On Sunday, CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan presented new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with a CBS News poll that they used to insist Americans already think President Trump is failing them on the economy. Bessent was sworn in on January 28. When Bessent challenged the pro-Biden/Harris media spin, Brennan got defensive and ended up a little embarrassed.
Before going to Bessent, Brennan began: "According to our CBS News poll, although people do approve of him on some of those other issues, there is a 50-point gap between people who say the president should make inflation a priority and those who say he is."
Then she shoved more numbers at the Secretary:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Our polling also shows at least half the country reports concern about paying for food and groceries and housing. They continue to call the economy bad, even more so than last month, and 49 percent told us the economy is getting worse. . When can Americans expect to experience the benefits that President Trump said would be coming in day one?
SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Yes, what – you know, Margaret, what I find interesting is, for the past year-and-a-half and during the campaign, most of the media said, oh, the economy is great, it's just a vibecession. Now that President Trump's in office, there's an economic problem. And I will tell you what the problem was. This is…
BRENNAN: We were pretty straightforward on this program.
BESSENT: Well, I haven't seen this program, but the – in general, this idea that working-class Americans didn't know what they were talking about, they didn't know their lived experience, they didn't know what their pocketbooks were feeling.
Treasury Sec Scott Bessent: “For the past year and a half...media said the economy is great. It’s a vibe session. Now Trump is in office, there’s an economic problem..."@margbrennan: “We were straightforward on this program.”
— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) March 2, 2025
Bessent: “I haven’t seen this program.” Ouch. #FTN pic.twitter.com/jqgn8bcZLE
Either that's a zinger, or Bessent is simply trying to say he's not capable of blaming this one show. Maybe he wasn't expecting to get this job back in 2024. Hosts are willing to throw their network under the bus, but don't blame their show! CBSNews.com carried "vibecession" stories.
Brennan kept pushing the dour poll numbers:
BRENNAN: I hear you that sometimes the data lags reality, but when we are talking about people's perceptions of the economy, it's just how they're feeling right now, we see in our polling, 52 percent of Americans say Trump's policies are making grocery prices go up.
They explicitly said that on this bar chart you see there. So it's an experience and a perception issue. When does that shift? When do we see the benefits of the planning you say is under way?
BESSENT: Look, I think President Trump said that he'll own the economy in six or 12 months. But I can tell you that we are working to get these prices down every day. But it took four years to get us here, and we've had five weeks.
This was another episode where Brennan was very aggressive with Republicans, and not so much with Democrats. Scroll down and see how Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) gets to speak in paragraphs....although sometimes he's interrupted with Brennan saying "Yes."
