President Donald Trump was directly accused of attempting to sabotage both the U.S. government and the economy by MSNBC contributor and Bulwark editor Sam Stein during a discussion on Morning Joe Thursday morning.
Speaking with co-host Mika Brzezinski, who outlined recent moves by the Trump administration with input from Elon Musk’s un-official Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Stein agreed with her characterization of the situation as “self-sabotage” and took it even further.
When Brzezinski suggested that Trump’s policies seemed designed to “sort of tank the economy and increase unemployment,” Stein responded bluntly: “Well, it’s definitely sabotage.”
He acknowledged that some of Trump’s policy setbacks had been reversed but emphasized that the damage had already been done. “You read the setbacks that the administration has suffered, and people might say, ‘Well, that’s good, right?’ Some of these cuts are being reversed, and these people are going to get jobs. But the idea that this hasn’t had a profound destabilizing impact is just not true.”
Stein then pointed to Trump’s proposed cap on indirect costs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as an example, explaining how even the possibility of such a policy has already disrupted hiring at universities.
“Yes, it’s been put on hold by courts, but I’ve talked to people across multiple universities who are not hiring graduate assistants or faculty members in anticipation or just because of being prudent that that cap might be reinstated, right?” he explained.
He went on to describe the ripple effects of these uncertainties. “If you’re a university and you say, ‘Oh my god, yeah, it’s fine for now, but in a month I may have to give up tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in direct cost support from the government. I can’t hire people right now.’”
Stein also highlighted the broader economic instability created by Trump’s policies, pointing out that even if some jobs are restored, the damage is already done. “Even if they were to rehire people, there are other contractors that depend on them to do their work who are still fired. So all this is haphazard, messy—whatever adjective you want to apply to it,” he said. “It is a terribly inefficient way to run the government.”
As Trump continues to push his policies, experts warn that the economic and governmental disruptions caused by his approach could have lasting consequences.
