When Donald Trump sat down with Fox News’ Lara Trump for an interview that aired over the weekend, the president seemed eager to brag to his daughter-in-law about the state of the U.S. economy, which he said is “booming.” The Republican added, “We have a war going on and the economy is good. You know, today, we just hit another number: No. 69 is all-time high.”
To the extent that economic realities are still relevant to the White House, the economy is most certainly not “booming.” Indeed, in recent days, the administration has released fresh data showing American families struggling with weak economic growth, weak job growth and an affordability crisis.
As for the significance of “No. 69” reaching an “all-time high,” I tend to keep a pretty close eye on economic data, and I haven’t the foggiest idea what he was referring to. The only “69” I’m aware of is the percentage of Americans who disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, which is probably something he should avoid bragging about.
Trump, however, isn’t the only Republican struggling to come up with coherent talking points about the state of the economy. Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” and when host Shannon Bream asked about Americans’ reliance on credit cards to “get through necessities” because they can’t afford the cost of living, Trump’s chief economist tried to put a positive spin on the affordability crisis.
“People are spending more on gas, but they’re also spending more on everything else — not just groceries, but restaurants and so on,” Hassett said. “I think that that’s a sign that you would see when people are optimistic about the future.”
In other words, according to the most powerful and influential voice on economic policy in the White House, the fact that Americans are paying more for “everything” is a good thing.
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We’re apparently supposed to believe that regular people are spending more on things such as groceries, not because of increased costs, but because of their optimism.
As part of the same exchange, Fox’s Bream referred to a Wall Street Journal report, published late last week, noting that delinquencies on credit card debt have reached a 15-year high. Asked for the White House’s message to those who can’t pay their bills, Hassett replied that he and his team “talk to the CEOs of the credit card companies all the time,” and as things stand, there isn’t “any kind of financial threat” to the industry.
That may very well be true, but the question was about Americans running up credit card debts they can’t pay, not the confidence of executives at credit card companies that chat with the White House.
A recent Fox News poll asked respondents, “Do you think Donald Trump cares about people like you, or not?” Only 37% of Americans said they believe the president does in fact care about people like them.
There’s no reason to assume that number can’t sink lower.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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