General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenator Warren FORCED To Teach Basic Math To Trump's Economic Pick Awkward Hearing Moment Goes Viral
Senator Warren was great here. This nominee is awful. She is right when she says at the end he has disqualified himself. It's also incredibly offensive and disrespectful for this asshole to keep addressing her as ranking member instead of Senator or Senator Warren.
Transcript:
0:00So Dr. Phelan, if you are confirmed, your job would be to advise President Trump on economic policy. The Council of
0:08Economic Adviserss is quote charged with offering the president objective
0:15economic advice, not political advice, objective economic advice. So let's go through a few objective facts. Americans
0:24are spending more on everything from gas to groceries. Prices are rising faster than paychecks. And Trump's one big
0:32beautiful bill rips away health care coverage for 15 million people in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and
0:42giant corporations. And it adds $4.7 trillion to the national debt. And that
0:50is why we need someone who will tell the truth about the economy and not just say whatever it is the president wants them
0:57to say. So you have a PhD in economics from a very prestigious university.
1:02You've been a professor for nearly 30 years. You've taught thousands of students by this point. On paper you
1:10look like someone who should be able to provide objective advice. So, I have some questions and quite frankly, I hope they are really easy questions for you.
1:23President Trump promised to bring prices down on quote day one. Is headline
1:30inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?
1:38Thank you, Senator. Um, headline inflation now is certainly
1:45lower than it was during the Biden administration.
1:48I'm sorry. Come on. Let's not play this game. You heard my question. President Trump was sworn in in January 2025 under
1:57the promise he would lower costs on day one. The question I'm asking is, is
2:03inflation headline inflation today higher than it was in February 2025?
2:10It's a fact question. Thank you, Sar.
2:16There's a reason economists tend to focus on core inflation and that is because food and energy is quite volatile.
2:22Okay. Can you core inflation is lower than when President Trump took office?
2:26Give me We'll do core. Can you give me the answer on headline inflation? I don't want to know how fast you can
2:32dance. I want to know if you can answer simple factual questions. That's all I'm looking for here.
2:40Thank you, Ranking Member. I do not know exactly what the headline inflation was on January 20th, 2.8%.
2:50So, answer the question. Is headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?
2:58Headline inflation now uh the last one was year-over-year 4.2%.
3:05Okay. So, is 4.2% higher than 2.8%. Ranking member? Yes, it is.
3:13Oh, wow. Was that so hard? You know, you're going to be the guy called on to give real facts. So let me try another
3:21one. Dr. Failen, is annual inflation higher than wage growth today?
3:30Thanking you, ranking member.
3:33There has been since President Trump took office, weekly inflationadjusted earnings are higher now than they were
3:42the day President Trump took office. The question I asked you is, is inflation higher than wage growth right now? In
3:51other words, even if families are getting raises, on average, are they falling behind because of inflation?
3:59Thank you, Ranking Member. I do think it's important to have an appropriate time frame when considering anything like the appropriate time frame is when
4:08President Trump took office. question is I just want to find inflation adjusted wages are lower than they are now today are families getting ahead or
4:16falling behind you got one word to answer that what's your word my word is at
4:23real wages are higher now real wages are higher now let's told me inflation is 4.2% 2% right.
4:34What's the annual wage growth right now? It's just a fact question.
4:39Senator, I do not have that in front of me right now. It's 3.4%.
4:44So, let's put this one together. Is 4.2 higher than 3.4?
4:50I will repeat what I said, which is real wage growth in this administration is positive. the it is right now families
5:00are falling behind and I got to say I can keep this one up fact after fact but you have now made clear what your
5:07position is and that is you can't even do the basic facts I didn't even get to the hard questions here about what this
5:14means I just want to start with what the facts are these are facts that come out of the Trump administration they're
5:22there for anybody to see and you can't bring yourself as the person who sits there and says, "I want to be the head
5:30 of the council of economic advisors." Oh, I'm sorry. To give objective economic advice, and you can't even say,
5:39"Yeah, inflation is running higher than wages right now." And we're still going to try to keep it on behalf of the chairman to five minutes.
5:46 Fair enough. Uh, I think this person has disqualified himself in five and a minute.
Raven123
(8,056 posts)Hieronymus Phact
(786 posts)calimary
(91,553 posts)Its at 4:39.
SHEESH!!! This is supposed to be an expert witness! I would think hed have the answers here, IF Trump sends him out to testify before a Congressional committee.
rampartd
(5,603 posts)what kind of boss hires this kind of toad?
liz is the best at the hearings. bernie can make 'em squirm as well.
calimary
(91,553 posts)spooky3
(39,032 posts)(All the usual caveats apply about how these ratings may be unrepresentative, biased, etc.)
rampartd
(5,603 posts)maybe the ratings say more about the students than their teacher.
" Prof. would sometimes go on unrelated tangents during lecture, but I wasn't really listening anyway."
aggiesal
(11,010 posts)They never answer any question to the point of exhaustion.
rampartd
(5,603 posts)it seems more like an audition for the next "apprentice" episode or reality show
always for the "audience of one"
why i am not a senator...
sen rampart : professor, does trump have video of you with a dead girl or a live boy? how about farm animals?
epstein's island?
hookaleft
(1,450 posts)But he will be confirmed. Because it is all over. They have taken over everything at a speed that will break your neck. I just don't know who is gonna save us. And how long it will take to repair.
spooky3
(39,032 posts)The vote.
jimmy the one
(2,864 posts)Elite Magat wannabe Phelan proves he can tap dance and double double talk talk at the same time.
To be fair tho, at least he's not chewing gum.
Old Crank
(7,451 posts)Dumb Egregiously Incompetent
FuzzyDicePHL
(741 posts)was the woman behind Warren trying not to burst into laughter!! HAHAHAHAHA That really tickled me.
Yet, it's not lost on me how depressingly sad the situation is.
SergeStorms
(21,115 posts)couldn't be president because she allegedly "lied" (she didn't) about some distant relative being of Cherokee heritage.
There's (should be) a registered sex-offender living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We should count the number of truths he's spoken rather than his lies - about everything - because the amount would be far, far less. He's a 34-time convicted felon, and if investigations were allowed to proceed, he'd undoubtedly be in prison this very moment.
But Elizabeth Warren allegedly "lied" (she didn't) about her heritage. The rethuglicans and the "liberal" media made certain of that.
maxsolomon
(39,479 posts)inflation was higher than it is now WHEN BIDEN TOOK OFFICE and not when he left.
he knows it, Warren knows it, we all know it.
bro knows he will earn the Dotard's ire if he doesn't evade every gotcha question and admits any uncomfortable facts.
dawn5651
(832 posts)dust..well done senator
patphil
(9,353 posts)She made Dr. Phelon (rhymes with felon) look like a complete ass-kissing Trump idiot.
Where does Trump get these people? Is there a "Dumb Sacks of Shit" store where he buys them? Either that or they drinking some kind of Donnie Dumbass juice that turns them into morons as soon as he offers them a job in his administration.