Reporter Confronts Trump About Cratering Stock Market After Cabinet Meeting Praise-A-Thon
The Independent’s White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, confronted President Donald Trump over his shifting statements about the stock market after a marathon cabinet meeting to mark Trump’s 100 days in office.
Trump’s 100th day in office — a political benchmark that dates back to FDR — arrived Tuesday amid a raft of polls showing historic unpopularity and a PR offensive from the White House that included early morning briefings, MAGA media rap sessions, a Trump rally in Michigan, and a raft of contentious Trump interviews.
On top of all of that, Trump held a lengthy cabinet meeting Wednesday afternoon that was chock to the brim with mutual effusive praise. All of that ended quickly when question time started, and Feinberg pressed him about taking credit for the stock market while President Joe Biden was still in office, but disavowing it now that his own policies are in effect:
ANDREW FEINBERG: During the transition, sir, you frequently took credit for the stock market highs. You said it was a reflection of how well you were doing in the polls.
And then after you were elected, you said the stock-market highs were a reflection of how well the transition is going and the American people’s confidence in your incoming administration.
Now, the stock market’s not doing so well, and you’re saying that’s the Biden stock market, yet you are the president.
Can you explain that?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m not taking credit or discredit for the stock market. I’m just saying that we inherited a mess, both at the borders. You could look at every single one of the people here and no matter who it is, they’re doing better and they are far superior to what took place for four years before.
When you look at prisoners being allowed to. Coming to our country at will, just at will. People from mental institutions, gang members, drug dealers.
When you look at that, what they’ve done to our country and also having to do with finance, look at what happened with inflation. We had the worst inflation probably in the history of our country. They say 48 years, but I would say in the history of country, it ate away at people.
And even though you saw a stock market going up somewhat, because in my case, I had the biggest stock market increase, 88% in the last term, in my last term.
But I don’t view the stock market as the end all it’s an indicator But what the stock market really tells you and what you when you look at the stock market in this case is it says how bad a situation we inherited.
I took place, this is a quarter that we looked at today and I took we took all of us together We came in on January 20th So, this is Biden, and you could even say the next quarter is sort of Biden, because it doesn’t just happen on a daily or a hourly basis.
But we’re turning it around. It’s a big ship to turn around, and we’re going to have the greatest country financially in the history of the world, I believe. I think we’re gonna do things that — and we had to do it. We reset the table.
We were being ripped off by every single country with just about — without exception. I’d have to really think hard for who hasn’t taken advantage and I don’t even blame those countries. I blame the person that was sitting right here where I am for allowing it to happen.
Where our country was ripped off on trade hundreds of billions of dollars and now we’re doing better than we’ve done in a long time. You know, we were losing four to five to even six billion dollars a day on trade with Biden.
And now we have it down to a very manageable number and the tariffs for the most part haven’t even kicked in yet so that’s the way stock markets to me are an indication, but the big indication is what’s happening and the people around the table know what’s happening.
Watch above via Fox News.
