Appearing with CNN host Brianna Keilar, weekend CNN personality S.E. Cupp could barely contain her fury with Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for making tone-deaf comments about federal workers who have gone almost a month without pay.
On Wednesday Eric Trump's wife -- who has lately been acting more and more as a spokesperson for the Trump administration -- told a conservative interviewer that currently furloughed federal employees working without pay due to the government shutdown are experiencing a "little bit of pain" for the "future of our country."
On Thursday Ross compounded that horrible administration messaging on the shutdown by openly wondering why workers were having to resort to going to charity food pantries after missing two paychecks.
According to Cupp: "In the playbook of responses, all the other plans would have been better, right?"
"If you're a millionaire daughter-in-law of the president who doesn't need to work, one option is to not do press, not do television during a time that's painful for a lot of people," she snapped. "Another option is to go out and be honest and say, 'I cannot relate to the pain that a lot of people are feeling. I've been really fortunate. but I have compassion, I have sympathy."
Adding that Trump might have been able to put a more positive spin on the shutdown by blaming Democrats, Cupp called the comments "a real unforced error."
She then accused the White House of possibly thinking the dismissal of suffering workers is a smart ploy that might help the president.
"I'm not really sure it's one the administration cares much about because they keep putting people on TV to sort of drum that defense that it's not all that bad," she accused. "So this might be exactly what they're looking for, but I think you're seeing the results of that in those poll numbers that have not been good for the president."
Watch the video below via CNN:
