Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) compared President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk to “Thelma and Louise,” saying that potential cuts to Medicaid will “decimate” rural health care.
“Look at his presidency. He‘s obsessed with every issue other than the economy. You see the tariffs raising prices. You see the DOGE cuts, meaning tens of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs and being told it‘s their fault,” Beshear said of Trump in a Thursday appearance on CNN.
“You see potential cuts to Medicaid that would decimate rural health care between Trump and Musk. I’m not sure which one is Thelma and which one is Louise, but our economy is that car, and they are driving it off the cliff,” Beshear said.
Beshear noted that Trump said he would lower prices for the American people. “And I believe that he is president because the last group of movable voters was convinced that he would focus on prices in the economy,” he said, adding that Trump is “obsessed with every issue other than the economy.”
Beshear’s home state is expected to a major hit from a European Union tariff imposed on whisky, which the governor called “devastating on the bourbon industry and for my people.”
“We make 90 percent of the world’s bourbon and 100 percent of the bourbon worth drinking,” Beshear said.
The whisky tariff, which was unveiled in response to steel and aluminum tariffs by the U.S. administration, is expected to go into effect April 1, just ahead of separate reciprocal tariffs that Trump plans to place on the EU.
Beshear said the impact of these policies is already visible, as Canada retaliated with 25 percent tariffs on products imported from the U.S.
“Some of these state run liquor stores are pulling bourbon entirely off their shelves,” he added.
Trump threatened a 200 percent tariff on European wine, Champagne and in response to the EU tariff.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”