Trump Even Lost Laura Ingraham

Her interview of Trump yesterday exposed his hypocrisy and true priorities; even MAGA is starting to peel away.

Donald Trump has given many disastrous interviews to many media outlets. But to date, he has always been able to later deflect any terrible answers by blaming the questioners. After all, they are the “fake news media” that he so often decries.

But he didn’t have that option with Laura Ingraham of Fox, who interviewed the 47th president yesterday. We were all fully expecting complimentary and softball moments with no real substance or fireworks. Instead, the interview quickly became a train wreck, and now MAGA has gone ballistic.

Across several subjects—the state of the economy, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, the question of H1-B visas and even the gold decor in the Oval Office—a skeptical Ingraham gave voice to what many in MAGA have been feeling.

The result? Well, read on. And enjoy.

Everyone thinks the economy is great… and the polls are “fake”

On the economy, Trump insisted to Ingraham that the “economy is the strongest it’s ever been,” despite interest rates being up. He claimed, falsely, that prices are down and that the overall outlook is great.

Ingraham gave him a chance to explain the contrary vibe. “Then why are people saying they are anxious about the economy?” She asked. “Why are they saying that?”

Trump answered, “I don’t know that they are saying that. I think polls are fake.” He went on to wildly claim “We will have over $20 trillion come into our economy,” largely due to “tariffs.”

[Narrator: Tariffs are paid by U.S. importers and consumers, not by foreign countries, and that money is not coming from abroad.]

At one point, Trump even said that “costs are way down” but that voter perception was the result of a “con job” by the Democrats, who are feeding the media narrative that costs are actually up. (They are.)

The claim that inflation isn’t real and people aren’t really suffering is proving a difficult line for White House aides to walk. Trump’s chief tariff advisor Peter Navarro was asked yesterday to explain the perception gap and what he would say to people struggling with higher prices:

NAVARRO: We feel your pain. We are literally doing everything we can.

VITTERT: But the president calls it a “con job.” How can people think he feels their pain?

Navarro claimed that the media unfairly blames Trump for Biden’s legacy and that simply makes Trump angry.

Still, Trump’s mouthpieces are doing their best to argue that up is actually down. Kevin Hassett, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, went on CNBC to claim, “We’re comfortable that inflation has come way down.”

“Even though it’s been increasing for five straight months as of September?” the host asked incredulously. Hassett mumbled that there are “ups and downs and seasonals.”

Inflation, of course, has been rising for five straight months:

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt even cited a “DoorDash” report to support her claim that inflation “has been tamed, everyday prices are beginning to drop, and wages are growing.”

Perhaps the White House should stop firing the people in charge of providing actual economic data and reporting? No, that wouldn’t work because Trump would really not like the data that would quickly emerge.

600,000 Chinese students is “pro-MAGA”

Trump told Ingraham that he is allowing 600,000 students from China into the U.S. (or otherwise permitting those already here to stay). Some view this as a positive development because it will strengthen ties between the two superpowers while providing the U.S. with some of the best and brightest China has to offer—many of whom will be key economic drivers after they graduate.

MAGA, to no one’s surprise, doesn’t see it that way. Right-wing influencer Steven Crowder tweeted in response that allowing the Chinese students means “600K potential spies, inflated tuition, decreased opportunities for American students, training our primary geopolitical threat in fields most crucial to our national security.” He added sarcastically, “Brilliant.”

Trump tried to explain his position to Ingraham by citing the economic benefits of having so many foreign students here:

“We do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have, China and other countries. We also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States would go out of business.”

A common MAGA response was that we should just let those colleges and universities fail because they’re producing “indoctrinated radical left wing socialists” anyway and kick the 600,000 Chinese students out.

H1-B visas take center stage again

The biggest blowback, however, wasn’t over the economy or Chinese students. It came when Trump blessed the use of H1-B visas because we “have to bring in talent.”

“We have plenty of talented people here,” Ingraham countered.

“No, you don’t,” Trump replied.

Yikes.

Cue MAGA heads exploding. One normally effusive Trump fan account posted,

I’m absolutely fucking beyond PISSED OFF that tonight, as a justification for H-1B visas, Trump said that Americans don’t “have talent.”

Absolutely unreal.

“No Epstein disclosures. No J6 justice. No peace in Ukraine. 600K Chinese Students. Maximum H1-B’s,” tweeted another normally pro-Trump account. “MAGA isn’t divided. It’s dead.”

MAGA faithful Mike Cernovich tweeted,

Trump broke everyone’s heart with this line about the American workforce and H-1B’s.

“Worse than Vivek,” tweeted another popular account, referring to Vivek Ramaswamy, who earlier this year found himself at the center of the H1-B controversy.

Summing up the interview, right-wing influencer Andrew Torba declared that Trump told Americans they are too dumb, too poor and not struggling financially—all while showing off his new gold-plated office.

So it’s going well!

Speaking of the gold-plated office…

My favorite moment of the interview was when Trump brought Ingraham into the Oval Office, which is now festooned with gold bric-à-brac. Trump was insisting that it was all pure gold, and not painted on. “You can’t imitate gold. There’s no paint that imitates gold.”

“So these aren’t like from Home Depot?” she asked, saying aloud what all of us were thinking.

Trump denied they were from Home Depot, but the internet has questions. Per BuzzFeed’s reporting,

BuzzFeed actually reached out to Ekena Millwork, the company that makes the appliques sold to Home Depot (and other retailers) back in August. In response, they replied, “We work with several design firms in DC that have worked on the White House and believe these could be our onlays.”

As BuzzFeed noted, “The motifs bear an uncanny resemblance to [a] polyurethane appliqué made by Ekena Millwork that retails for $58.07 at Home Depot.

Even if these decorations are “pure gold,” they still look like a cheap Home Depot job, meaning once again Trump is wasting the people’s money only to achieve something truly awful and ostentatious.

More tellingly, these interior decorations demonstrate quite plainly where Trump’s priorities lie. It’s small wonder that some of his own base are beginning to see him as completely out of touch.

Perhaps we should just have the Fox Network and Newsmax continue to interview Trump so he can’t claim bias and will continue to have his guard down. Much more of this and key parts of the MAGA base might really start to peel away and stop worshipping their false golden idol.