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With the stock market experiencing dramatic losses this month amid recession fears due to uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt bragged about the “golden age” that the president is bringing to the American economy.
While Leavitt claimed the president’s tariff policies were bringing about newfound optimism and dismissed the plunging market as a mere “snapshot in time,” the live ticker on Fox News — which was carrying the press briefing live — showed the Dow Jones index plummeting in real time.
With the president not ruling out a recession in a recent interview with Maria Bartiromo and Trump’s allies doing their best to spin the worrying economic forecasts, the first question at Tuesday’s White House press briefing was unsurprisingly about the plummeting stock market and concerns about a declining economy.
Noting that it is now the 25th anniversary of the dot-com bubble crash, Breaking Points host Saagar Enjeti pointed out that the administration has given conflicting answers as to whether the economy is in danger. “Can the White House assure Americans there is not going to be a recession?” Enjeti wondered.
Meanwhile, Leavitt shrugged off the massive drop in the stock market in recent days while simultaneously blaming the previous administration for any potential economic downturn.
“When it comes to the stock market, the numbers we see today and the numbers we saw yesterday and the numbers we will see tomorrow are a snapshot of a moment in time,” she declared. “And as President Trump has said and I’m here to echo the remarks of this president of this White House, we are in a period of economic transition. We are in a period of transition from the mess that was created under Joe Biden in the previous administration.”
As she continued to blame Biden for leaving the United States in an “economic disaster,” the live Fox News ticker showed that the Dow Jones was down 700 points and falling — sinking to a 721-point drop at one point.
“So we are in a period of transition from that economic nightmare under a president who had no idea what he was doing, never held a private-sector job in his life, into a golden age of American manufacturing under a businessman and a dealmaker-in-chief in President Donald J. Trump who will be implementing, is implementing, the formula that we know works,” she added.
Moments later, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy followed up by asking Leavitt about her claims that the “Dow dropping and dropping and dropping is a period of transition,” wondering if the administration will find it harder to ask federal workers to retire considering their retirement accounts are taking a beating. “You’re sure nobody here at the White House shorted the Dow?” Doocy wisecracked.
“I’m glad you brought up workers because that’s exactly who President Trump is looking out for with his America First trade policy and his America First economic agenda,” Leavitt responded. “There’s great indication to be optimistic about where the economy stands and the American people, investors, CEOs, small business owners, but most importantly, workers should bet on President Trump, because his tariff policies, what he envisions is reciprocity, fair trade practices, where American workers are put first and are no longer ripped off by foreign countries all over this world.”
As the press secretary continued to boast about the president’s “America First” economic plan, the Dow Jones ticker sank to 726 points down.
