MS NOW's Jen Psaki fired off a brutal series of fact-checks on Wednesday evening, demolishing many of the claims made by President Donald Trump in his late-night address unveiling $1,776 "warrior dividends" to combat the affordability crisis, which he solely laid at the feet of Democrats and claimed he is already in the process of fixing.
Psaki, a former White House press secretary, pulled no punches in her analysis.
"I just want to quickly fact-check just a few — I mean, there were so many in there. We were working as quickly as we could, but just a few of the president's most blatant falsehoods," said Psaki. "Tonight, Trump announced checks for $1,776 for U.S. troops. First of all, Congress controls the power of the purse in the country, not the president. So if that happens, that is Congress sending those checks, even if Trump puts his name on them. But that number, $1,776, is also kind of interesting, because an analysis from the Yale Budget Lab estimates that as of November, Trump tariffs have cost Americans an average of $1,700 per household this year."
"Trump also claimed that when he took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years," said Psaki. "That's not true. The truth is that inflation had been declining from its peak of 7 percent during the pandemic. But since Trump took office, it has basically flatlined at 3 percent. It was 3 percent in January and it's 3 percent today. In his campaign, Trump also claimed he would end inflation on day one. Now, just last week, the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said that inflation remains somewhat elevated. There you go."
"Trump said he's working to bring grocery prices down now just this week," Psaki continued. "This is where it gets awkward for him. Trump's own Agriculture Department released a report showing that food prices are rising faster than inflation. And everybody, by the way, is living that at grocery stores. Trump also claimed that he's brought gas prices down to $1.99 a gallon. The national average for a gallon of gasoline was $3.11 when Trump took office. The national average today per AAA is $2.91."
"That is just a little taste and flavor, and I'm sure you all have your own lists at home," Psaki added. "Again, just a short list, but I'm sure I missed plenty of things."