Reality collided with a Democratic congressman’s efforts to defend President Biden’s record on inflation Wednesday morning.
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn spoke to MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" regarding a recent focus group accusing the president of "gaslighting" them on the economy. Though Clyburn acknowledged that people are concerned over inflation, he said inflation rates have largely come down since Biden took office.
"I do believe, just from my own observations, from the conversations I have had with people, there are concerns about things like inflation, but what we’ve got to get them to see is that inflation today is about 40% of what it was when Joe Biden took office. And so, the inflation rates are down, and people’s incomes are up. Unemployment is on the decrease. And although we see the prices at the stores costing more money, people are, in fact, earning greater incomes," Clyburn said.
As he spoke, co-host Mika Brzezinski interrupted him to report on the news that inflation rose faster than expected.
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"So I will validate that, I think the disinformation out there is distorting the entire process, I think social media doesn’t help, but there’s also a lack of validation that these voters feel, and I’m going to bring in Andrew Ross Sorkin right now because we just got breaking news, the consumer price index increased at a faster than expected pace last month, a signal that inflation remains stubbornly high," Brzezinski reported.
Right before the news broke, Clyburn decried the "disinformation" regarding inflation.
"So what we’ve got to do is make sure that people see the policies of the Biden administration, how they affect their everyday lives, and get them to see in his policies that which is real, not what they may hear on social media. One of the focus-group people talked about social media and the misrepresentation, disinformation, all of those things are out there and that’s the battle that we have to fight, and we’ve got to do a better job of fighting it more effectively," Clyburn said.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price of everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 0.4% in March from the previous month. Prices climbed 3.5% from the same time last year, above the 3.2% figure recorded in February.
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The segment referred to a focus group of undecided voters from battleground states who unanimously agreed former President Trump’s economic policies were better than Biden's and even laughed at Biden claiming otherwise.
Michigan voter Omar, who previously voted for Biden in 2020, said, "The point is, Biden needs to hear the people, because when he's talking about the economy doing stellar, he's talking about the stock market. He's not looking at homelessness or joblessness. He's not…thinking about how much it costs to go to the grocery store, and he's gaslighting literally everyone in the process."
