Politics

WH Chief Of Staff Says ‘Things Are A Lot Better In This Country Than They Were A Year Ago’ — And Gets Torched

Report

White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “things are a lot better in this country than they were a year ago” in regard to the economy and COVID-19 — and observers ripped Klain for his assessment.

Klain made his claim in an interview last week on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” in which Tapper hit the chief of staff right off the bat with inflation numbers, noting that “it’s at a 30-year high” and “up 6.2%. That’s worse than had been feared.”

Tapper also cited a Monmouth University poll saying 42% of middle class families have not benefited under President Joe Biden — a number which is “up from 33% who said the same in July.” The host then ran down a list of items that now cost more — “gas, used cars, bacon, beef, chicken, eggs, furniture, TVs, kids’ shoes, electricity, rent.”

Klain replied that Biden’s infrastructure bill would help supply chain issues that lead to price increases and that his “Build Back Better” bill “is the best answer we have to bring those costs down.”

Later in the interview, Tapper cited a new CNN poll saying the “majority of Americans, 58%, believe that President Biden is not paying attention to the nation’s most important issues … the economy is the most pressing problem, followed by coronavirus, immigration, climate change, national security, and so on.”

Tapper added that “even Democrats are walking away from the idea that Biden has the right priorities. Ninety percent in April of Democrats polled said that the Biden had the right priorities, now it’s 75%. So, how do you how do you fix this?”

Klain replied that “I think things are a lot better in this country than they were a year ago with regard to COVID, with regard to… (Read more)

WH Chief of Staff Ron Klain: "Things are a lot better in this country than they were a year ago. […] We have problems to solve, but we're solving them." pic.twitter.com/IHQRl29del
— The Hill (@thehill) November 15, 2021

Some people responded on Twitter:

1. You’ve got to be kidding right, there is literally nothing that’s better than it was a year ago.