Republican strategist Steve Schmidt tore into Donald Trump while appearing on MSNBC today — calling the president an “imbecile” for his trade wars and adding that he has “no idea what he’s talking about.”

As news circulated this morning that the stock market dropped dramatically after China responded to Trump’s tariffs with trade restrictions of their own, the president denied that there is a “trade war” happening, despite all evidence pointing to the opposite being true.

Schmidt noted this while discussing the issue with a fired-up Stephanie Ruhle this morning:

“It’s patently obvious, when you watched the news conference yesterday, and you watched the president talking about the trilateral relationship with the Baltic Republics, he has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s the musings of an imbecile — really. No idea what he’s talking about at any level. We talk about trade, and consider his blowing up NAFTA.”

He went on to suggest that if Trump throws out the NAFTA deal and disrupts the $1 trillion flow of trade between the US and Canada, then the market will crash.

“This is an incompetent president who has no idea what he’s doing,” continued the GOP communications professional. “The consequences of incompetent actions will be paid for by the American people.”

Schmidt conluded his point by ensuring viewers that “there are consequences for this type of action and behavior,” which Americans will have to pay the bill for.

“We need to remind our audience of two things,” chimed in MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle. “A, Steve Schmidt is a Republican. And B, the United States walked away from TPP.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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