Somehow on Sunday, I managed to spin up the leader of the free world in seven minutes. From 9:20 to 9:27 p.m. ET I was a guest on Trey Gowdy’s “Sunday Nights in America” on Fox News. Shortly thereafter, President Trump posted on Truth Social: “I don’t need to have Karl Rove of FoxNews to tell me what to do. The guy’s a total Loser who’s been wrong about almost everything!”
I’m glad he was watching but am a bit cloudy on how I got under the president’s skin.
Mr. Gowdy opened our segment by asking what Mr. Trump’s electoral mandate was coming into this term. I responded it was to “secure the border, stop inflation, get rid of this DEI foolishness, make America strong and respected again on the world stage, and rebuild our military.”
Mr. Gowdy then asked for a progress report on the president’s first 100 days. I praised Mr. Trump’s efforts to secure the border, saying the difference between the Biden and Trump administrations was “night and day.” I then asked why Mr. Trump has yet to visit the border, as that would draw more attention to his accomplishment. Local officials there—Republican and Democratic—would sing his praises.
I also pointed to his “great success” in rebuilding the U.S. military, with enlistments rising for the first time in a while.
I gave Mr. Trump a grade of incomplete on most other issues. Inflation is down but not yet licked, and all the talk of tariffs has caused “a lot of concern about the economy,” I said. Consider the Fox News April 21 poll. Only 33% of voters approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of inflation, and 38% approve of his work on the economy generally. Majorities disapprove on both.
Perhaps what set Mr. Trump off was my suggestion he stop saying gasoline costs $1.98 a gallon “in many states right now.” It isn’t that cheap anywhere, and Americans know it. The American Automobile Association says the national average for a gallon of regular gas Wednesday was $3.154, with the lowest price $2.649 in Mississippi.
Mr. Trump can keep asserting inflation is fixed because gas is less than 2 bucks, but that’s how his predecessor got in trouble. Saying “Bidenomics is working” when few thought it was hurt President Biden badly. Mr. Trump risks being seen as similarly out of touch.
The conversation with Mr. Gowdy focused in on tariffs. I suggested it didn’t help Mr. Trump, a billionaire, when he said young girls must sacrifice for America by getting fewer dolls at Christmas, which he admitted will cost “a couple of bucks more.” These comments made him sound like Scrooge, I opined. Get less, pay more isn’t a winning message.
At this point, I said it was more important “to show some progress” on trade than to give speeches justifying his actions. The goal is to announce deals in which major trading partners agree “our tariffs on each other’s goods and services is going to be zero or 5%.”
As my conversation with Mr. Gowdy drew to a close, I suggested that Team Trump stay focused on important issues. Don’t stir up needless controversy like the president tweeting a picture of himself as the pope. That’s offensive, even to non-Catholics like me.
