White House Press Secretary Kaitlin Collins and CNN White House reporter Kaitlin Collins got in a heated back-and-forth battle over the state of the Trump economy during the Thursday, December 11, White House Press Briefing, with Collins trying to press Leavitt on the state of the economy as Leavitt defended the president’s actions and economy.
The spat began with Collins, after a monologue from Leavitt, asking a question that was clearly trying to put her on a back foot and make the president look bad, saying, “On affordability, since we were talking about the economy at the beginning, if the economy is as strong as the President has said it is, then why is he telling parents two weeks before Christmas that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?”
Responding, Leavitt noted that Collins was taking the remark totally out of context, and what the president was asking Americans to do was focus on buying American-made goods, even if they are a bit expensive, as doing so helps support the American economy by supporting businesses that work within our shores and employ our countrymen.
She said, making that point, “Look, what the President is saying is that if we want products made right here in America, if we want them to be made from American small businesses, which is a large part of the reason the President has effectively implemented tariffs, then we’re going to have better quality products right here at the United States. Maybe you’ll pay $1 or two more, but you will get better quality, and you’ll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American and that’s what the President was saying.”
Continuing, Leavitt explained that inflation is down significantly and real wages are going up, with more good news on the horizon as the tax cuts go into effect next year. She said, “Again, with respect to affordability, every economic metric, Kaitlin, and I wish you would report more on it does, in fact, show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration. I will repeat inflation as measured by the overall CPI, has slowed to an average 2.5% pace. Real wages are increasing roughly $1,200 for the average worker. Gas prices are down in almost every single state across the country. Again, in 22 states, it’s below $2.75, you look at the tax cuts, those are going to go into effect next year. So the best is yet to come.”
Snapping back in an interjected statement on the inflation battle, Collins responded to Leavitt by pointing to the jump in grocery prices, saying, “As you know, and grocery prices have been up, so we’ve covered the economy, but there’s mixed signals in terms of what that looks like.”
Firing back with a retort of her own, Leavitt snapped, “This is down from what the president inherited. The president inherited 2.9% in January. Today, it’s at about 2.5%, so we’re trending in the right direction. And I would remind you, when President Trump left office in his first term, inflation was 1.7%, and the previous administration jacked it up to a record-high 9%.”
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Leavitt then added, “In 10 months, the president has clawed us out of this hole, he’s kept it low at 2.5%, and we believe that number is going to continue to decline.” Quickly trying to diminish the president’s accomplishment with a retort of her own, Collins snapped, “Nobody is saying it wasn’t high under Biden. They’re just saying virtually [unchanged].”
Not letting Collins get away with that diminishment of the achievement, Leavitt sharply said, “Nobody reported on it being high under Biden. My predecessor was standing up here at this podium, but now you want to ask me a lot of questions about it, which I’m happy to answer, but I will just add, there’s a lot more scrutiny on this issue from this press corps than there was.”
And, taking the opportunity to skewer Karine Jean-Pierre, Leavitt said, “My predecessor stood up at this podium and she said inflation doesn’t exist. She said the border was secure. And people like you just took her at her word, and those were two utter lies. Everything I’m telling you is the truth backed by real factual data, and you just don’t want to report on it because you want to push untrue narratives about the president.”
Watch their spat here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video