'Are you kidding me?' Ex-Trump aide blasts economic 'slap in the face'

The messaging coming out of the Trump administration about the state of the economy lit a fire underneath a former Trump White House official on Sunday.

Sarah Matthews, who was Trump's deputy press secretary during the first term, told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House: Weekend" that the second Trump administration is trying to "gaslight" Americans about the state of the economy. She pointed to a recent appearance by Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, where he claimed that the economy is "amazing" despite a wealth of evidence suggesting otherwise.

"They're trying to gaslighttheir voters and tell themeverything's fine," Matthews said. "Putting Kevin Hassett out there andhaving him go on the news andsay that the economy is amazing.I mean, are you kidding me?"

Trump has consistently boasted about the economy, even as recent data suggests it's "nothing to brag about," as the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board recently surmised. The economy grew at a "tepid" 1.5% during the last quarter, the editorial board noted, and stubborn inflation caused the Federal Reserve to leave its benchmark interest rate in place.

Matthews said that messaging is a "slap in the face" to people who helped put Trump in office.

"It's just amazing that theyclearly have not learned thelessons of the previousadministration, and then aretrying to tell their votersthat everything's fine. And thething is ... peopledo feel bamboozled," Matthews said. "They votedfor President Trump because hesaid that he was going to lowerprices on day one. He said thathe was going to be the peacepresident. He said he was goingto do all these things. And itturns out that he's done theexact opposite. So, it is just a slap in the face to the people who put him into office and have supported him for them to continue to try togaslight them."