A vocal critic of President Donald Trump who once trashed the president’s policies on the economy is suddenly eating crow, revealing that Trump’s economy is doing quite well.
Economist Steve Moore, who spoke with Newsmax late last week, admitted he underestimated certain economic indicators under the Trump administration.
“I’ve got to confess, I’ve been wrong on the inflation numbers over the last three or four months as well. But at least I’m willing to admit I was wrong,” Moore said.
Inflation increased less than expected in May, with the Consumer Price Index increasing by 0.1% from April and 2.4% year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Moore, who previously expressed skepticism over Trump’s economic approach, said the economy was performing far better than he expected.
“The numbers got better and, look, it’s very clear that Trump, he’s just pushing all the right buttons right now. It’s hard to find anything in this economy today to complain about,” Moore added. “We’re seven million job openings. A record number of Americans, [their] working real wages are rising for the first time in four years. That inflation number blew me away.”
Moore went on the discuss tariffs, a hot-button issue under the current Trump administration, which have brought higher prices to consumers.
Moore admitted that while tariffs had initially raised prices, that these increases were offset by the broader strength of the economy.
“I did think that tariffs would raise prices. They did a little bit but not much, and that was offset by the fact that the economy is doing really well. We’re producing more goods and services, and this is just basic supply-side economics. If you produce more eggs and you produce more oil, guess what? The prices of these things go down,” Moore said.
Moore ended by questioning why more Joe Biden loyalists haven’t also realized that things are working.
“Now I know for people who work for Joe Biden that was a tough thing to figure out, but I’m glad I was wrong. I’m just surprised so many of these people haven’t done a mea culpa [and] said that ‘I’m wrong,’” Moore added.
“Remember, by the way, when Biden started his massive four or five trillion-dollar spending spree? You may recall that there were 12 Nobel Prize economists who said ‘Don’t worry, this won’t cause inflation,’ and then we had the highest inflation ever. Wouldn’t you think these people [should] just send their Ph.D. ‘s back and say ‘We don’t have any idea what we’re talking about’?”
The U.S. economy added 139,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in May, slightly surpassing economists’ expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.