watch
now
WASHINGTON
—
Former
President
Donald Trump failed
to
impress
everyone
in
a
room
full
of
top
CEOs
Thursday
at
the
Business
Roundtable’s
quarterly
meeting,
multiple
attendees
told
CNBC.
“Trump doesn’t
know
what
he’s
talking
about,”
said
one
CEO
who
was
in
the
room,
according
to
a
person
who
heard
the
executive
speaking.
The
CEO
also
said
Trump did
not
explain
how
he
planned
to
accomplish
any
of
his
policy
proposals,
that
person
said.
Several
CEOs
“said
that
[Trump]
was
remarkably
meandering,
could
not
keep
a
straight
thought
[and]
was
all
over
the
map,”
CNBC’s
Andrew
Ross
Sorkin
reported
Friday
on
CNBC’s
“Squawk
Box.”
Among
the
topics
on
which
Trump
offered
scant
details
were
how
he
would
reduce
taxes
and
cut
back
on
business
regulations,
according
to
two
other
people
in
the
room
who
spoke
to
CNBC.
Meeting
attendees
and
people
who
spoke
with
them
were
granted
anonymity
in
order
to
speak
freely
about
the
private
event.
The
same
CEOs
who
were
struck
by
Trump’s
lack
of
focus
“walked
into
the
meeting
being
Trump
supporter-ish
or
thinking
that
they
might
be
leaning
that
direction,”
Sorkin
reported.
“These
were
people
who
I
think
might
have
been
actually
predisposed
to
[Trump
but]
actually
walked
out
of
the
room
less
predisposed”
to
him,
Sorkin
said.
“President Trump was
warmly
received
by
everyone
in
the
room
and
was
commended
for
his
policy
proposals
on
deregulation
and
tax
cuts,”
said
Steven
Cheung,
communications
director
for
the Trump presidential
campaign.
Trump’s
energy in
the
meeting
was
also
noticeably
subdued,
according
to
two
people
who
were
in
the
room.
At
no
time
during
his
remarks
was
there
any
noticeable
applause
for Trump,
two
attendees
told
CNBC.
This
was
in
contrast
to
Trump’s
meeting
earlier
in
the
day
with
House
Republicans
on
Capitol
Hill.
Attendees
at
that
meeting
told
CNBC
that
the
former
president
was
animated
and
engaged
and
that
Trump
received
several
rounds
of
applause
in
separate
meetings
Thursday
with
both
House
and
Senate
Republicans.
Cheung
said
there
was
applause
for Trump during
the
Q-and-A
section
of
the
meeting,
“where
participants
commended
President Trump for
his
deregulatory
and
tax
cut
agenda.”
Trump’s
low-key
energy
at
the
Business
Roundtable
event
could
have
been
deliberate,
one
attendee
told
CNBC.
Trump had
wanted
the
CEO
meeting
to
be
“more
like
a
business
meeting
than
a
speech,”
the
person
said.
“At
one
point,
he
discussed
his
plan
to
bring
the
corporate
tax
rate
down
from
21%
to
20%
…
and
was
asked
about
why
he
had
chosen
20%,”
Sorkin
said
Friday
on
MSNBC’s
“Morning
Joe.”
“And
he
said,
‘Well,
it’s
a
round
number.'”
“That
unto
itself
had
a
number
of
CEOs
shaking
their
heads,”
Sorkin
reported.
In
2023,
corporate
income
taxes
contributed
approximately
$420
billion
to
federal
revenues,
according
to
the
Congressional
Budget
Office.
Wall
Street
has
bristled
over
the
past
three
years
under
President
Joe
Biden’s
aggressive
antitrust
enforcement,
pharmaceutical
price
caps
and
progressive
tax
policy.
