CNN anchor Pamela Brown and director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett (YouTube screengrab)
CNN Anchor Pamela Brown was on a roll Thursday, taking a rare opportunity to correct President Donald Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett to his face on several falsities — eventually grinding Hassett down to an empty denial of facts.
Hassett began his defense of the Trump economy claiming that Americans have experienced “real income growth of about $3,000 per family since Trump took office,” as well asan “incredible investment boom because of artificial intelligence and other things.”
“And so, if you dig down deep into the numbers, one of the things you can see is that final domestic demand, which is sort of the amount of stuff that actually was purchased in the U.S., was up a really healthy 3.9 percent or about 4 percent,” Hassett said.
Brown accused him of “throwing around … so many numbers.”
“But when you talk to the everyday American, they will tell you that prices at the grocery store are up, mortgage rates are higher,” Brown pointed out. “You have the high gas prices at the gas pump. And so yes, it is true that, um, there is income growth, but then at the same time, Americans out there are saying that they're hurting. Is the White House in touch with what the everyday American is feeling right now?”
“Oh, absolutely,” insisted Hassett, while making an attempt to shift the argument to former President Biden.
“Real incomes have grown about $3,000 in President Trump's first couple of years. They declined that much over four years under President Biden. And so people are seeing their wages go up more than prices. … like we saw in Q2, is a sign that consumers are optimistic about what's going on, on average.”
Brown didn’t accept that: “You said just a moment ago, Kevin, that consumers are optimistic. But we have this poll where 77 percent of Americans say economic conditions are overall poor. That is the lowest of Trump's second term so far. Is this the, ‘amazing economy’ the administration thought you'd all be boasting about when the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ was passed more than a year ago?”
“Well, again, right now the economy does look amazing to me,” Hassett insisted, citing inflation “going down and the unemployment rate is low.”
“You say the economy looks amazing [but] job growth cooled last month and 66 percent of people — these everyday Americans — they say President Trump's policies have worsened economic conditions in this country,” Brown corrected. “That's 10 percent more than in the final months of the Biden administration. So, I mean, you say the economy looks amazing, but what do you say to that person who's part of that group, that 66 percent who say Trump has actually made the economic conditions are worse?”
“You know, I just don't believe a poll like that,” Hassett said, surrendering the facts. “[Especially] given how strong the numbers are and how strong income growth is, how optimistic people are.”