MSNBC hosts, Trump advisor spar on economic claims

MSNBC hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle had a heated confrontation with President Trump adviser Brad Thomas on Thursday, accusing him of making false claims about job growth.

Velshi and Ruhle repeatedly slammed Thomas, accusing him of lying and taking offense when he suggested economics might be too difficult for them to understand.

“Brad, hold on a second, hold on. You’re talking to two financial journalists,” Velshi said at one point during the discussion.

{mosads}Yet Velshi and Ruhle also were short on facts during the extended exchange, even as they put down Thomas for not taking them seriously.

The talk centered on Thomas’s claim that the media was not covering the economic gains under Trump.

Velshi said it was a myth that Trump was responsible for the rising stock market, saying it had been rising since reaching a low after the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

“This market started going up on March 9, 2009, and if you have a ruler, it’s a pretty-much straight line from there to now. So there is nothing Donald Trump has done to cause the market to be like this,” he said.

“You guys keep peddling this myth that Donald Trump is responsible for this market,” he added.

Velshi then challenged Thomas.

“You are a market guy,” Velshi said, pressing Thomas to acknowledge that stocks rose under former President Obama. “You have seen the S&P 500 since March 9, 2009, right?” 

Thomas responded that “what’s happening now is job creation. President Trump has created over a million jobs,” before he was interrupted by Velshi.

“Brad, stop! For heaven’s sake,” Velshi said. “You know that in the last six months of 2016 there were more jobs created, in the first six months of 2016, the last six months of 2015, first six months of 2015, last six months of 20— I mean I can just keep on going. Donald Trump’s not even close to being the largest job creator in the first six months of his presidency.”

“There are four recent presidents that have done better than him,” he said, specifically naming Obama, Bush and Clinton later in the program. “Why do you continue to say these things?”

It’s true that job growth under Trump in the first six months of 2017 was similar, though slightly less, than job growth in the last half of 2016, when Obama was president.

But the claim that growth under Trump was below other presidents in their first six months in office was off the mark.

Obama’s first term began at the height of the great recession, when the economy was hemorrhaging jobs. The U.S. economy also went into recession two months into George W. Bush’s first term. 

Still, QZ estimated that job growth under Trump was only the eighth best in modern times. 

Thomas then attempted to pivot to President Trump’s infrastructure plans, but was again challenged, with the hosts arguing that the president’s executive order on permitting was a far cry from an infrastructure bill.

“Look, it’s just very complicated, and I get that it’s not your background,“ Thomas said, to the protesting hosts.

“What are you talking about, Brad?” Ruhle said, noting her 14-year career in investment banking.

“It’s far more our background than it is yours,” Velshi added. “You can’t just lie on TV, Brad. You can’t just lie on TV. I don’t know if your people told you who you were coming on TV with, but you can’t just lie about the economy to us,” he said.

The hosts then invited Thomas to return in six-and-a-half weeks, when Trump promised there would be a tax reform bill.