President Biden defended his administration by insisting inflation was down and that “red states” were screwing up their own economies.
Biden sat down with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell for the last interview of his administration before officially leaving office on Monday. The two discussed many topics, including Biden’s handling of the economy and the threat of inflation.
The president dismissed criticisms of how he handled inflation by claiming the alternative was to lose jobs.
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Rejecting warnings from economists like Larry Summers that his COVID stimulus spending would cause more inflation, Biden claimed otherwise “the only way to deal with inflation is to create unemployment and another recession.”
“But guess what? I was absolutely convinced. Give the American people half a shot. They’ll step up and get the job done if you give them the opportunity. Look what they did. They stepped up in every major endeavor,” he said. “I never believed we couldn’t have a soft landing. We had a soft landing. Inflation is down almost to 2%, a lot going on.”
The Labor Department said on Wednesday that inflation rose by 2.9% in December, up from 2.7% in November and the highest rate since July 2024.
Biden went on to claim red states “screwed up” on their own and needed more investment in them than blue states.
“And look, the other thing, Lawrence, I got a lot of criticism. Understandably. We’ve invested more in red states than blue states…for two reasons. One, red states really screwed up in terms of the way they handled their economy and the way they handle manufacturing, the way they handle access to supply chains,” Biden said.
Reports have found that Republican-led states like Florida and Texas recovered far more quickly than blue states after the pandemic.
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A new Fox News survey on Thursday showed almost twice as many people think the Biden administration has made the economy worse rather than better, 52% vs. 28%. Plus, nearly all voters, 89%, say they are either extremely or very concerned about inflation — up from 83% in the beginning of Biden’s term.
70% of voters say the economy is in bad shape with six out of 10 Democrats agreeing that the economy was only fair or in poor condition.
Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.
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