Financial adviser Dave Ramsey appeared on Nightline, Thursday night, to discuss his efforts to help get people out of debt. But co-anchor Byron Pitts tried to pin Ramsey down, pressing him on Trump. Pitts also cited a Politico Magazine piece on the author/radio host: “Politico has called you the financial whisperer for Trump's America. What does that mean to you?”
Ramsey shot back: “It means Politico is trying to politicize what I'm doing. I'm a financial whisperer to anybody who needs help.” The Politico piece was from March and in it, writer Tim Alberta tried to make some sort of larger conclusion about Ramsey and Trump:
It’s a small sample size, but every visitor I met at Ramsey’s studio was from a red state—and most are Trump supporters. The president, of course, is a debt-wielding businessman who sent his companies into bankruptcy six times; one struggles to imagine the snowball approach applied to Trump’s onetime casino empire, or the Ramsey rant that a caller with those problems might have triggered. Yet people who admire Ramsey, who have bought into his message of self-reliance and frugality, also gravitated toward the messianic, I-can-fix-it economic promises of a billionaire whose administration has embraced increased spending and deeper national debt.
Pitts pressed Ramsey on his opinion of Trump: “Are you a Trump guy? Do you support President Trump?” The Christian financial host gave qualified support to Trump, but not his character:
I support his policies, some of them. But as a person of faith, I can't support his behaviors or sometimes his attitudes. But it's — some of the policies, the tax law that passed, if you can just back away from all the Trump part of it and just say, look at what has occurred, as a small businessperson, I'm able to hire a lot more people.
A partial transcript is below:
Nightline
8/2/18BYRON PITTS: He doesn't hold back, doling out thoughts on our government's finances.
DAVE RAMSEY: Because your government is stupid. We have agreed to guarantee loans for 18-year-olds who have no job history and no assets.
PITTS: Politico has called you the financial whisperer for Trump's America. What does that mean to you?
RAMSEY: It means Politico is trying to politicize what I'm doing. I'm a financial whisperer to anybody who needs help.
PITTS: Are you a Trump guy? Do you support President Trump?
RAMSEY: I support his policies, some of them. But as a person of faith, I can't support his behaviors or sometimes his attitudes. But it's — some of the policies, the tax law that passed, if you can just back away from all the Trump part of it and just say, look at what has occurred, as a small businessperson, I'm able to hire a lot more people.
