C.E.O.s of aluminum and steel companies were, of course, always going to be in favor of tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports, regardless of the fact that U.S. importers would pay the tax on those products, and not China, as Ross and Navarro were presumably happy to let Trump assume. But we digress:

DUBNER: These were [Peter] Navarro and Wilbur Ross? Are those the two people?

COHN: Yes. Those are the two people. When the process breaks down, then you’re sort of, in my mind, living in chaos. I don’t want to live in a chaotic organization. I’ll live in an organization where people vehemently disagree all day long, as long as there’s a policy to vehemently disagree. When people start end-running the process and start trying to take over, that’s not an organization that I wanted to be part of.

Of course, prior to Ross and Navarro end-running the process, Cohn probably wouldn’t have said he was enjoying his time in the White House. According to Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, in April 2017, an e-mail “purporting to represent the views of Gary Cohn” circulated around the West Wing, describing the situation as “worse than you can imagine,” Trump as “an idiot surrounded by clowns,” and claiming, “I need to stay because I’m the only person there with a clue what he’s doing.”

The White House did not immediately respond to The Hive’s request for comment.

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