House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-ny) said on Sunday on ABC’s “this week” that President Donald Trump is “crashing the economy in real time.”
Partial transcripts as follows:
Jonathan Carl: Leader Jeffries, thank you for being here. I’ve heard Republicans say they’re violating the economy and will own all the damages that Americans are being done, so let me get right to what you were saying. So what are the Democrats going to do about it?
Jeffreys: Well, I’m going to keep making it clear that the cost of living in the United States is too high. Donald Trump and the Republicans have pledged to cut their living costs. In fact, on the first day, the costs were not lowered. They’re up. And they’re crashing the economy in real time, and in fact they’re driving us towards a recession.
The Democrats have a different vision. We want to build an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers. And we are prepared to work with all sincerely to accomplish that. But that’s why things are heading in the wrong direction as it’s not happening in Congress at the moment.
Carl: But let’s ask about the Gallup poll that has come up recently. Ask people how confident they are in a variety of people to deal with the economy. And only Donald Trump – 44% have a fair or a fair amount of confidence, but the GOP leader was next the Fed’s chairman and the Speaker of the House. And as you go down to the bottom, the Democratic leader chucks Schumer at the bottom. You were only 30%. So what should Democrats do to convince the American people that they have a better plan for the economy than Republicans?
Jeffreys: Well, this week we will bear the cost of living week actions. We must continue to talk to the American people about our plans. They recognize that housing costs are too high, groceries costs are too high, utility costs are too high, childcare costs are too high, insurance costs are too high. America is too expensive.
Donald Trump is now president. And in terms of his recognition related to the economy, it was his greatest strength on January 20th. Now that’s his biggest weakness.
There have been various polls, including the recent morning consultation generation, showing that Congressional Democrats are actually more trusted than Congressional Republicans on the economy, for the first time in four years.
We will continue to loom on economic incidents and push on incidents relating to social security protection and strengthening. This is what we do. Republicans, as we know, are trying to explode Social Security. And certainly, we are trying to protect the healthcare of the American people.
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