President Donald Trump’s chief economist, Kevin Hassett, engaged in a shameless display of partisan spin during an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday. When asked about the current state of inflation, Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, practically misled viewers by claiming that price increases were on a “deep, downward dive” that had “Wall Street buzzing.”
This assertion directly contradicted data released just days earlier by Trump’s own Commerce Department, which showed that inflation had hit a three-year high of 3.8% in April, a 0.3% increase from March’s already concerning figures. Undeterred, Hassett continued to twist the truth, smirking as he cited a memo from the president’s Council of Economic Advisers that allegedly revealed rising prices were “really out of control in the blue states.”
“If you take out New York and California, then the story is radically different,” Hassett told host Larry Kudlow, arguing that “high-cost, high-regulatory states” were responsible for skewing national statistics. The exchange was captured and shared on social media by journalist Aaron Rupar, drawing widespread criticism.
Hassett, a regular on TV news and a former veteran of the conservative think-tank sphere, has developed a reputation for gaslighting. During a separate appearance on Fox News on Sunday, he celebrated increased consumer spending on gas, groceries, and restaurants as “a sign” that “people are optimistic about the future” of the economy.
However, experts quickly debunked this claim. David L. Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, told HuffPost that Hassett’s interpretation was “very detached from reality.” Ortega explained that spending on necessities like food and gas is driven by higher prices, not optimism. “When we see more spending in those categories, it’s largely driven by higher prices ― not because people are optimistic about where we’re headed or where we currently are,” he said.
