Counter-argument

Howard Lutnick’s old firm did not, in fact, profit from Supreme Court tariff ruling

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/20/2026/cantor-fitzgerald-howard-lutnicks-old-firm-did-not-profit-from-supreme-court-tariff-ruling

The Supreme Court on Friday invalidated many of Trump’s tariffs, a ruling that ignited criticism of Cantor’s activities from widely followed finance accounts and the left-leaning The New Republic. The president said at a White House press conference, flanked by Lutnick, that he would reinstate the tariffs on different legal grounds.

Cantor did consider the product — which has existed for years and was a humming trade on Wall Street during Trump’s first-term tariff push — but decided against it after weighing the political sensitivities, according to a senior banker familiar with the matter.

A Cantor spokesman said the salesman “erroneously” believed that the firm was likely to greenlight the business, then went out looking for the other side of the trade. “Cantor Fitzgerald has never executed any transactions or taken risk on the legality of tariffs,” he said. “Any report suggesting otherwise is completely false.”

Before we pass judgment on Lutnick, we need to consider a few things:

Our biases (i.e. against someone who 'survived' miraculously 9/11, or the concept that Trump puts people front and center to highlight/expose them for being evil - he does this sometimes, but it is NOT always the case. Hence, check biases and don't jump to conclusions.

There are people who desperately want to attack and cripple Trump's team, and spreading disinfo and accusation is a favorite method. If Lutnick is on the up and up, then he will be attacked for any perceived flaw.

I don't know re: Lutnick, but I am inclined to be highly suspicious when a key architect of Trump's miracle tariffs policy is attacked from various angles.