Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove slammed White House Council of Economic Adviser Chairman Brian Deese for calling for more federal spending to combat inflation.
Appearing as a panelist on “Fox News Sunday,” Rove blasted Deese, who had been interviewed earlier in the program, for failing to acknowledge that the root cause of inflation is reckless government spending. Rove described Deese as “one of the most fervent advocates for making it worse.”
During the interview, Deese said that the U.S. economy was “in a period of transition” from rapid recovery to “a period of more stable and resilient growth.” Guest host Martha MacCallum challenged Deese on the point, noting that soaring inflation and gas prices, combined with a declining stock market, are forcing Americans to make difficult decisions.
“What do you recommend to them in terms of specifics and what they can do to try to weather this a little bit easier as we go through what you’re calling a transition?” MacCallum asked.
“What people should know is that we can do this,” Deese responded. “We know how to do this. First, we need to give the Federal Reserve the independence to do what it does. It has the tools to combat inflation. Second, we need to reduce costs and make things more affordable for families during this period… reduce the cost of the Internet bills that families pay, or the prescription drug prices that they pay… And, third, we need to bring down the federal deficit. Because of the president’s policies, we’ve made a lot of progress on that front, the deficit down $1.5 trillion already this year. But we need to make more progress on that as well. That will help produce price pressures in the economy.”
“We need to build a more resilient recovery,” he added. “We’re on the way. We’ve got to focus on tackling inflation right now, and that’s what this president’s doing.”
MacCallum then asked Rove during the panel segment to respond to Deese’s comments.
“Well, if you don’t know what the problem is, you can’t come up with a solution,” Rove responded. “And he, obviously, doesn’t know what the problem is. The problem was identified last year, when this administration proposed a $1.9 trillion unnecessary Covid stimulus bill. And Larry Summers, Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, said you’re going to throw gasoline on the fire of inflation. And that’s exactly what happened. And since then, Brian Deese has been one of the most fervent advocates for making it worse. What you heard him say there, he sort of carefully camouflaged it, was, Build Back Better. Let’s pass a new bill that supposedly lowers costs by spending lots of government money on free child care, for universal pre-K, pharmaceuticals, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. [That would] only make it worse. The administration is in bad shape on this issue. [A] 36 percent approval on the economy, 60 percent disapproval, and, inflation, 26 percent approve, 68 percent disapprove, and that’s why– policies like the ones that Mr. Deese was talking about.”