In what turned into a very unintentionally entertaining appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who picked up the mantle of Democratic Party House leadership from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was left speechless and failed to come up with any satisfactory answers when pressed on Trump’s stellar economic performance.
For reference, the Democratic Party turned into what many on the right see as a cynically, verbally pro-free trade party in response to Trump’s tariffs, claiming that protecting American industry from unfair trade deals would somehow harm Americans. However, the tariffs have so far brought in much revenue while causing next to no inflation, leading many to see them as a major win.
Such is what CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin noted appears to be the case when speaking to Jeffries, noting that the Democrats predicted doom that hasn’t come. He began, “For the last several months the Democratic Party for the most part has been publicly suggesting that because of these tariffs that the economy was going to falter that there was going to be a massive recession and for whatever reason that has not happened.”
Continuing, Sorkin asked Jeffries whether it was a mistake for Democrats to be so critical of what many see as a pro-working-class move that has brought fiscal benefits to the government and could help revive American industry. He asked, “And I’m curious why you think that hasn’t happened and whether you think it was a mistake to be as critical as you have?”
Jeffries was left a muttering mess. Trying to respond with a bevy of platitudes and not answering the question, Jeffries confused a lack of deflation with a lack of inflation, claiming that Trump hasn’t been vindicated because America hasn’t yet seen any price deflation. He said, “Costs haven’t gone down. They’ve gone up. What we have seen, in fact, is job creation go down almost to record low levels. And so there is reason to believe that the economy is not moving in the right direction.”
Sorkin then pressed Jeffries on whether the Democrats were wrong to present tariffs as such a threat when even the inflation issue they claimed would be such a big deal hasn’t come to pass. He asked, “And are you surprised that the tariffs haven’t had a bigger impact on prices for example?”
Responding with yet another non-answer, the Democrat leader rambled about what might happen rather than what has happened, saying, “I think it remains to be seen where this is headed. I’m deeply concerned that the tariffs are going to exacerbate the inflationary challenges that we already have in the United States of America, the affordability issues that we have in the United States of America, particularly as it relates to consumer goods and consumer goods that are going to be important to the American people as folks prepare to send their children back to school.”
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That’s when “Squak Box” co-host Joe Kernen chimed in to note that Trump has scored some major economic wins in what proved to be a total fact-check of Rep. Jeffries’s claims of economic disaster. Kernan began by saying, “Mr. Speaker, I don’t know about deflation and costs coming down. All I can tell you is that the inflation rate itself was 2.7 percent in the most recent read, year-over-year, versus it got to a high of 9% under Biden. Stocks are at record highs. Unemployment is 4.2%. That’s full employment.”
Continuing with the epic fact-check of Jeffries’s claims, Kernen noted that the economy is actually doing very well and other wins have been scored as well, saying, “The GDP was 3%. The border is actually secure. We’ve got trade deals with the EU, Japan, many more in the works, and trillions of dollars of foreign investment coming here. Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been set back indefinitely, and I just wrote down a few things. So I just have to ask you, where is the calamity that you’re talking about? And it almost seems like for Democrats, socialism is the answer to these problems.”
Jeffries was once again left a muttering mess, this time with the fact-check having shown his and his party’s claims of incoming economic disaster to be a total lie. Instead of giving an answer, he rambled about the Democratic Party’s economic approach, ignoring addressing the president’s big wins. Watch him here: