Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists that no one understands cost-of-living pain more than Donald Trump, as she accused the media of under-reporting the president’s “remarkable” economic achievements.
As millions of people across the country grapple with the high cost of groceries, rent, and healthcare, Leavitt insisted on Thursday, “every day things are getting better” for struggling Americans.
“President Trump understands better than any politician in this city the pain that the American consumer has been feeling for years now because of the last administration’s policies,” Leavitt said of her boss, who Forbes estimates has a personal wealth of about $7.3 billion.
“When the president talks about affordability, he’s saying the Democrats are the greatest con artists in history, because they are now trying to claim ownership of an issue that they created. And every data point in every economic metric does, in fact, show that the economy is improving.”
Leavitt’s remarks underpin the difficulty the administration faces trying to convince voters that the economy is booming at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.
Such a disconnect also plagued Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, who was often criticized by Republicans for being “out of touch” whenever he would use selected data points and “Bidenomics” to tout the economy, despite the lived experience of voters.
Leavitt insisted on Thursday that Trump’s achievements were “nothing short of remarkable,” given he’d inherited a “mess.”
But in a blow to the president, a new AP-NORC poll released on Thursday showed that most voters don’t believe the hype, with just 31 percent of respondents approving of how the president is handling the economy.
That is down from 40 percent in March and marks the lowest rating Trump has received in his first or second term.
“When will the Fake Polls show that I am doing a great job on the Economy, and much more???” Trump lamented in response to the latest poll.
Having come to office promising to bring down grocery prices “on day one,” Trump now insists that affordability is a “hoax.”
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the president, who has spent months revamping the White House in gold and whose Cabinet is filled with billionaires, even suggested parents cut back on items for their children this year.
“You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls,” he said, standing in front of signs that said: “LOWER PRICES, BIGGER PAYCHECKS.”
Leavitt acknowledged that the affordability issue was frustrating the president.
The admission was made during her Thursday press briefing, when asked by her selected “new media” reporter for the day how Trump would deal with “legacy media” wanting to call the affordability issue a “crisis” when you have “the American people who know much better.”
“It’s a great question, Eric,” she replied to the question by Eric Bolling from the Trump-friendly right-wing outlet Real America’s Voice.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
“It’s a point of frustration for the president and myself, I must say. That’s part of the reason I kicked off this briefing today, setting the record straight with facts about the economic mess the president inherited from Joe Biden.”
In a sign of that frustration, Leavitt later lashed out at CNN host Kaitlin Collins, who quizzed her on voter concerns about cost-of-living pressures and the economy.
“With respect to affordability, every economic metric, Kaitlan, and I wish you would report more on it, does in fact show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration,” Leavit hit back.
“I will repeat, inflation as measured by the overall CPI has slowed to an average 2.5% pace. Real wages are increasing by roughly $1,200 for the average worker. Gas prices are down in almost every single state across the country.”
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