White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday, defending President Donald Trump’s economy after being confronted over affordability.
“If the economy is as strong as the president has said it is, then why is he telling parents two weeks before Christmas that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?” Collins asked during a White House press conference.
Leavitt defended Trump’s remarks at a rally this week in Pennsylvania, where he told the crowd, “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice. You don’t need 37 dolls, so, uh, we’re doing things right.”
Trump intended to convey that he “wants products made right here in America,” pushing his tariffs and claiming the U.S. will have higher-quality items, she claimed.
“Maybe you’ll pay $1 or two more, but you will get better quality, and you’ll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American, and that’s what the president was saying, ” Leavitt said.
The Trump administration is under fire over affordability, with a recent YouGov/Economist poll revealing that 59% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.
“Again, with respect to affordability, every economic metric — Kaitlin, and I wish you would report more on it — does, in fact, show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration,” she claimed, citing slowing inflation and lower gas prices and adding, “The best is yet to come.”
“The president is digging our country out of the economic hole that the previous administration put us in, and that’s what he’s talking about,” Leavitt said.
Collins pushed back, noting that grocery prices are up and Americans are still feeling uneasy about the economy. “There’s mixed signals,” she said.
That’s when Leavitt went into attack mode. “There’s a lot more scrutiny on this issue from this press corps than there was,” she began.
“My predecessor stood up at this podium, and she said inflation doesn’t exist. She said the border was secure, and people like you just took her at her word, and those were two utter lies,” Leavitt told Collins. “Everything I’m telling you is the truth backed by real, factual data, and you just don’t want to report on it, because you want to push untrue narratives.”
“I’m not going to take your follow-up” question about Venezuela, she sniped at Collins.
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