Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii spoke out against the Trump administration's tariffs on Thursday, declaring that small businesses "are taking it in the neck with these tariffs," and then stood firmly behind her comment after Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler accused her of "calculated, violent rhetoric."
"This disgraceful comment is shocking even by your own low standards, @MazieHirono. Fair trade isn’t the problem - your calculated, violent rhetoric is. It’s evil and beneath the office," Loeffler asserted in a post on X.
Kelly Loeffler, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration speaks onstage at the All-In and Hill & Valley Forum "Winning The AI Race" at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on July 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Hill & Valley Forum / Getty Images)
"You're right. I should have been more direct: Small businesses are getting f[---]ed by your disastrous tariffs," Hirono wrote back.
The senator delivered the "taking it in the neck" remark in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot last week.
Charlie Kirk poses at The Cambridge Union on May 19, 2025 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire ( Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union / Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Hirono's office early on Friday morning to request a comment from the senator.
"Everything this administration is doing is to transform the government into a source of unchecked power for Donald Trump to strongarm his enemies. That's not democracy, that's autocracy," the senator asserted Thursday in a post on X.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questions witnesses during a special forum on the rising cost of education at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Student Borrower Protection Center / Getty Images)
Hirono has served in the Senate since early 2013, and had previously served in the House of Representatives.