White House caught flat-footed when asked how billionaire Trump can tell average Americans to limit kids’ Christmas gifts

He has an estimated net worth of $5 to $7 billion and is passionate about covering every surface on Earth. white house The President with what he claimed was 18 carat gold leaf paint Donald Trump not exactly an expert on personal cost reduction.

But after the uber-wealthy former property developer claimed record toy prices were just fine due to his own tariffs because young girls “don’t need 37 dolls” and could get by with “two or three” instead. official spokesman was trying when asked to defend remarks that raised eyebrows.

Trump’s situation was asked Claims Americans can “give up on certain products” The White House Press Secretary said that toy purchases should be limited because tariffs caused the US market to exceed 80 percent of toys imported from China. Karoline Leavitt He first told reporters that the president’s comments amounted to an incentive to buy more expensive American-made ones.

“Maybe you pay a dollar or two more, but you get better quality, and by buying American you’re supporting your American friends, and that’s what the President was saying,” he said.

But when Independent Pressed on whether it was appropriate for one of the richest men in the country to lecture cash-strapped parents on how many dolls their sons or daughters should have, Leavitt angrily turned to a positive recast of Trump’s wealth, ignoring the heart of the issue.

“You think the people the President was talking to in that room in Pennsylvania didn’t know that the President was a billionaire? I think that’s a well-known fact,” he said.

Leavitt continued his monologue by claiming that Trump’s billionaire status was part of why voters chose to return him to the White House over then-vice president Kamala Harris in last year’s election.

“That’s actually one of the many reasons why they re-elected him to this position, because he’s a businessman who understands the economy and knows how to fix it, and he’s doing that right now just like he did in his first term,” he said.

Despite Trump’s claims that he has lowered Americans’ cost of living since returning to the White House in January, voters are unhappy with his performance on affordability issues so far.

According to a recent Gallup poll, only 36 percent of voters approve of his performance as president, giving him the lowest rating of his second term. A. Policy The survey, released this week, showed that 46 percent of respondents said the cost of living in America was as bad as they could remember; That includes the 37 percent of voters who rolled up their sleeves for Trump last year.

Nearly half of those polled said they blame Trump, not Biden or Harris, for the current state of the economy.

But at the same time, Trump continues to promote his own record as is.

In an interview with Policy this week, he told reporter Dasha Burns that when she asked him to rate his record on the economy so far, she gave him an “A-plus-plus-plus.”

And at the same time, Trump has dismissed Democrats’ focus on “affordability” heading into next year’s midterm elections as a “hoax” while claiming that “prices have fallen way too low” and accusing them of doing so. Democrats His view is that he “caused” continued high prices, about a year into his second term in office.