After President Donald Trump announced a temporary exemption of computers and smartphones in his ongoing traffic battle against China, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, wrote on X on Sunday: “A willingness to adjust a strategy based on new facts and data is a sign of the strength of a leader. It is not an indication of weakness.”
While MAGA supporters including Dialed in Men blogger Ryan Stephens agrees with Ackman –(“Strong leaders stay anchored to the mission — not the method. Adapting isn’t weakness. It’s what separates operators from ideologues”) –many commenters are asking Ackman “What new facts?”
As one articulated: “Did we just now realize that American consumers like cheap electronics and we don’t make those here?”
Multi-millionaire Aaron Levie, CEO of the cloud company Box, replied to Ackman: “There are no new facts in this situation. Anyone who spent 10 minutes on this topic before last week could’ve predicted the entire sequence of events.”
A willingness to adjust a strategy based on new facts and data is a sign of the strength of a leader. It is not an indication of weakness.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 13, 2025
Ari Paul, founder of BlockTower Capital, also replied: “Apple and FANG desperately relying on Chinese imports isn’t new data… Nor is the fact that reducing the trade deficit forces t-bill dumping. It’s part of the ‘triffin dilemma’, not a new nor complex idea. (Solutions to it are insanely complex, but the cause->effect isn’t.) I’m gonna stop being an Ackman ‘reply guy.’ I just can’t help myself. You were a luminary, to see the decline is sad. Politics makes smart people shockingly dumb.”
Bill what are the new facts? Did we just now realize that American consumers like cheap electronics and we don’t make those here?
— fed_speak (@fed_speak) April 13, 2025
Progressive political pundit Brian Tyler Cohen also denied Ackman’s claim of “new facts” and replied: “The ‘new facts and data’ that everyone has been saying for a year would crash the economy showed that Trump’s actions did in fact crash the economy? Have some self-respect man.”
Literally, a few days ago: pic.twitter.com/MoqNP8UWGw
— Triple Net Investor (@TripleNetInvest) April 13, 2025
Others are reminding Ackman that just days ago, when Trump announced the 145 percent tariffs against China that he wrote on X: “This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal.”
Political scientist Ian Bremmer also replied: “a willingness to recognize when you’ve made a mistake is also the sign of the strength of a leader. not a quality we tend to elect in our presidents” — a sentiment that Virgin billionaire Sir Richard Branson is also preaching in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.