Stephen Moore, a former economic adviser to President Donald Trump, was repeatedly challenged on CNN while defending the administration's economic record, as anchor John Berman questioned whether Americans who keep giving Trump poor marks on the economy are "ignoring the bigger picture."

Moore is a longtime conservative economist and writer. He previously worked at The Heritage Foundation and has published pieces with conservative outlets including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Weekly Standard. He served as an adviser to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later advised the administration on its 2017 tax-cut legislation. He continues to make media appearances defending Trump's economic record, most recently on Friday during a segment on CNN's News Central.

Berman pressed Moore to react to a new report finding that inflation had outpaced wage growth in the United States for the last five months — a combination that erodes household purchasing power. Moore acknowledged the recent trend but countered that real wage growth, which measures pay after inflation, had increased overall during Trump's second term.

"So we estimate right now, through the month of August, that the average family is up about $2,000 in after-inflation income," Moore said. "But it's all about what have you done for me lately? And people have seen declines in the last few months."

Berman responded that wage growth had also outpaced inflation in the final months of Joe Biden's presidency, then cited a breakdown of economic rates that have risen since the start of Trump's second term, including inflation, gas prices, 10-year bond rates, and 30-year mortgage rates — benchmark borrowing costs that influence what households pay for mortgages and other credit.

Moore sought to reframe the discussion around average rates for inflation and unemployment across Biden's entire term.

"Stephen, can I stop you for one second?" Berman interjected. "Can I ask, can I stop you for second? Has inflation gone up or down since President Trump took office?"

Moore conceded that inflation is now worse than it was when Trump took office. After further back-and-forth with Berman, he attempted to reframe the argument once more, arguing that "Joe Biden had the worst inflation record of any president since Jimmy Carter in the 1970s," invoking the era when U.S. inflation climbed into double digits.

"But John, look, you're kind of ignoring the fact that the United States economy right now is very, very strong," Moore added. "Look at all the indicators that have just come out in the last few weeks... So, you know, other than the fact that inflation is ticking up, almost all of the other indicators of the economy are strong. We have by far the strongest economy in the world today. There's no country that wouldn't trade places with the United States."

Berman responded by asking whether Moore's "other than that" line was not akin to the famous joke about President Abraham Lincoln's assassination during a play: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?"

"Steve, let me ask the question here because, you know, AP-NORC polls that just came out on the economy: 26 percent say they approve of Trump's handling of the economy, 73 percent disapprove; on his handling of the cost of living, 17 percent approve, 82 percent disapprove," Berman said. "So you said I was ignoring the big picture. Are the American people ignoring the big picture?"

The AP-NORC surveys Berman cited are produced jointly by The Associated Press and NORC, a nonpartisan research organization at the University of Chicago. Moore maintained in response that the economy remains strong, arguing that negative media coverage was contributing to an overall sense of despair among everyday Americans. Berman noted that almost the exact same dynamic was present during Biden's presidency, right as Americans turned on his economic performance and his presidency overall — a reminder that how households experience prices, not just headline indicators, has shaped the political standing of both administrations.

Source: Alternet — Ex-Trump advisor confronted while trying to defend president's economy