'There’s a bridge I will sell you': Mary Trump roasts White House logic

President Donald Trump’s niece, psychiatrist Dr. Mary Trump, has previously commented on her uncle’s apparent cognitive decline and mental “downward spiral.” On Wednesday she transferred her analytical lens from the president’s psychological state to how he and his advisers are trying to manipulate the public to ignore America’s problematic economy.

“Last week, we learned that America lost 23,000 jobs in July,” Dr. Trump posted on X on Wednesday. “And it turns out that in May and June, we added 103,000 fewer jobs than had originally been reported. Is that a good thing? Well, to find out, we just need to ask Economic Council director Kevin Hassett.”

Trump played a clip of Hassett saying “over the last couple of years, there were millions of revisions, and the bottom line is that if you look at the overall economy, then things are really, really booming.”

The psychiatrist responded by saying, “Pro tip for future economists to determine whether or not the country is strong — or maybe I should say the degree to which an economy is strong — just look at how many jobs we're losing. Because according to inappropriately smiley person Kevin Hassett, the more jobs we lose, the better it is for us.”

She concluded, “By the way, if you believe that, there's a bridge just down the street I will sell you.”

Speaking exclusively to AlterNet Dr. Karl Widerquist, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University–Qatar, expressed shock at Hassett’s assertion.

“I did not understand the logic of the person who was saying that losing jobs is better,” Widerquist told AlterNet. “Now, jobs are not the only measure of economic health. And jobs, quite frankly, are not what the working class most needs. What the working class most needs is better wages. But more hiring indicates greater demand for jobs, which indicates a healthier economy and a greater likelihood that wages are going to go up.”

He concluded that “the more demand there is for jobs, the more likely wages are gonna go up. Less demand for jobs is almost never good for working people. It's usually really not that good for the owners of capital either, because their demand for jobs only goes down overall, usually, when the economy is in a bad situation, which isn't good for anybody.”

Trump himself has made it clear that he does not prioritize fixing the economy, from describing the affordability crisis as a “Democrat hoax” to telling reporters “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.”