President Donald Trump is merely "putting on a front" with his assurances he's not worried about the economy, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Friday evening.
This comes as Trump was roundly smacked down by fact-checkers for falsely claiming that gas prices are now down to $1.98 a gallon — a figure that appears to be fictional and not offered in any city in America.
"On that comment the president made in this interview that he did with 'Meet the Press,' do you think he is as unconcerned about the prospect of a recession as a result of his trade policies, as he seemed to be there?" asked Collins.
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"No, I don't, but I think that that is the front that he is putting on," said Haberman. "They did get good news today in terms of the jobs front. Yes, the market numbers rebounded somewhat. You are correct that he keeps saying things about prices that just don't comport with reality. It was actually interesting. I was looking at a similar Truth Social post that he did, his social media website, where he said prices are falling and everything is very, very low now. And a bunch of replies — which are normally very praising of him, over-the-top praising — were saying, essentially, 'not where I live,' 'not where I live,' 'not where I live.' So there is actually a limit to how much he can keep saying that and have his own voters believe him. But he right now seems to believe himself."
"That's actually really interesting, because I have a Truth Social account," said Collins. "Obviously, monitor what the president says, but people who get Truth Social accounts typically are supporters of the president."
"I have never seen pushback on something he was saying before, and there was still some praise in response," agreed Haberman. "But there were a number of comments of people saying, that's not happening where I am."
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