An Oval Office event the White House billed as a “major announcement on the economy” by President Donald Trump turned out to be nothing more than a sycophantic presentation by a partisan television commentator who’d brought charts to the White House touting the economic record of the president’s first term.
Reporters who were summoned to the president’s workspace around 4:15 p.m. and were told Trump would be making a “major announcement” ahead of his only scheduled public appearance of the day, an East Room ceremony to honor Purple Heart recipients.
Instead, they were greeted by Trump standing alongside Stephen Moore, a right-wing television commentator and economist who the president had tried — and failed — to put on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors during his first term.
Trump described Moore, whose nomination six years ago faced bipartisan opposition because economic experts — and senators — found him manifestly unqualified to serve on the Fed’s board, as “one of the most highly respected economists” and turned the floor over to him.
Moore told reporters he’d called Trump to buck him up after he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week by showing him data purporting to prove that BLS “overestimated job creation by 1.5 million jobs” during the final two years of former president Joe Biden’s term.
President Donald Trump called the press into the Oval Office for a ‘major announcement’ about the economy. But he just showed off charts of his perceived success. (REUTERS)
“That’s a gigantic error,” Moore said, at which point Trump chimed in to claim that the nonpartisan agency’s revisions to previously released jobs data — a common practice when the bureau receives more updated information — was “not an error” because it was meant to benefit Democrats by making Republican presidents such as himself look bad.
“You may well be right. But even if it wasn’t purposefully, it’s incompetence,” Moore said.
Continuing, the Heritage Foundation economist went on to present a series of charts touting economic data from Trump’s first term favorably compared to Biden’s four years in office.
In one such chart, he claimed Trump’s prior administration “gained 10 times more income for the average family than Joe Biden” over his first four years in the White House.
The bizarre presentation came as the massive import taxes ordered by Trump as part of his effort to restore manufacturing across a broad range of industries took effect.
The global tariffs, ranging from 10 to 50 percent, have ignited fear among consumers, companies, and investors about potential price hikes.
Everyday items ranging from coffee to Toyotas, home furnishings to Gap jeans, are expected to become more expensive as companies adjust their prices to counteract the impact of tariffs. While the president has asked companies to absorb any increases in costs, many cannot forever.
Even luxury items such as British-Indian Range Rovers, French wines or Swiss watches by Rolex and Omega are likely to face prices hikes as they navigate 10 percent, 15 percent, and 39 percent tariffs, respectively.
While Trump wants tariffs to promote domestic production and purchasing, Americans will most likely bear the cost. Economic experts agree that sweeping tariffs on goods from countries could lead to supply chain issues, price spikes, or even inflation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)