Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Fox News Podcast Host Smacked Down Eric Trump When He Tried to Lie About His Father's Economy

Fox News Podcast Host Smacked Down Eric Trump When He Tried to Lie About His Father's Economy
Eric Trump waves as he heads into U.S. President Donald Trump's suite at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Take that.

President Donald Trump's second son with first wife Ivana Trump—Eric Trump—made a few stops around the Fox News franchise recently. In each one, the Trump Organization VP touted accomplishments for his father, defended him against critics and attacked his detractors.

Unlike his elder sister Ivanka, Eric Trump serves no official role in the Trump presidential administration. And unlike his elder brother Donald Jr., he remains not yet implicated in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.


Eric Trump is currently the best choice as an uninvolved spokesperson for his father. But in one Fox media appearance, the younger Trump got his facts checked live by the program host.

While speaking Thursday on The Fox News Rundown podcast, the First Son challenged host Dave Anthony to "name a quantifiable measure right now that we have in our society that’s not better off than it was 20 months ago."

But the younger Trump fell victim to the same issue that plagues his father and older brother. The overuse of superlatives in the Trump males' speech patterns trip them up time and time again when checked against actual facts.

Everything favorable to them rates a description of biggest, most, best ever while anything relating to a rival is the smallest, least and worst. On the podcast, Eric Trump claimed:

"We’ve got the fastest-growing economy in the history of our country."

Anthony acknowledged the current strong consumer confidence, but corrected Trump's over the top boast. The Fox News host stated:

"However, when you say it’s the fastest-growing economy we’ve ever had, that isn’t really the case, because economic growth of the low-4 percents is what we just have had in the last quarter and there’s hope that that would continue."
"But you have to be fair, even during the Obama administration, while he did have some very low growth in quarters, there were times that he got over 5 percent in economic growth and over 4 percent more than once."

Rather than admit to the over-exaggeration, Trump stated he doubted Anthony’s facts but would "go back and check...very carefully." The Fox News Rundown later provided data for their listeners from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

You can listen to the full podcast here.

Anthony's facts proved correct while a Trump family member's exaggerated claims were once again false. Eric Trump has yet to make a statement regarding his own findings.

But why is lying so prevalent for the Trump's?

While business analysts assess Donald Trump as a fairly poor businessman based on his many failures, one thing the elder Trump excels at is selling himself as a success. Selling his own brand is the single most profitable venture of Trump's career.

Trump himself pointed to his name recognition as the largest factor in his wealth. One need not be a successful businessman if you can convince people you are one—and then get them to buy your products because they associate your name with success.

But convincing people you are the best—when you are not—requires lying. Throughout his business career, Trump lied a lot. His sons continue along that path running the Trump Organization while their father runs the country.

However unlike the wheeling and dealing, fake it until you make it business world that Trump stepped out of, people expect some level of truth to come from the President. The occasional misstatement in Washington made big news in prior administrations and led to big scandals and sometimes multi-year investigations.

But President Donald Trump provides false statements or outright lies constantly. One of his biggest assets in private business is one of his biggest issues in public service. Multiple organizations dedicate resources to tracking all the Trump falsehoods. The Toronto Star currently puts the President at 4.3 false statements per day.

In addition to getting called out for his false economic claims during the podcast, Eric Trump also took the opportunity to attack best-selling author and investigative journalist Bob Woodward. Woodward—who helped win a Pulitzer for The Washington Post in 1973 for his work with Carl Bernstein on the Nixon Watergate scandal—just released his 18th book on Washington politics.

Fear: Trump in the White House—based on hundred of hours of recorded interviews with first-hand witnesses, meeting notes, memos and personal diaries— already set several sales records for publisher Simon & Schuster. In a Wednesday Fox & Friends interview, Eric Trump made a comment about Woodward writing the book to make "3 extra shekels."

Trump drew heavy criticism for the choice of wording. But during his Thursday podcast interview, Trump chose to use "shekels" in reference to Woodward again. People online expressed outrage and even posted comments directly to members of the Trump family.

Eric Trump failed to respond to the backlash over his use of "shekels" on Fox & Friends and again on The Fox News Rundown. But Bob Woodward expressed his disappointment that Trump would still equate greed with Judaism in this day and age.

More from People/donald-trump

Screenshots from Priscilla Houliston's TikTok video
@the1870studio/Tiktok

Woman Who Bought An Old Church For Under $40k To Live In Explains How She Did It

It's becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to find a home for those who do not already have one or who are in dire need of an upgrade.

TikToker Priscilla Houliston is here to teach us another way: seeking out old churches and other obscure properties that can be re-zoned as a residential home property.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pete Hegseth
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Pentagon Just Banned Press Photographers Over 'Unflattering' Photos Of Pete Hegseth—And The Internet Got To Work

The internet reacted exactly as you might expect after the Pentagon announced it would ban some press photographers from briefings about the Iran war due to their "unflattering" photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Here's a silly one, just because.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @italiangirl1130's TikTok video
@italiangirl1130/TikTok

Italian Exchange Student's Reaction To American Host Mom Taking Him To Olive Garden Is An Instant Classic

A joy that not nearly enough people get to have during high school is hosting an international student who comes to visit for either one semester or perhaps even an entire year to experience the world and the educational system from another country.

Tiktoker Rhonda, who goes by @italiangirl1130 on the platform, currently has the pleasure of hosting Alessandro, and her family has already filmed a variety of antics on the platform, trying to give the teen the best American experience they can.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @ali.fragster, @pluto_theservicedog, and @thatflippingagent's TikTok videos
@ali.fragster/TikTok; @pluto_theservicedog/TikTok: @thatflippingagent/TikTok

Woman's Video Shooing Kid At Disneyland Away From Her Service Dog Sparks Heated Debate

A massive debate has taken over TikTok about who needs to be protected, children or service dogs or both, and it all started with a video taken at Disneyland.

TikToker @pluto_theservicedog frequently posts videos of her travels with her service dog, Pluto, and she also creates informative videos about how the general public should interact with service dogs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hudson Williams (left) and François Arnaud (right)
Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

'Heated Rivalry' Stars Call Out The Show's Toxic Fans And Their 'Hateful Love' With Blunt Statement

Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams and François Arnaud took to social media to call out hateful comments from some of the show’s fans.

Both Williams, who plays Shane Hollander in the series, and Arnaud, who plays Scott Hunter, have recently been the targets of a wave of hostile online commentary. Their message addressed viewers who were trying to pit the actors and other cast members against one another.

Keep ReadingShow less