The Big Beautiful Bill and the 'Rich Men North of Richmond'

posted by Vince Coyner at American Thinker 

I was under the illusion that, with Donald Trump back in charge and the wind at his back, Washington Republicans might actually take off the gloves, say eff-it, and take on the swamp. With the failures inherent in the Big Beautiful Bill, it appears I was wrong. I don’t blame Trump. This abysmal betrayal of the American people was written in the halls of Congress.

The Republicans in Congress talk a good game, but when it comes to actually doing what they say they’re going to do, it turns out they’re really snake oil salesmen. Not that this is new. Remember when they ran on killing Obamacare throughout Obama’s presidency, then bungled it when Trump became president?

We’re now watching that same treachery play itself out in real time, and it involves the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that just passed the House. This monstrosity ostensibly does a number of good things.

First and foremost, it extends Trump’s 2017 taxes that were set to expire. It also increases spending on border security, and, apparently, it cuts federal support for Planned Parenthood. All of these are good things, but they’re the equivalent of trying to save the Titanic by emptying water over the side one bucket at a time while a thousand gallons of water pour into the hull every second.

What this bill doesn’t do is cut spending or cut the deficit. Indeed, it puts the deficit on overdrive, just as interest rates on government debt seem to be heading upward. The president’s advisor, Stephen Miller (who is one of the smartest guys in Washington), has pushed back by pointing out that spending cuts didn’t balance Reagan’s tax cuts. True, but then, if I remember correctly, Reagan didn’t have a national debt 125% the size of the GDP that needed to be serviced.

A small part of this problem has to do with the calendar. This budget began to be written back in December after it became clear the GOP would have both houses, but before they were technically in complete control. As such, this Frankenstein started being put together long before DOGE showcased exactly how dysfunctional the federal government is. But that’s no excuse. It’s been over 4 months since that Elon Musk-managed vehicle started highlighting problems.

This One Big Beautiful Bill Act demonstrates exactly why the federal government is as screwed up as it is. They say that you can’t turn around a ship on a dime, and that’s true. But there’s a difference between turning on a dime and setting a course, full speed ahead, for the closest iceberg.

This bill literally adds $2.5 trillion to the government’s debt and runs a deficit larger than Biden’s last one! At the same time, it basically allows the government to go on with business as usual. There are no major cuts to spending. There is no elimination of departments. There is no substantial paring of regulation. There’s basically the same budget compiled by the Democrats, RINOs, and the administrative state every year, with infinitesimal changes except for the taxes.

This bill doesn’t reflect the will of the people; it reflects the will of the establishment and the swamp.

If Congress really wanted to fix the budget, its members would take to heart many of the recommendations and revelations from DOGE, as well as codify much of what Trump has done or tried to do via Executive Orders. Hell, it doesn’t even eliminate the Department of Education, something Trump explicitly ran on.

This bill cuts $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Biden’s attempt to get everything, including the kitchen sink, into the budget, including green energy, social spending and taxes on the rich. Four billion sounds like a lot until you understand that the IRA is a $1.4 trillion boondoggle.

The reality is, 2/3 of the federal budget, fully $4 trillion out of $6 trillion, is wealth redistribution. Even if you argue that Social Security isn’t that, which is mostly true, and remove it, you’re still looking at almost half the federal budget being wealth distribution of one sort or another. How much of that is waste, fraud, and abuse?

Elon Musk had initially suggested that he thought $2 trillion could be cut from the budget. He lowered that target to $1 trillion, and in the first 4 months of the year, DOGE has done a yeoman’s job and cut $170 billion of waste. And that’s with just 100 people on staff and facing a bureaucracy of literally millions who scheme and obfuscate at every turn in order to maintain the cash pipeline. Imagine how much a DOGE team of 1,000 could do!

But more than actual cuts, DOGE recommended things like personnel cuts, cutting green energy subsidies, and, of course, cutting regulations. But relatively little is actually being codified in law. That’s despite the fact that 67% of Americans support DOGE cuts of at least $1 trillion, 77% support looking at the entirety of the budget to find savings, and 78% support cutting spending to balance the budget. Indeed, so little is being cut that Elon Musk has announced that he will be stepping back to refocus his efforts on his companies and play a much smaller role in political spending.

Inspired by promises to cut spending, taxes, and regulation, MAGA voters powered Republicans to win the White House, take the Senate, and retain the House. They had the richest and possibly the smartest man in the world not only on their side, but knee deep in funding MAGA politicians, getting them elected, and working around the clock to ferret out corruption and fraud in government. Plus, every day seemed to shine more light on the corruption of the Democrat/swamp machine.

As a result of all of this, Republicans found themselves the beneficiaries of the most passionate electorate America may have ever seen. They were on top of the world. And what did they do with all of this momentum? Worse than nothing: They gave us Democrat lite.

No major regulatory cuts. No major cuts to wealth redistribution programs. No departments and few programs actually eliminated. No reining in of the imperial judiciary seeking to derail Trump at every turn. Instead, rather than listen to voters and take a sledgehammer to the twin albatrosses of regulation and spending, they use a dull putty knife to create the illusion of actual progress.

Of course, we all know why nothing ever changes in Washington. Politicians go to DC and most get sucked into the Georgetown cocktail party scene grift, and being invited to pontificate on Sunday morning shows and give speeches to groups of deep pocketed donors from industries who hold the Sword of Damocles over their heads.

The fact that Donald Trump didn’t care about any of that and wasn’t swayed by it is one of the things that made him so appealing. That’s the reason MAGA put him back in the White House.

Unfortunately for the country, however, the GOP in Congress is led by swamp weasels Mike Johnson and John Thune, and Trump is Gulliver to their Lilliputians. They have no real interest in upsetting the grift applecart despite what America wants. They put America First lipstick on a Business as Usual pig and call it progress. If the GOP loses Congress next year, look no further than its leadership. Like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell before them, they are more interested in the trappings of leadership than actually solving America’s problems.“Rich Men North of Richmond,” indeed.

X22, And we Know, and more- May 30

 

Decline of the West: Cultural Values Edition

posted by Jim Davis at American Thinker 

The terrorism in Bern sent shock waves through my predominantly Swiss family. One of my second cousins was injured. In the past few months, our family business was looted and there have been three strong-arm robberies and one sexual assault, all perpetrated by “migrants.”

The Muslims, from the Middle East and Africa, aren’t migrants. They’re an invading army, with zero organization (a mob, in other words). Over 90% of them are unattached men of military age, traveling alone or in small groups to Europe.

I’ve written previously about my “twin families.” Three of my four grandparents came from Switzerland. I still have a horde of second cousins in Switzerland and a smaller horde in Ireland. Here’s a frequent observation in my family:

In the old days, the anti-Semitic among us tormented the Jews personally. Nowadays, the anti-Semitic among us support Muslim causes, in the name of diversity. Then they quietly smirk whenever the Muslims torment the Jews.

It’s shameful, but there it is: The Awful Truth.

America: The Last Safe Place

America is a refuge for people with Judeo-Christian values, a safe haven whenever the “values” in their home nations become too hostile. If America goes under, all of Western civilization goes under, because there’s nowhere else to go.

Here we thrive. In Europe, despite living in neutral countries, my family seems to become embroiled in what have always been “other people’s problems.”

Now, these second cousins of mine are becoming involved in what’s largely a political struggle, but also a cultural one. Middle Eastern and African Islam is moving in and taking over Judeo-Christian Western and Southern Europe. They’re using birthrates and diversity politics as their weapons now, instead of the scimitars and muskets they used multiple times before.

Unlike previous Muslim invasions of Europe, they’re taking over the cities first. When they have the cities firmly in their grasp, they’ll also have the laws and the courts, which will be Marxist/Sharia courts, enforcing Marxist/Sharia laws. And that means the countrysides and villages will fall to them as well. Many already have.

If you read the Koran, the Communist Manifesto, and Das Kapital, you’ll learn that they’re not about coexistence, tolerance, diversity or inclusion. They advocate intolerance, conquest, looting and subjugation — and in the Koran, specifically sexual conquest.

Here’s another pair of European proverbs:

If you invite the Third World, you become the Third World.

And,

When Muslims are in the minority, they demand rights for minorities. But when they become the majority, the minorities have no rights.

And like a similar invasion by Hispanics here in America—that’s roughly 80% men of military age—the foreigners are winning and Europeans are losing, because they’ve found allies in high places: leftists who are convinced that mass immigration by these invaders is a good thing, because…diversity. A Western leftist is a useful idiot, in every sense of that useful term.

Terrorist attacks, strong-arm robberies, drug dealing, and sexual assault are becoming more and more frequent in Europe. Much like the “migrants” here, those in Europe contribute disproportionately to those rising statistics while leftist natives, in government and the media, cover it up and excuse it.

“One Death Is A Tragedy; A Million Deaths Are A Statistic”

It becomes a personal tragedy to you when it happens to someone you love. And the Jewish people, as it has happened so often in the past, are the canary in the coal mine.

What’s happening in the lands we all treasure, whether it’s Europe, America, or Israel, is very troubling. The enemy isn’t just at the gates; he’s entered the halls of power. So we speak out, in whatever ways we can.

In my writing, I’m serving as a conduit for the feelings of about 100 people in my vast extended family — and, I hope, millions more across North America and Europe. The ones who aren’t already speaking out (if they can put two pithy, hard-punching sentences together in a meme) and more importantly, thinking like we do need to wake the f–k up.

This Is A War—We Are Losing

The Third World is colonizing the First World, because the First World is trying too hard to be tolerant. There are some things we should never tolerate: The first one is this subversion of the Judeo-Christian virtue of tolerance. Should we really be importing Arab, Venezuelan, Marxist, Chinese, Somali, or Senegalese values to overwhelm our own? Our best first move consists of waking up enough people who share our values, then electing like-minded politicians, who enforce the laws and write new ones.

From its founding, America was established as a Judeo-Christian nation, never meant to cater to the leftist mob’s cyborg of Muslim and Marxist values, which were woven out of thin air by people who hate Judeo-Christian values—leftists and the Muslim imports overwhelming the West share a hatred for these values. And to a very large degree, Western leftism is teenage rebellion, writ large. These kids resent their parents.

They’ve been taught by Marxists, in our taxpayer-funded public schools, to resent their parents and all the values they hold dear. This is how they become fertile fields for Marxist and Muslim activists to plant and cultivate, in our taxpayer-funded universities.

And they come home for Christmas break with their new gay lovers, new tattoos and piercings, weird clothing, new hairstyles, two baskets full of dirty laundry, and several baskets full of even more unclean values and beliefs.

Look Through The Eyes Of An Engineer

About 80–90% of all the great initial inventions were Western in their origins—democracy, the republic, abolition, great music, great movies, and the various applications of simple machines and cheap energy sources.

Those inventions that developed from other origins generally took ideas from the West, then refined them, in their inventors’ own ways. It’s no coincidence that the West, from which so many great inventions have arisen, is historically Judeo-Christian.

If we preserve Judeo-Christian values, and demand that all immigrants adhere to them, we will preserve those fertile fields for greater and greater inventions. Or do we really want a repeat of the darkest historical eras, ruled by the Muslim scimitar and the Marxist hammer and sickle, from which we may never enjoy a Renaissance?

The Democrats’ Performative Politics

posted by Allan J. Feiffer at American Thinker 

Are you, like me, a victim of the Potomac two-step? And not just by the Democrats but by Republicans as well? Mix in the Democrat-controlled media, the always-present frenetic protest groups, and the groupies (every performance requires groupies) and you have a recipe for theater, circus, or what you might even see as a modern-day version of the blood sports that used to be held in the Colosseum in Rome to distract the public.

When politicians and their coterie of hangers-on engage in drama over process, you soon realize they are playing to the crowd, not focusing on good governance. How did we arrive here?

Simple grandstanding has been a staple of politics forever. Even our Founding Fathers were not immune. Here are a couple of examples:

• Hamilton and Jefferson were masters of political maneuvering, often using newspapers to attack each other’s policies. Hamilton, in particular, wrote scathing essays under pseudonyms, framing his opponents as threats to the republic. Jefferson, meanwhile, secretly funded newspapers that criticized Hamilton’s Federalist policies.
• John Adams often positioned himself as a defender of virtue and morality, sometimes exaggerating threats to the republic to justify his policies.

Today, we have no shortage of performers vying for your attention and allegiance. They all have something in common that is different from most of the grandstanders of the past; they sell their strident emotionalism as the singular proof in support of their arguments. How did we get to this point? Carl Sandberg once wrote his version of a popular meme in his 1936 book-length poem The People, Yes:

If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.

All the demonstrations we witness at ICE facilities, universities, on the Capitol steps, and a thousand other places are nothing more than pounding the table in an attempt to win an argument through overwhelming, nonsensical, repetitious chaos. Think bleating sheep!

Democrat politicians like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker (aka Spartacus), Ilhan Omar, Hakeem Jeffries, Jasmine Crockett, Ayanna Presley, and quite a few other Dems practice a style of dramatic emotional appeal over compromise, facts, and are antagonistic to the actions required to preserve and protect our traditional way of life.

Often, Democrat politicians get help from Hollywood, which is expert at bypassing rationality and going directly to emotions.

Just recently, Steven Spielberg, a master of make-believe, was revealed to have been involved in helping Joe Biden’s campaign by providing strategic advice for the Democratic National Convention and assisting with public appearances. Reports indicate that Spielberg worked with Biden’s team to improve lighting, microphone setup, and overall presentation for speeches and debates. His involvement was reportedly part of an effort to enhance Biden’s communication style and make him appear to be more youthful and engaged during key campaign moments. This begs the question: Did Spielberg become a key player in the conspiracy to defraud the American public regarding Biden’s cognitive and physical state?

An entire industry exists that ensures the dominant narrative of the Democrat party is strictly followed, including how to sell the narrative and each person’s specific role in the circus. Think of this as an industrial process that breaks down in this manner:

• Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Party Leadership—The DNC and congressional leaders, such as the Senate Majority Leader and House Minority Leader, play a central role in shaping party-wide messaging. They provide policy frameworks and strategic narratives that align with the party’s platform.
• Policy Briefings and Internal Memos—Democrat lawmakers receive policy briefings from party strategists, think tanks, and advocacy groups. These briefings outline key issues, recommended language, and data-driven arguments to ensure consistency in messaging.
• Media Coordination and Communications Teams—Many Democrat officials work with communications directors and press secretaries who craft talking points for interviews, speeches, and debates. These teams ensure that messaging remains cohesive across different media platforms.
• Legislative Caucuses and Working Groups—Groups like the Congressional Progressive Caucus or New Democrat Coalition help shape messaging on specific policy areas. Members within these caucuses often align their rhetoric to present a unified stance on issues like healthcare, climate change, and economic policy.
• Polling and Public Sentiment Analysis—Democrats frequently use polling data to refine their talking points. By analyzing voter concerns, they adjust their messaging to resonate with key demographics and swing voters.
• Crisis Response and Rapid Messaging Adjustments—In response to major political events, Democrat leaders often issue coordinated statements to maintain party unity. This was evident in discussions surrounding election strategy shifts after the 2024 election and the current public relations disaster attempting to explain Biden’s collapse.

What’s apparent is that Sandberg’s meme is now how the Democrats plan to pivot from their shellacking in November and still keep their Marxist messaging and goals intact. Democrats had hoped that with one more presidency, they could have millions of illegal aliens magically transformed into voters by 2028. Now, that is not to be, and Dems are counting on strident messaging and TDS to give them a chance in the next presidential election, at least if they can find the right stalking horse candidate.

The sad thing is that one only needs to look at current polling, and you quickly realize Democrat messaging resonates with too many low-information voters. Winning is always a question of margins; we need to think long and hard about how we can dismantle Democrats’ holy cows of messaging to ensure they can’t win by putting on a better show to the countless low-information voters.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

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NEC Director Kevin Hassett Outlines Trade Court Conflict, Optimal Tariff Approaches and Pending Congressional Legislation on Big Beautiful Bill

Sundance reporting for CTH 

Shortly before the federal appeals court decision to stay the lower court intervention, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the frustrating trade court decision and the pending legislation on budgets and taxes.

Director Hassett is always a solid analytical mind to follow because his job is to look into the future and see if current alignment of economic policy retains the objective of economic growth, and he does it well.  Within the interview a key point made by Hassett on the trade/tariff conflict with the court is that USTR Jamieson Greer has multiple legal pathways to support the intent of the tariffs as applied.

This is a point CTH will continue to make; both the USTR and the Dept of Commerce Secretary have alternate legal trade tools that support the tariffs.  The bottom line is that whether IEEPA is used or Sec.301/302 are used the tariff outcome remains the same, the only difference is the amount of time for the countervailing duty to trigger; put another way, ‘optimal solutions.’  WATCH:

Despite the noise and media drumbeat, Kevin Hassett continues to carry the maganomic agenda forward with a smile.  He is able to do this because all of the economic policy is grounded in America-first realism.  It can be achieved, and it will be achieved, entirely because it is achievable. Remember that!

When you reach frustration, ask yourself, “is there bread in the kitchen?”  If yes, then focus on solving the immediate non-critical problem; do not allow the dark imaginings to disrupt your focus. It’s the guys like Kevin Hassett who are keeping the bread in the kitchen.

SecTreas Bessent Contrasts Ridiculous Intervention of Trade Court Against President Trump Tariffs

The President of the United States, representing the executive branch, takes aggressive emergency action on tariffs and trade to protect American fiscal sovereignty and solvency.  Both chambers of the U.S. congress, the house and senate representing the Legislative branch, affirm the action through legislative support.  Yet, a single court in the judicial branch intervenes on behalf of multinational corporate interests to block trade policy.

That is the framework of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s main point in a discussion with Fox News Brett Baier.  WATCH:

On the DOGE issue, listen to how a well-versed professional executive with years of experience in institutional reform discusses taking the DOGE team effort and integrating them into his massive agency as part of an operational efficiency overhaul.

Compare Secretary Bessent’s approach to other cabinet officials who have yet to grasp and execute the efficiency model that has been handed to them by the DOGE effort.  The contrast is remarkable.

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino Appears on Fox News to Instill Public Confidence in FBI

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse 

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino appears on Fox and Friends morning show to outline some of the historical events under a re-review.

Triggering the sympathy nerve, Mr Bongino repeatedly notes that work pressure upon him is creating ancillary pressure on his personal life, his wife and family.  Unfortunately, decades of visible corruption within his agency have numbed the public sympathy nerve.  Accepting this, we must elevate beyond our frustration, pray for Dan Bongino, for his ability to remain effectively focused, and for his family.

Regarding the message conveyed by the Deputy Director, he appears to accept there is no longer a public “trust” from which to draw. It is the responsibility within Mr Patel and Mr Bongino’s appointed positions to quench American thirst for truth, righteousness & justice.  Put earnest and honest sunlight upon the agency. Do something about the corruption we all know exists; get out of the box; be creative, be ferocious, color outside of the lines – do whatever it takes.

Sean Hannity’s highly caffeinated girlfriend is very concerned about the FBI being pulled away from safe children initiatives.  Meanwhile Deputy Bongino states the agency under their leadership has discovered a cache of previously hidden information and documents that will shed light on several previously dismissed investigative issues.  WATCH:

Important Note from Chuck Grassley’s Release Yesterday!

The FBI intentionally hid information as to ensure the public never knew about it?

Think about what that indicates about how the institution operates.

REFORM? …Try this.

#1) Send out an email to every field office, agent, division and contractor within the FBI asking every participant in Crossfire Hurricane or the Mueller investigation to report to the auditorium in DC on XXX date.

#2) Have big buffet and coffee set up. Now, with all of them seated in the audience, take their cell phones, laptops and electronic devices away, and give each of them a piece of paper and ask them to write down the names of every single person they interacted with during their investigative duty. Give them one hour to complete the task.

#3) Retrieve their notes. Send them to lunch (provided), as you review the lists. [Cell phones, laptops and electronic devices remain on side of the room where they placed them.]

#4) When they return, tell them all to stand up as you read the names from the lists. As their name is called, they can sit down.

#5) At the conclusion of reading the list, almost everyone should be seated, correct? Those who remain standing are unknown to the FBI investigators in the room. Tell those standing people to leave and assemble in an adjacent room, under watch.

#6) After the small group departs (if any), ask these questions:

A) If you were aware, or if you suspected, you were participating in a fraudulent investigation motivated by politics, please stand up.

=> Announce those people are fired for cause. Fired for violating their oath of office.

Escort them out.

Turn back to those remain seated.

A) If you *DID NOT KNOW* you were participating in a fraudulent FBI investigation, motivated by politics, please stand up.

=> Announce those people are fired for cause. Fired for not being smart enough to carry out their oath of office.

Escort them out.

The room should be empty.

#7) Now… the final detail. Perhaps you now have an adjacent room with a few people that no one in the FBI knows who they are or what they were doing there. These people were not named on any list created by the FBI employees who conducted “Crossfire Hurricane” or the “Mueller probe.”

That’s the CIA plant(s) in the room.

Regards.

Top Trump Aide: Immigration Officers Will Triple Arrests in the Coming Weeks

Madeline Leesman reporting for Townhall

This week, Stephen Miller, an aide to President Donald Trump, confirmed that the administration is pushing immigration officers to triple their arrests in the coming weeks.

Miller revealed this in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.

“Under President Trump's leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day so we can get all of the Biden the illegals that were flooded into our country for four years out of our country,” Miller said in the interview on Wednesday.

"We can't take the risk of letting these Biden illegals roam around freely so that the next American daugher can get raped. The next American kid can get murdered. The next American family can get splintered and torn apart by people who came to this country unchecked, uncontrolled, unvetted, uninvited by the American people," he added.

President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” fulfills his campaign promises on border security, Miller explained. 

“We can have, permanently, the safest, strongest, most secure immigration system in American history,” he said.

On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to carry out mass deportations beginning on day one of his presidency. Tens of thousands of illegal aliens have been deported as a result. Many of these illegal aliens came through the border under former President Joe Biden’s leadership. 

Despite this, Democrats have worked to undermine these efforts, and, in some cases, work to bring deported criminals back to the US.

CNN Panel Pushing the Idea That Trump Is Wrecking the Economy. 'Mr. Wonderful' Wrecks Them With Numbers.

Becky Noble reporting for RedState 

President Donald Trump continues to resuscitate an economy on life support left to him by Joe Biden. But like with most positive things even remotely related to Donald Trump, the mainstream dinosaur media, in their stage four Trump Derangement Syndrome, feel it is their duty to tear it down. 

Unfortunately for them, however, statistics like consumer confidence and higher job numbers are telling a different story than the one they want Americans to hear. For the good folks at CNN, though, spreading fake news never seems to get old. And they might have succeeded if it wasn't for "Mr. Wonderful."

Any CNN panel must hate it when they see "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary coming because he brings actual facts. The panel on Wednesday night's "CNN NewsNight" must not have been any different.

With consumer confidence up 12.3 points in May, after five consecutive months of decline, and the addition of 177,000 jobs in April, fellow panelist and podcaster Kmele Foster tried to argue that the Trump tariffs are causing job loss. It was too much for O'Leary, who jumped in and said, "What are you talking about? There’s no job loss in America.”

---

Prepare for the Dems' Gnashing of Teeth: Consumer Confidence Numbers Are In

---

Another panelist, Shermichael Singleton, asked Foster, “Do you not look at the unemployment numbers?” O'Leary continued, saying, “You can say that, but you better read the numbers.” Foster seemed to back off his assertion a bit, saying, “I’m asking a question. It’s not saying anything." But it apparently didn't sound like a question to O'Leary, who then said, “We’re almost at full employment. We’re almost at full — what are you talking about?!” O'Leary may have been referring to the latest unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which put April's unemployment rate at 4.2 percent.

Second fellow panelist, former reality star Jennifer Welch, who, I admit, I had to look up on Google because I had no idea who she was, but I digress, was seemingly on the panel to back up the "Trump is killing the economy" CNN narrative. She chimed in with, “He’s doing brand damage to the American economy. Nobody is taking us seriously.” 

Foster was forced to back off even more and conceded that the economy was "doing OK." But Welch did her best to hold up her end of the narrative and continued:

"We are a laughingstock. We’re a laughingstock in Europe, a laughingstock in Asia. If you’re inside the Trump bubble and you’re on Twitter with all the bros, it hits hard. It’s really good.”

It was here that O'Leary went in for the kill, and asked again, “What is this job loss? The economy is on fire right now."

"Mr. Wonderful" also hit Welch with another number, and much to CNN's chagrin, a truth bomb.

“That’s not what the numbers say. The number one destination for invested capital on earth is still over 50% in America tonight. Tonight. Right now. So I don’t know what you‘re talking about a laughing stock. The money pours in, trillions of dollars comes to America. Why? Best place to invest on earth. Why? The economy is on fire.”

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Annual Inflation Rate Hits 4-Year Low; Groceries Have Biggest Decline in 5 Years

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My colleague Streiff recently echoed Kevin O'Leary's positive outlook on the economy with some real numbers of his own. The annual inflation rate decreased in April by 2.3 percent, gas prices fell for the third straight month, and grocery prices saw the largest decline in almost five years. Those are real things that affect real Americans. They can see them with their own eyes. The whole "don't believe your lyin' eyes" thing with Joe Biden didn't work for the gang at CNN. You would think they would realize it won't work on the economy either. But you can bet that CNN will stick to the "if it makes Trump look bad, we'll do it" rule to the bitter end.