President Donald Trump's top economic advisor got more than he bargained for in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, joined CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday to try to defend the Trump administration's economic accomplishments. The interview happened about a month out from the 2026 midterm elections, and voters have said the cost of living and the economy are two of their top issues as the election approaches.
Hassett claimed during the interview that Americans seem "optimistic" about their economic future, citing their spending levels. He also made a series of puzzling claims about Trump's failure to lower mortgage rates, as he promised during the 2024 campaign, and the poor job numbers that the administration reported last week.
The interview left political analysts and critics floored, many of whom shared their reactions on social media.
"Wow, that was bad. He had zero answers. About the economy. And the midterms are in 29 days," Rose Benson, a comic and critic of the Trump administration, posted on X.
"So, Kevin Hassett is the kind of guy who would pretend he didn’t walk in on his wife getting plowed by his best friend for the rest of his life. That much I know," Dean Blundell, a Canadian radio personality, posted on X.
Steven M. Durlauf, a professor at the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility, posted a quote from Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again" on X about the corrosive consequences of growing wealth on American society.
"Suddenly we realize that America has turned into something ugly--and vicious--and corroded at the heart of its power with easy wealth and graft and special privilege...And the worst of it is the intellectual dishonesty which all this corruption has bred," Durlauf posted.
🥊 Kevin Hassett gets his ass kicked by Jake Tapper 🥊Hassett's efforts to insist Trump's economy is the greatest all time and the president has never failed to deliver on his promises did not go well this morning on CNN, as Tapper brought receipts to back up the feeling the majority of Americans have about how hard it is to get by these days
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 4, 2026