The rapidly fleeting shelf-life of the half-cocked doomist agitprop from lefty outlets like The New York Times desperate for an anti-Trump banger of a story is comedic gold in its own right.
Times economic policy reporter Tony Romm tried to be quick-on-the-draw by firing off an alarmist piece of propaganda June 23 that President Donald Trump’s strategic attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities could possibly cause oil prices to go to the moon.
Trump, in Romm’s view, had to “confront the potential economic blowback from his military strikes on Iran, which threatened to send oil and gas prices soaring at a moment when U.S. consumers are already facing significant financial strains.” That was just before oil prices would plummet well over four percent just a day later on June 24.
In fact, CNN reported that “Oil is falling so much it’s now cheaper than it was before the Iran-Israel conflict.” Oof! Talk about perfect timing, eh Romm? Derp.
What’s even more hilarious is that Romm’s piece concocting the specter of spiking oil prices was plastered onto the front page of the business section of The Times’s June 24 print edition … while prices were already tumbling! In effect, Romm’s analysis was already rendered useless before the newspaper chose to put it in print.
Now, reading Romm’s absurdity in retrospect comically showcases why these journos know as much about the trajectory of the economy as they do about tomorrow’s weather:
A spike in oil prices would only add to the mounting political headaches facing Mr. Trump, who has promised to salve stubbornly high inflation dating back to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speculating about the future is not "news." It's just spin. It often sounds like...wishful thinking.
Romm continued to bleat how “[a] spike in energy costs could prove especially difficult for American consumers and businesses this summer, given that it could arrive at about the same time that Mr. Trump plans to revive his expansive, steep tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner.” Romm may have to revise that analysis now that oil prices, a major factor in determining aggregate energy prices, are trending in the other direction.
Many economists expect those levies to push up prices after years of high inflation,” claimed Romm, who apparently memory-holed the fact that the Trump economy has repeatedly shown these predictions to be ludicrous.
Romm isn’t the only one to beclown himself over Trump’s handling of the Israel-Iran conflict.
The Atlantic staff writer David Frum made himself into a meme when he made it seem like Iran had President Trump’s number in a June 21 screed published at 9:00 am ET, “The mullahs of Iran join the bet that Trump always chickens out,” in reference to Trump’s deceptive remark that he would wait two weeks before making a decision on military strikes. Just hours after Frum’s piece went live, U.S. B-2 bombers would strike three of Iran’s nuclear sites with 30,000 pound bunker-buster bombs on Trump’s orders. On the “two-weeks” deception, a Trump adviser admitted to Axios that “[i]t was a headfake … [Trump] knew the media couldn't resist amplifying it. He knew the Iranians might think he was bluffing. Well, everyone was wrong."
Was Romm taking his reporting cues from Frum? Who knows, but journos writ large should at least try to be a bit more smart with their anti-Trump propaganda.
