Trump slams reporter, says Americans getting 'fake news from guys like you' on affordability crisis

WASHINGTON, DC: US President Donald Trump called out Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence during a White House Cabinet meeting on December 2 after the reporter asked about Americans’ concerns over affordability. 

Trump defended his record on lowering energy and beef prices and said Democrats created the so-called affordability "hoax.” He also accused critics of being dishonest, saying they blame his administration for problems caused by others.

Trump says 'affordability's a hoax' began by Democrats

During a Q&A at Tuesday’s White House Cabinet meeting, Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence asked about Americans’ concerns over affordability.

"When you talk about affordability-, is going forward-, are the American people, do you believe, getting impatient with the reforms that you’re making? They’ve talked about-, it’s about."

Trump interrupted, saying, “I think they’re getting fake news from guys like you. Look, affordability’s a hoax that was started by Democrats who caused the problem of pricing. And they didn’t end it when-, look, they lost it in a landslide.”

Trump continued, “We won every swing state, we won the popular vote, we won everything. You take a look at districts, it was 2,750 to 500, 525, Because that was an affordability problem.”

He pointed to energy costs, adding, “We brought it down. Look at energy, look at look at the gasoline price. That’s like the simplest, and it’s the biggest. Because if energy comes down, everything comes down, that’s the way it works.”

The president cited gas prices in some areas, saying, “We’re gonna be at two-fifty, you said one ninety-nine in some places of the country, right, Chris? You said it, I didn’t say. And they won’t check you, they’ll check me. So you know, I’d like to use your your number.”

The POTUS declared, "One ninety-nine a gallon. Unthinkable if you go back a year and a half ago. It’s unthinkable."

Trump says his administration has 'fixed almost everything'

Trump continued discussing the accomplishments of his administration during a meeting of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room.

Trump also described the administration’s work so far, “So no, we’re bringing the prices down, way down. Beef is coming down now. We’ve done certain magic and beef is coming down. But we inherited horrible prices. We inherited really the worst, again, the worst inflation in history. We inherited that. When I came in, that’s what he had. And we fixed inflation." 

He said, “And we fixed almost everything, if you want to know the truth, including eight wars. We got one to go, but including eight wars.”

He criticized his opponents, noting, “But when they always say-, I watched today where they have a race going on right now in Tennessee. A woman kept saying, ‘Affordability, affordability.’ They’re the ones who caused the problem.”

Trump added, “The prices were way high, we’re bringing the prices down. But they’re like scam artists, you know, they’re con— I call them con men and women. They come out and they say affordability, like oh, oh, I see price. We’re gonna get prices down still further. But we brought’em down from the prices they cost."

The president explained, “The reason that they had the highest inflation in the history of our country is because they had the highest prices. But we brought’em down. And now we have normal inflation.”