On Friday, CNBC’s Jane Wells appeared on a Fox affiliate in Los Angeles and touted the Trump economy, noting that if things continue to go the way they’re going, the president may well be re-elected in 2020.
However, anchor Elex Michaelson and two panel members, Gianno Caldwell and Jessica Levinson, challenged Wells on Trump as it pertains to “racism.”
Here’s the exchange:
WELLS: We do have a trade war; prices will probably go up on a few things. At the same time, U.S. steel is just firing up a defunct plant in the U.S. because the demand for domestic steel is up because of these tariffs.
I am the sort of person that says you may not like this president, he has broken the mold, but if by 2020 we have GDP growth near 4%, we’ve got a market like this, we’ve got record-low unemployment, we got more jobs than job applicants, and even our allies start to say, “We don’t like you, but let’s do something to make trade. We’ve gotta have you,” and our trade deficit starts to shrink – and maybe we have peace in Korea. How do you not reelect this guy, even if you think he’s a buffoon?
MICHAELSON: What about the racism?
WELLS: People are going to say: “I don’t like him, he’s a racist, he’s a misogynist, poor illegal immigrants, but I am doing better than I was four years ago. America is safer than it was four years ago. The economy is doing better. There are more jobs.” And I just don’t know how that gets defeated, because it’s the economy, stupid.
CALDWELL: And more importantly, Democrats don’t have a candidate that they can put up against [him], but to your point though, he has provided some gravitas to some of these claims in terms of how [you’ve] spoken about issues concerning race, and I think that’s important to mention.
LEVINSON: Oh, I think he’s provided so much national and international embarrassment when it comes to race. I mean, I think he’s an avowed racist, misogynist, and pathological liar. And I think he’s not a buffoon, I think he’s someone who looks up to dictators. So I think people will vote based on the economy because that’s a rational decision for voters, but I think it’s an enormous embarrassment nationally and internationally if that happens.
You can watch the entire video here (pertinent portion begins at the 1:54 mark):