands why critics might be turned off by President Trump’s brash personality, but underscored that he has been great for the U.S. economy.

“Give him credit,” Langone said. “He’s behaving exactly the way he behaved when he was running for the presidency. I’d like it better if he took a few less victory laps, but I’m not going to challenge him because he’s getting the results. And whether you like it or not, he’s got something to do with the prosperity we’re experiencing right now. Big time.”

While his critics have slammed President Trump for imposing reciprocal tariffs on America’s trading partners, Langone noted that the United States has long paid high tariffs when exporting its goods to its European and Asian allies.

That was fine when Europe and Asia lagged far behind the United States financially, but now that China, Germany, Japan, and other countries are wealthy and have strong economies, Langone said it’s time to stem the charity the U.S. has been extending to its allies for decades.

“The issue on tariffs— game, set, match, fellas,” Langone said. “When the rest of the world, pardon me, was on its a–, we had a moral obligation to help them get on their feet. China today is the second-largest economy in the world. They ought to be on an equal footing with us, and we should be on an equal footing with them.”

The European Union charges a 10 percent tariff on imported U.S. cars, but the United States only charges 2.5 percent for EU cars it imports. Ken Langone said that’s not fair anymore now that the EU is wealthy and thriving financially. Keep in mind that the U.S. national debt tops $21 trillion.

Langone said Germany, for example, should lower its tariffs on U.S. autos instead of continuing to take advantage of American generosity.

“The numbers are lopsided,” he said.

Langone To EU: ‘Pay Your Own Way’

Langone also said it’s time for European countries to pay for their own military defense, especially since the United States helped rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

In 2017, the United States paid 72 percent of NATO’s total defense budget. The NATO pact is in place to protect Europe from Russian military aggression.

“We did it, and we’re good for it,” Langone said. “But now, guess what? You pay your own way. I think we [our weak political leaders] have been made monkeys. Sure, China wants to keep things the way they are. Germany wants to keep things the way they are…that means, ‘I’ve either got as good a deal or I’ve got a better deal [than you].’”

Last week, Langone blasted Barack Obama, saying the former president should continue the longstanding tradition of not criticizing and undermining the current president, as the Inquisitr previously reported.

“Obama ought to do what every great president did,” Langone told Fox News. “Go off into the sunset. Be the mother of the groom. Wear beige and keep your mouth shut, okay?”

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