At the end of Monday’s Morning Joe, the premier liberal morning show on MS NOW had on former Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to promote an opinion piece she wrote in The New York Times that lectured President Trump on the economy and political messaging around it, as she claimed Biden at least had “facts,” but Trump was just “making it all up.”
The headline of Jean-Pierre’s, “This Mistake Doomed Biden. Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap,” as she likened Biden’s struggles to Trump. The alleged shift in tone was much different than Jean-Pierre deflecting questions on the economy and defense of Bidenomics during White House briefings.
Lemire then read part of the piece, in which she blamed the difficulties of economic messaging because of how “Americans no longer share a single information space.”
Former Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared on Monday’s Morning Joe to lecture the Trump administration on what they were doing wrong and compared Biden's messaging on the economy to Trump's
But, laughably, host Jonathan Lemire went into full Biden Admin defense… pic.twitter.com/pQ8RPpIrP7— Nick (@nspin310) October 5, 2026
The reading continued, “And when a government cannot establish shared facts, democratic decision-making becomes harder. In some ways, Mr. Trump's style - direct, emotional, repetitive, and unmediated - fits the incentives of the current environment. But it has limits.”
Lemire added, still reading from the opinion piece, “A decade ago, his bluster, so unlike traditional politicians, grabbed ears and eyeballs. Now even many of his fans can see that he's frequently just seeking attention.”
He then turned to Jean-Pierre, and cited gloomy polls:
And certainly, Karine, you're right about that, about the separate media ecosystems, but also how we have seen in polls, even those who cast their lot with Trump in 2024, including some for the first time, have really grown disenchanted because it does seem like he doesn't see their reality, he doesn't feel their struggle, and he's not trying.
Jean-Piiere then declared, “And he's not one of them. He just is not. Look, people, voters are not stupid. They are tired of the Trump show.”
She then claimed, in his talk of the economy, that Trump was only “telling lies” and “not even using facts and figures.”
Lemire laughably chimed in and said, “Let’s be clear,” before he wanted to make sure the viewing audience knew “there are very few similarities between this Trump term and the Biden administration.”
After Jean-Pierre agreed, Lemire continued, “and the Biden team had a robust legislative record to run on and for his party in those midterms.”
Lemire then finally got the point of Jean-Pierre's argument that was conveyed in the NYT headline, and said, “But one similarity that some even who worked for President Biden have said, they've noted is that there was an admission that President Biden and his team at times, sort of struggled to articulate what they had accomplished in terms of the economy. And there was some frustration, saying, look, by the numbers, the economy is doing well. And there was a disconnect sometimes because Americans weren't necessarily feeling it. Trump is repeating that mistake on steroids.”
Jean-Pierre, seemingly not learning from the mistake that she was lecturing Trump about, continued to talk “facts and figures” before redirecting to claim economic facts and figures did not help Biden:
On steroids. And not using facts and figures. right? He's making it all up.
(...)
Look, facts and figures, and I say this in my piece, has lost its weight because if you're not meeting where the American people are, right, if they don't feel that we are speaking to their lived experiences, then they are not going to pay attention to the models you're using to the facts and whatever it is that we're trying to put out there to message directly to them.
A clear difference between the story of the economy under Biden versus Trump has been the media coverage, as illustrated by a recent Media Research Center Analysis of economic facts the media is currently ignoring.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
October 5, 2026
8:50:20 AM Eastern
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Karine, let's turn to you now. Your new column for The New York Times, the headline: “This Mistake Doomed Biden. Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap” And I'll read a little bit from it now:
“Part of the challenge is that Americans no longer share a single information space. Media fragmentation has created separate realities. And when a government cannot establish shared facts, democratic decision-making becomes harder. In some ways, Mr. Trump's style direct - emotional, repetitive, and unmediated - fits the incentives of the current environment. But it has limits.
A decade ago, his bluster, so unlike traditional politicians, grabbed ears and eyeballs. Now even many of his fans can see that he's frequently just seeking attention. That tension, the ability to dominate the conversation while struggling to earn trust, defines this moment. Once people believe their government is not speaking to their reality, it becomes incredibly difficult to earn that trust back.”
And certainly, Karine, you're right about that, about the separate media ecosystems, but also how we have seen in polls, even those who cast their lot with Trump in 2024, including some for the first time, have really grown disenchanted because it does seem like he doesn't see their reality, he doesn't feel their struggle, and he's not trying.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Right. And he's not one of them. He just is not. Look, people, voters are not stupid. They are tired of the Trump show. And what he is doing is – instead of doing something to fight the economy and make the economy better, he's focusing on a ballroom, right?
Instead of making sure that the American people are getting what they need and making sure the prices and the grocery stores are going down, he is instead telling lies and not even using facts and figures, right? And so he is constantly, constantly doing the opposite of what he said he was going to do on day one, which is take care of the economy. And so you have a president who is woefully unpopular is does not have his finger on the pulse, doesn't care to have his finger on the pulse, is not putting forward policy to change what the American people are feeling.
And then there's this stench of corruption that he leaves behind. And, you know, he is he is going to feel it. You know, he is going to feel it in less than 30 days in this midterm election. And they are turning their backs on him. They're saying enough is enough.
LEMIRE: So, let's be clear, there are very few similarities between this Trump term and the Biden administration -
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, oh absolutely.
LEMIRE: - certainly, and the Biden team had a robust legislative record to run on and for his party in those midterms. But one similarity that some even who worked for President Biden have said, they've noted is that there was an admission that President Biden and his team at times, sort of struggled to articulate what they had accomplished in terms of the economy. And there was some frustration, saying, look, by the numbers, the economy is doing well. And there was a disconnect sometimes because Americans weren't necessarily feeling it. Trump is repeating that mistake on steroids.
JEAN-PIERRE: On steroids. And not using facts and figures. right? He's making it all up. And look, you're right. Look, facts and figures, and I say this in in my piece, has lost its weight because if you're not meeting where the American people are, right, if they don't feel that we are speaking to their lived experiences, then they are not going to pay attention to the models you're using to the facts and whatever it is that we're trying to put out there to message directly to them.
And so that is the problem that we saw, even when the economic numbers were strong. And so we learned the hard way. And Trump is doing the opposite of that and is going to learn the hard way. And voters, again, are not stupid. They are feeling, feeling this moment. And he has not fixed on day one. He's just not.
(...)
