Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot, has returned to supporting President Donald Trump after previously criticizing his tariffs, The New York Post reported. Now, the billionaire GOP donor is singing Trump's praises and is optimistic about the direction of the country.
Langone appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Tuesday. The chairman of the NYU Langone Health board of trustees said Trump was not happy with him after he called Trump's tariffs "bullsh---" in April.
Prior to the election, Langone said he worried that Trump would "engage in retribution" if he retook the White House. Langone is backing down on all of it and says Trump's "big, beautiful" bill will "trigger significant economic growth, that we might see tax revenues going up from the profitability."
Like many Republicans who were skeptical that Trump could pull out a victory after 2020, Langone openly criticized him. Now appears that the president’s success is winning him over.
“If I tell you how bullish I was, you wouldn't believe it. I have never been more excited about the future of America than I am right now, right this moment, for a lot of reasons,” Langone told hosts Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin.
“Number one. Like it or not, this guy is getting things done,” the 89-year-old billionaire said.
Langone said that Trump was upset by comments he makes about the president using the White House to get back at his enemies. “I'm happy to say I'm comfortable he's not doing that,” Langone said.
“He's acting presidential. I'm impressed with the people he's got around him,” Langone noted, including Kevin Warsh, former Federal Reserve Board of Governors of the United States, who backs the Trump agenda.
Many of the dire predictions made about the Trump agenda have failed to materialize. In fact, the markets have been on the upswing even amid Trump’s sweeping Liberation Day tariffs.
“I was worried about inflation and I was worried about the deficit. I think there's a lot of merit to the notion that it's going to trigger such significant economic growth, that we might see tax revenues going up through the profitability bracket,” Langone predicted.
“And the other last thing is you can't keep America down. Don't forget that we're the greatest country on earth, and we'll always will be,” Langone said before mentioning he would be turning 90 in September.
Aside from the positive economic news, Langone also praised Trump for reportedly striking Iran’s nuclear program and knocking it out. He said it signaled to the world “that America’s here and when our interests are at risk we’re going to do something about it.”
Trump is by no means a perfect leader, but Langone is correct that he’s moving America in the right direction. It was a bold move for him to criticize Trump before the election, but it’s an even more courageous thing to publicly admit he was wrong in that.
