President Donald Trump's top economic advisor resigned from the White House on Monday. Cohn, a former president of investment giant Goldman Sachs and supporter of free trade, following Trump's insistence on imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
Most notably, Cohn, a Democrat, was instrumental in crafting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which slashed income taxes and overwhelmingly benefited wealthy Americans. But his departure leaves Trump nearly friendless in the White House. Cohn was "the guy" when it came to giving Trump advice on the economy. Trump is, essentially, on his own. Yikes.
Cohn is but the latest in a litany of high-profile White House officials abandoning the President.
Cohn's announcement came shortly after Donald Trump insisted during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, that "everybody wants to work at the White House."
In fact, Cohn's absence from the press conference was quite conspicuous.
"It has been an honor to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people, in particular, the passage of historic tax reform," Cohn said in a statement. "I am grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity and wish him and the Administration great success in the future."
The Trump White House has experienced more departures in one year than any previous administration.
Many staffers are drowning in legal bills due to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, and others simply have no credibility, having lied publicly at the President's behest on numerous occasions.
Cohn's resignation resulted in a drop in the stock market, which may view his departure as a sign that Trump's proposed trade war could go unchecked.
A 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum and 25 percent tariff on imported steel would increase the price of goods for American consumers, according to most analysts.
The European Union has hinted at economic retaliation by threatening to impose tariffs on American exports, including blue jeans, bourbon, and Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
On Tuesday, Axios reporter Jonathan Swan reported that Trump "canceled the last-ditch meeting Gary had arranged on Thursday with the downstream steel and aluminum companies."
By some estimates, Trump's proposed tariffs could cost the economy 146,000 jobs, and that's not including potentially more job losses from retaliatory tariffs.
Chris Matthews noted on Hardball last night that "this looks like a ship that's sinking and people are jumping."
Others had their opinions too, and they were pretty much in line with that of Matthews.
Stephen Colbert described Cohn's exist as "another rat flees."
Colbert also joked about having a "Trump resignation fantasy league."
