Analysis

New White House Press Secretary Spends First Day Spinning Biden’s Claim That Higher Taxes Will Help Inflation

   DailyWire.com
New White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks to reporters in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 16, 2022.
(Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Meet the new White House press secretary, same as the old White House press secretary — at least in terms of her ability to spin words and dodge answering questions.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began her first day by rebuffing several questions about how higher taxes would drive down costs and help the American people with nonsensical answers. She chose instead to ramble about how wealthy people paying their fair share was “important,” touching upon equity in the tax code, and even referencing global warming.

Fox News’ White House Correspondent Peter Doocy read Jean-Pierre a recent tweet from Biden’s Twitter account word for word, which stated, “You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.”

The reporter followed that with a simple question: “How does raising taxes on corporations reduce inflation?”

Viewers knew they were in for a treat with Jean-Pierre’s response when she began her response by asking a question of her own. “Um, so … are you talking about a specific tweet?”

Doocy then read the tweet again.

“Look you know, we have talked about this, we have talked about this, this past year, about making sure that the wealthiest among us are paying their fair share. And that is important to do and it is something that the president has been working on every day, when we talk about inflation and lowering cost,” Jean-Pierre stammered (ums and ahs edited out for clarity).

“So it is very important as we are seeing costs rise, as we are talking about how to, you know, build an America that is safe, that’s equal for everyone and doesn’t leave everyone behind, that is an important part as well,” she tried to explain.

Jean-Pierre repeated the word “important” three times — although she did not explain at any point why it was important.

Doocy asked a follow-up question. “But how does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of using a car, or the cost of food for everyday Americans?” he inquired.

Jean-Pierre’s answer was more perplexing than the first.

“So look you know, I think we encourage those who have done very well, especially those who care about climate change, to support a fair tax code that does not charge manufacturers, workers, cops, builders a higher percentage of their earnings, that the most fortunate people in our nation, and not let that stand in the way of reducing energy costs and fighting existential problems, if you think about that as an example.”

“To support basic collective bargaining rights as well,” she continued. “That’s also important. But look you know, it is … without having a fair tax code, which is what I am talking about, then, like manufacturer workers, cops,  you know, it is not fair for them to have to pay higher taxes than the folks who are not paying taxes at all.”

“What does that have to do with inflation?” Doocy asked, before repeating the president’s tweet a third time.

Her flummoxed response can be seen here:

As pointed out by The Washington Free Beacon’s Bill McMorris, Jean-Pierre was not thinking on her feet here. She was reading a script. The White House had to anticipate these sorts of questions were coming and they still could not put together a coherent response.

“The scariest part is that she’s reading,” McMorris said. “This is actually the best they could do.”

We never got an answer as to why the president thinks higher taxes will lower inflation. As explained by billionaire Jeff Bezos, we also won’t see any economic relief in the United States economy from that sort of policy either.

Instead, Bezos explained, the U.S. government should focus on lowering federal spending to reduce inflation.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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