A politician actually telling the truth about their policies is incredibly rare.

The point of the postwar global economic order was never to help the United States, says economist Oren Cass, and in the end it didn’t. Thankfully Trump just blew it up.

Most of the time, they instead sell the country a vision of sweet nothings that insists their ideas are foolproof, completely free of downside. Everything will be perfect. Just trust me.

The point of the postwar global economic order was never to help the United States, says economist Oren Cass, and in the end it didn’t. Thankfully Trump just blew it up.

(0:00) Introduction
(1:20) What Really Is Conservatism?
(5:16) How Did America Lose Focus on Family Values?… pic.twitter.com/qg7IJMnamX

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 16, 2025

But it’s never true. There is no free lunch. Everything has a cost.

Regardless of how you feel about tariffs, it’s worth acknowledging that the Trump administration’s willingness to be real about their short-term consequences is pretty unusual in Washington. It’s a crazy and somewhat unheard-of concept called honesty. Other political figures should try it.

Republican policy advisor Oren Cass understands the extraordinary nature of this moment we’re living through, and he joined today’s Tucker Carlson Show to break it all down. Click the image below to watch a conversation on that, the destruction of The Blob, the obligations of citizenship, why family building is critical for the health of a nation, and more.

Oren Cass tells Tucker:

“The direction that Trump and the administration are going is exactly the right one. The willingness to focus on how globalization failed, that free trade isn’t real, it has not worked out the way it was promised, [and that] we need to move on to something else, is exactly right.”