Continuing to follow the example of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on Meet the Press Sunday to blame Democratic President Joe Biden for the financial downturn caused by Trump's tariff fiasco, then lied repeatedly about the state of the economy.
Meet the Press host Kristen Welker played a clip of MAGA Republican Vice President JD Vance telling a conservative audience at a Breitbart News event that Americans owe the Trump administration "a little bit of patience"—apparently while they figure out what tariffs are and how they work since they're rolling back more of them to lower consumer prices despite claiming Trump's tariffs don't affect consumer prices.
Welker asked Bessent:
"Let me ask you, Mr. Secretary, how long do Americans need to be patient? How long do they have to wait for the cost of living to come down?"
Bessent prattled about a piece he wrote in 2024, dodged the question, then incorrectly declared:
"And so across the board, prices are starting to come down. We're having Thanksgiving week. This will be the lowest cost for a Thanksgiving dinner in four years. Turkey prices are down 16%."
Welker corrected his misinformation, stating:
"And yet some prices are going up of course. We have seen prices increasing on staples like coffee, bananas, bacon. Inflation has gone up. It's at 3% now up from 2% in April when the tariffs were imposed."
Bessent replied:
"No, no, no, no, no. They weren't. So inflation hasn't gone up."
Launching into his next rash of alternative facts, Bessent said:
"And Kristen, the one thing that we're not going to do is do what the Biden administration did and tell the American people they don't know how they feel. They are traumatized and—over the Biden inflation."
But from January 2017 to January 2021, Trump benefited from the strong economy Democratic President Barack Obama left him, hovering around an annual rate of 2%. Trump then mishandled the pandemic causing thousands of unnecessary deaths, handing an economic and public health crisis off to President Biden.
President Biden dropped inflation from the pandemic high of 9.1% down to 2.4% by November 2024. Since taking office, Trump's trade wars have raised that figure to 3.0% by the end of October 2025.
Bessent then offered advice for those struggling financially:
"You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down? Move from a blue state to a red state."
Ignoring the lack of awareness necessary for Bessent to suggest people struggling economically just move, his comments were actually false in relation to inflation rates in blue versus red states.
Undeterred by facts, Bessent added:
"Blue state inflation is half a percent higher. And that is because they don't deregulate. They keep prices up. Energy is higher."
You can see his comment here:
According to data compiled by the Republican led Joint Economic Committee State Inflation Tracker, blue California's cumulative inflation rate of 20.1% actually places it in the middle of the pack, not at the top as Bessent suggested.
Deep red Utah, on the other hand, has a cumulative inflation rate of 21.8%.
The big red economic centers of Texas, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, and Nevada all have higher cumulative inflation rates than California's 20.1%. And the lower-economic-output red states—like Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia—have significantly higher rates.
Traditionally blue states in the Northeast enjoy some of the lowest cumulative inflation rates in the country.
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania’s cumulative inflation rates are 19.2%. The New England states of Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut’s rate of 17.9% place those blue states as the lowest in the country.
Average rates in the red Midwest are around the same as California.
Bessent's lies, misinformation, and denials coupled with his out-of-touch suggestion to just "move" drew backlash.
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Near the end of the interview, Welker asked Bessent:
"Isn't the fact that you're rolling back tariffs an admission that ultimately they do drive up prices for consumers?"
Trump's handpicked Treasury Secretary responded:
"Kristen, how much does your arm weigh?"
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance—or just competence—baffle them with bullsh*t.
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