How often did we hear, “The buck stops here,” from the media during the Trump years? Journalists never failed to hold the Republican president accountable for anything bad that happened in the country, whether it was deserved or not. But standards have lowered significantly with Democrat Joe Biden in office. We’re seeing this play out now as media outlets refuse to blame the president for the current economic woes.
On Thanksgiving day, Washington Post economic columnist Catherine Rampell was doing her part to spin for the Biden administration on CNN. At host Jessica Dean’s prompting, she ordered the majority of Americans who disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, not to blame the administration:
“[A] new NPR/Marist survey finds Americans’ view of Biden's job approval overall mirrors how they view his handling of the economy,” Dean noted adding that inflation was a top concern. She suggested that Biden didn’t deserve to be scrutinized over the economy. “Does President Biden deserve the blame for this, Catherine? Should he be -- should his approval rating be tied to this, are these things under his control?” she questioned.
Rampell scoffed at the idea Biden deserved blame. “[T]he thing that I always say when asked about whether presidents are properly credited for economic conditions, presidents get too much credit when the economy is good and too much blame when the economy is bad,” she argued.
Despite being two years into the pandemic, the Post columnist instead said the pandemic was at fault:
“Inflation is up not because of any particular thing that the president did. It is because there are all of these supply chain disruptions throughout the world caused by the pandemic. Demand is up,” she claimed.
She also blamed Americans for having money from the stimulus, “burning a hole in their pocket:”
That is partly driven by some fiscal policy decisions that congress and this president and the previous president made, giving people more stimulus checks and things like that. But it is also that people had a lot of savings from last year. They have money in the bank. That money is burning a hole in their pocket so to speak. They want to spend it.
Rampell even claimed that these government payments more than covered any financial problems the average American family faced the past two years: “In some sense they should be ahead given the government transfers that have been distributed over the past year. The stimulus checks, the child tax credits, et cetera, those should more than outweigh the erosion in wage income for the typical family.”
Clearly Rampell lives in a bubble, but she refused to blame Biden:
At the same time that goods are difficult to get through the supply chain. All of that is driving inflation up. And that is happening worldwide to some extent. It is not Biden's fault. And to the same idea, Biden has relatively little that he can do about it.
So it’s the pandemic, supply chain, and Americans' spending habits...but definitely not any policies from the president.
While CNN was blaming everyone but Biden, Fox News called out several media outlets for downplaying inflation as an inconsequential concern.
Friday on Fox &Friends, host Rachel Campos-Duffy read some particularly cringeworthy headlines from the media:
Soaring prices impact Americans. But some in the media are routinely down playing the major concerns for U.S. households from. Yahoo writing well, ‘maybe Christmas shortages are a gift’ to TIME concluding quote ‘how Americans shoppers broke the supply chain.' So are they taking a cue from President Biden and making light of this major issue?
"I can't imagine the inflation being this way under Trump and the media saying ‘hey, it's the shopper's fault. It's your fault. It's not the Biden policies,'" Duffy pointed out to her guest, Lara Trump.
Trump blasted the media's approach: "It's really not a great strategy, Rachel, to ridicule the American people who are struggling this holiday season and say ‘well, gosh, this was all your fault’, that's really the way they want to go with this?"
She called out the media "coddling" President Biden while he visited his billionaire friends this Thanksgiving as Americans struggle:
But, don't think for a second that the mainstream media is going to call Joe Biden out on this. It's almost as though he was flaunting it. I know you guys have covered this a lot by being at this billionaire compound and one of the most affluent zip codes in America for America this year. He’s very comfortable there while American people are struggling. Things are not as easy now for people as they were 10 months ago before Joe Biden took office. So, I think you're going to see more of this. We know that they did this for him throughout the campaign. They coddled him. They let him get away with everything. Instead of actually having an interview where they say Joe Biden what is your plan to actually help the American people out, we know that we can see more of the comfortable interviews with Al Roker from the parade.
CNN shilling for Biden was paid for by advertiser Dick's Sporting Goods. Contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back page linked.
Read the transcripts below:
CNN Newsroom
11/25/21
CATHERINE RAMPELL: As you point out, on many metrics the economy is doing quite well. Unemployment is relatively low by historical standards. Lower today than it was even during the housing boom in the mid 2000s for example, lower than any point in the Obama presidency. The stock market is doing quite well. Gdp is above where it was pre-pandemic although we'd like it to be higher of course. And of course as our viewers just saw retail sales are booming. So on many metrics, the economy looks good. Of course if you look at consumer sentiment, it is quite poor right now. And that is driven by inflation, by the fact that consumers feel their living standards, being eroded because they are worried about the fact that prices are going up.
In some sense they should be ahead given the government transfers that have been distributed over the past year. The stimulus checks, the child tax credits, et cetera, those should more than outweigh the erosion in wage income for the typical family let's say. But people are worried that inflation will continue. They are worried that their wages will continue to not keep up. And so, you know, people are pretty dour on this economy despite all the good numbers you just talked about.
JESSICA DEAN: And in a new NPR/marist survey finds Americans view of Biden's job approval overall mirrors how they view his handling of the economy. And as you just talked about, inflation is at the top of minds of viewers. When people were asked their top economic concerns, take a look, inflation at 39%, followed by wages, labor shortages, unemployment there at the bottom. Does President Biden deserve the blame for this, Catherine? Should he be -- should his approval rating be tied to this, are these things under his control?
RAMPELL: So I will say the thing that I always say when asked about whether presidents are properly credited for economic conditions. Presidents get too much credit when the economy is good and too much blame when the economy is bad. Or too much blame for parts of the economy that are bad or parts or parts of the economy that are good. And that is the situation right now. Inflation is up not because of any particular thing that the president did. It is because there are all of these supply chain disruptions throughout the world caused by the pandemic. Demand is up.
That is partly driven by some fiscal policy decisions that congress and this president and the previous president made, giving people more stimulus checks and things like that. But it is also that people had a lot of savings from last year. They have money in the bank. That money is burning a hole in their pocket so to speak. They want to spend it. And they are trying to buy more stuff even than they were pre-pandemic, they are shifting more of their spending to goods. At the same time that goods are difficult to get through the supply chain. All of that is driving inflation up. And that is happening worldwide to some extent. It is not Biden's fault. And to the same idea, Biden has relatively little that he can do about it. He can kinda change some things on the margins. He’s kinda made efforts to get ports operating at longer hours for example. He could be doing more on expediting work permits for illegal immigrants which the administration has not done. But even all those things put together probably won't make a huge dent. What we need to see happen, we need to see the pandemic more in the rearview mirror and have things normalized and have supply chains normalized so when people want to buy stuff from around the world, it gets to them more easily, more quickly and more cheaply.
Fox&Friends
11/26/21
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: Soaring prices impact Americans. But some in the media are routinely down playing the major concerns for U.S. households from. Yahoo writing well, ‘maybe Christmas shortages are a gift’ to TIME concluding quote ‘how Americans shoppers broke the supply chain’ So are they taking a cue from President Biden and making light of this major issue? Joining us now to react is Fox Nation contributor Lara Trump. Lara, welcome, first of all, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What is this all about? I can't imagine the inflation being this way under Trump and the media saying ‘hey, it's the shopper's fault. It's your fault. It's not the Biden policies.’
LARA TRUMP: Oh, it's so unbelievable, Rachel. Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone. We had a great day at my house yesterday. My kids probably had way too much sugar. That's the day to do it. We got t out away way we’re moving on now. As far as it relates to the inflation and the way the media has covered it. It's really not a great strategy, Rachel, to ridicule the American people who are struggling this holiday season and say ‘well, gosh, this was all your fault’, that's really the way they want to go with this? It makes no sense telling us, of course, again, to lower our expectations. We have had to lower them so many times so far. And hey, maybe don't celebrate Christmas, the same way you always have this year. You know, just take things back. Don't buy as many presents, don't celebrate in the same way.
The American people don't want to hear that. We are frustrated right now because this was all so preventable. I think the Americans are a very forgiving group of people in times of hardship. But when those times of hardship come as a direct result of the policies and decisions made by the President Joe Biden and the party in power, the Democrat party, we are -- we have had enough. We are done with it, we are incredibly frustrated. Because it was a direct relation to the policies he put in place that we now have the mess we are in right now as Americans.
But, don't think for a second that the mainstream media is going to call Joe Biden out on this. It's almost as though he was flaunting it. I know you guys have covered this a lot by being at this billionaire compound and one of the most affluent zip codes in America for America this year. He’s very comfortable there while American people are struggling. Things are not as easy now for people as they were 10 months ago before Joe Biden took office. So, I think you're going to see more of this. We know that they did this for him throughout the campaign. They coddled him. They let him get away with everything. Instead of actually having an interview where they say Joe Biden what is your plan to actually help the American people out, we know that we can see more of the comfortable interviews with Al Roker from the parade.
