‘Wrong!’: MSNBC Hosts In Disbelief After Trump Proves He Doesn’t Understand Basic Economics

Even though Donald Trump repeatedly brags about his “success” in business, MSNBC business reporters couldn’t believe he failed such a simple economic test in his recent interview with Trump lapdog Sean Hannity.

The hosts of MSNBC’s ‘Velshi and Ruhle’ couldn’t believe that in the inteview, Trump said the rising stock market actually helps in reducing the national debt.

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The two economic experts quickly dismantled Trump:

RUHLE: Wrong! The businessman president just flunked a basic finance test and his key interviewer did as well. The stock market has nothing to do with the U.S. debt, which continues to go up, not down, despite the president’s best wishes. And I want to remind our viewers that there are only two ways to bring down the national debt: Either we cut spending or raise taxes. And guess what we’re doing? Neither of those things. The president, he wants to cut taxes across the board, which could add another $2.7 trillion to national debt over the next 10 years.

 

VELSHI: Yeah, this is a weird one because either the president – he’s a businessman so he can’t not know this is the case, so the assumption becomes that that was deliberately false. But let’s say he didn’t know. Let’s say he actually thinks that the stock market increasing, which is private money that goes to companies and their shareholders, somehow relates to the debt then I don’t know what’s worse, that he was being misleading or that he didn’t know. … Here’s the thing about the stock market. If the president wants to take credit for that $5 trillion since he’s become president, let’s actually look at the stock market going back to when it bottomed out in March of 2009. … That looks like a pretty straight line to me, so if you want to blame the Obama administration for all that debt, give them credit for all that growth.

 

RUHLE: It has been a 113-month rally, and last time I checked, the president hasn’t been in office that long. 

Donald Trump blasted the strong economy under Obama when he was on the campaign trail, but since taking office he has given himself full credit for everything from a rising stock market to a shrinking unemployment rate – all without having passed or signed a single piece of major legislation.

As the MSNBC reporters noted on Saturday, either the businessman president doesn’t understand basic economics or he is intentionally misleading the American public.

Either option is both plausible and troubling.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.