MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle spent Tuesday’s edition of The 11th Hour lamenting that voters aren’t buying the White House’s spin on the economy from blaming Vladimir Putin for inflation to arguing that things actually aren’t all that bad.
Ruhle told former advisor to John McCain and George W. Bush and current HBO producer Mark McKinnon that, “President Biden is blaming Putin for good reason,” but wondered, “will midterm voters buy that?”
McKinnon grimly joked that to answer that question, one should ask Jimmy Carter how his second term went. More seriously, McKinnon lamented the focus on inflation, “this is just throwing a huge wet blanket over a lot of the other news, and a lot of it is good. But unfortunately, none of its getting through.”
As an example of good news being smothered, McKinnon recalled that, “I saw some black focus groups that Terrance Woodbury did last week, you know, during the confirmation of the first American, the first female black Supreme Court justice, all they were talking about was inflation and rising prices.”
There is also good economic news, McKinnon argued, all you have to do is, “take energy and food off the table, and obviously, granted that's a lot of the equation, but when you take those off the table, prices actually decline .4%, which is all related to the relief of the COVID problems which created the supply chain problems.”
Later in the segment, Ruhle also tried to paint a mostly positive economic picture, “We are clearly in an economic recovery. It is a great job market, wages are up.”
Still, Ruhle seemed confused as to whether people will listen to MSNBC, “We talk all the time about a hugely important voting issues are. Preserving our democracy, the most important issues” or more immediate and tangible concerns, “when it comes time to it actually gets people to vote, is it things like gas prices and grocery prices?”
McKinnon replied by declaring that the key to winning elections is voter enthusiasm and that the problem is Republicans have the advantage because they “are pissed off” while “Democrats are depressed.”
Ruhle’s attempt to spin on the White House is even more sad considering earlier in the day she acknowledged the news “ain’t good.” Maybe Ruhle and Jen Psaki could trade jobs.
This segment was sponsored by Volvo.
Here is transcript for the April 12 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
4/12/2022
11:39 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Mark, President Biden is blaming Putin for good reason. But will midterm voters buy that?
MARK MCKINNON: It's tough, Stephanie. Any time, just ask Jimmy Carter about his second term presidency. The problem is that, I mean, first of all, when you're explaining you're losing in politics. The second problem is that this is just throwing a huge wet blanket over a lot of the other news, and a lot of it is good. But unfortunately, none of its getting through. And—and-- it’s, by the way, it's not just-- it's affecting everybody, and disproportionately Democrats. I saw some black focus groups that Terrance Woodbury did last week, you know, during the confirmation of the first American, the first female black Supreme Court justice, all they were talking about was inflation and rising prices.
So everything is talking about it. It's hitting everybody. And that's the problem, but, two, I'm not the economist here, we just heard from the economist, but I will say that there is some upside here and there’s news when you parse through this and part of the news is that when you take energy and food off the table, and obviously, granted that's a lot of the equation, but when you take those off the table, prices actually decline .4%, which is all related to the relief of the COVID problems which created the supply chain problems. So, those things are actually easing. So, there is some good news, and the question is, you know, can enough of that get through, and can enough change to change political outlook for Democrats in November?
…
RUHLE: We are clearly in an economic recovery. It is a great job market, wages are up. They have to find a way, quickly before we go, though Mark. You know what gets people to vote. We talk all the time about a hugely important voting issues are. Preserving our democracy, the most important issues. But when it comes time to it actually gets people to vote, is it things like gas prices and grocery prices?
MCKINNON: Well, what gets them to vote is when they're pissed off and—and-- the reality is, the problem is that Republicans are pissed off at Joe Biden because they hold him responsible. And Democrats, frankly, are—are-- feeling depressed, you know, because they feel like their guy let them down. He's the guy at—at-- the wheel, and it's happening under his watch. So, the problem, and, what you want in any election, what you should watch is the enthusiasm among voter groups. Republicans are enthusiastic because they’re mad. Democrats are depressed because they're sad.
