A former economic advisor to Donald Trump was confronted on CNN while trying to defend the president's economy, with a host asking whether he believes Americans are "ignoring the bigger picture" as they keep giving Trump toxic economic approval ratings.
Stephen Moore is a longtime conservative economist and writer, having previously worked for The Heritage Foundation and published pieces for numerous conservative outlets like The Wall Street Journal, National Review and The Weekly Standard. He also served as an adviser for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later advised his administration on its 2017 tax-cut legislation.
Moore continues to make media appearances where he attempts to defend Trump's economic record, as he did on Friday with an appearance on CNN's News Central. Host John Berman pressed Moore for a reaction to a new report which found that inflation had been outpacing wage growth in the U.S. for the last five months. Moore countered that, while that may be the case recently, real wage growth has actually increased overall throughout Trump's second term.
"So we estimate right now through the month of August, that the average family is up about $2,000 in after-inflation income," Moore said. "But it's all about what have you done for me lately? And people have seen declines in the last few months."
Berman responded that wage growth had also been outpacing inflation in the final months of Joe Biden's presidency, and confronted Moore with a breakdown of various economic rates that had increased since the start of Trump's second term, including inflation, gas prices, 10-year bonds and 30-year mortgage rates.
Moore then deflected, attempting to reframe the argument around the average rates for things like inflation and unemployment across Biden's entire term.
"Stephen, can I stop you for one second?" Berman interjected. "Can I ask, can I stop you for one second? Has inflation gone up or down since President Trump took office?"
Moore conceded that inflation is now worse than it was when Trump took office, prompting another sputtering back and forth with Berman before he attempted to reframe the argument again, arguing that "Joe Biden had the worst inflation record of any president since Jimmy Carter in the 1970s."
"But John, look, you're kind of ignoring the fact that the United States economy right now is very, very strong," Moore added. "Look at all the indicators that have just come out in the last few weeks... So, you know, other than the fact that inflation is ticking up, almost all of the other indicators of the economy are strong. We have by far the strongest economy in the world today. There's no country that wouldn't trade places with the United States."
Berman responded, asking if Moore's "other than that" argument was not akin to the famous joke about President Abraham Lincoln's assassination during a play: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?"
"Steve, let me ask the question here because, you know, AP-NORC polls that just came out on the economy: 26 percent say they approve of trump's handling of the economy, 73 percent disapprove on his handling of the cost of living, 17 percent approve, 82 percent disapprove," Berman added. "So you said I was ignoring the big picture. Are the American people ignoring the big picture?"
Moore argued in response that the economy remains strong, and that negative media coverage was contributing to the overall sense of despair among everyday Americans. Berman noted that almost the exact same dynamic was present during Biden's presidency, right as Americans turned on his economic performance and presidency overall.
