U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration attend a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 29, 2026.
DNC strategist Sawyer Hackett had no patience for Republican claims that voters are happy with President Donald Trump’s economy on CNN’s Thursday News Central broadcast.
Trump claimed at a recent presentation that he’s no good at explaining “how good the country is doing.”
“We’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country … but we’ll get the word out,” Trump told the audience.
CNN anchor Brianna Keilar appeared flabbergasted after presenting the clip.
“If we put that up as a quote, we might not have been sure which president said that,” she said. “Can you really just say ‘I’ve done a bad job of explaining it’ when you’re looking at mortgage rates over 7 percent and inflation where it is at 3 percent. Is that right?”
“We have a lot of different competing economic factors, said former Trump administration official Matt Mowers. “The stock market is at all-time highs, the poverty rate is ay a 5-year low right now. The president’s comment was talking about the current unemployment rate, which is still very low. … So, it’s a mixed picture on the economic factor. There’s a lot of good things happening. You’ve jut got to contextualize it with the rest of it.”
But Hackett shattered Mowers’ sunny outlook, reminding him why voters are overwhelmingly turning on Trump and Republicans and their economy this midterm.
“There’s a reason he’s not being able to tell his economic story: there is no economic story to tell,” corrected Hackett. “Since Donald Trump got into office inflation is up, the market has slowed down, the economy has shrunk.”
Mowers attempted to interrupt with a Republican talking point that inflation is better under Trump than Biden, but both Hackett and Keilar corrected him on the reality of that claim.
“Inflation is actually lower than it was under Biden,” inserted Mowers.
“No, it isn’t,” corrected Hackett. “Inflation is higher today than it was when Joe Biden left office. Is that not a fact?”
“The rate is not true,” insisted Mowers, referring back to a Republican talking point that the speed of inflation’s rise does not compare to Biden’s — though not the extent of it.
“Eh, no. Inflation is higher,” repeated Hackett. “It is higher today than it was when Joe Biden left office. Inflation is higher. The job market is slower and the economy has shrunk. And consumer confidence is blown.”
“If you look at the inflation rate during the majority of Joe Biden’s term it was [very high],” Mowers said.
“[But he’s talking about] when he left office,” Keilar said.
“When he left office he brought inflation down to a lower point than what it is right now under Donald Trump,” explained Hackett. “And you see it in economic and consumer confidence, which is at a current 12-point low. It’s lower now than it was in the pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis. That is a recipe for disaster.”