Fox News host Shannon Bream was mocked for praising former President Donald Trump as "policy-oriented" after he gave a rambling unintelligible response to a question about child care during an event at the Economic Club of New York.
As Trump tries to portray himself as an economic policy guy, he demonstrated during his interview with the group that he has no grasp of policy at all.
During the back and forth, Trump was asked the following question by Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First and Girls Who Code:
"If you win in November can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable and if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance?"
Trump responded:
"Well, I would do that and we're sitting down. I was... somebody... we had Senator Marco Rubio and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that. It's a very important issue but I think that when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that... because child care is tough. It's something... you have to have it. In this country you have to have it."
"But when you talk about those numbers compared to the numbers I'm talking about, taxing foreign nations at levels they're not used to but they'll get used to it very quickly. It's not going to stop them from doing business with us but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country."
"Those numbers are so much bigger than any number we're talking about including child care. It's going to... we're going to have... I look forward to having no deficits within a very short period of time coupled with the reductions I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country."
"Because I want to stay with child care, we're going to have in child care, those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about including growth but growth also added up on what the plan is that I just told you about. We are going to be taking in trillions of dollars."
"And as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it is relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people and then we'll worry about the rest of the world, let's help other people but we're going to take care of our country first, this is about America First, about Make America Great Again."
"We have to do it because right now we're a failing nation so we'll take care of it."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
And Bream gave nothing but fawning praise in a Fox News segment afterward, saying that she hopes viewers of Tuesday's presidential debate get to see "this version" of the former president:
"It's not a rally. It was very policy-oriented. I think this version [of Trump] will do well if we see it on Tuesday night, we see the former president explaining to people. Some of these ideas are difficult to break down and 'Here's how this would matter to you.'"
"It's easy to say, 'Oh, I'm going to get $25,000 off if I buy a house,' right? But it's more nuanced to understand these things on your bottom line so it's going to be interesting to see."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Bream was swiftly called out for her absurd analysis.
Child care remains a significant financial strain for many families across the country.
According to a report by Child Care Aware of America released in May, parents with two children in a child care center paid, on average, at least double the typical rent in 11 states and Washington, D.C., in 2023.
Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, announced her plan to advocate for the reinstatement of the $3,600 child tax credit, which was part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan but expired that same year. She also pledged to introduce a proposal offering up to $6,000 in tax relief for middle- and low-income families during the first year of their child’s life.
Along with expanding the child tax credit, the Harris campaign stated that she would push for an increased earned income tax credit of up to $1,500 for individuals in lower-income jobs who are not raising children.
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