All posts tagged "david chalian"

'He's freaked out': CNN analyst taken aback as Trump move showed he's 'clearly rattled'

Political analyst David Chalian practically spat fire Friday on CNN after President Donald Trump announced he was canning a labor official because he didn't like the job numbers she released Friday.

Trump posted to Truth Social that Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of Labor Statistics and a Biden appointee, published an "inaccurate" report revealing weaker-than-expected job numbers for May and June.

"There are two things here, just stepping back for a second, that I think are pretty clear," Chalian began. "One, Donald Trump's kind of giving away the fact that this is not a healthy, robust, growing economy at the moment. It's a weakening economy, and he's freaked out about it, right? I mean, just by the behavior."

Chalian continued, "So, I mean 106,000 jobs over the last three months added — that's not gangbusters. And he is concerned as he is selling his tariff policy that perhaps some of the predictions that a lot of economists made may come true here."

Chalian described Trump as "clearly rattled" by the report.

"Two, this is like...firing your pollster for telling you that you're way behind in the race! It's like, no, like these are just numbers and facts," Chalian said, noting that collecting the numbers isn't an exact science but is meant to "get the best usable information for the government" at the moment.

"And so to think that you're just going to fire — So, what does that mean?" Chalian sputtered. "He's going to put in an ally now and he's going to get different numbers? If this is the economy, if this is how many jobs are being added, he's going to have to accept bad information from an ally."

Earlier, CNN's Phil Mattingly posted to X in response to the news of McEntarfer's firing, "This displays an intentional ignorance toward the way economic data is collected, presented, revised and the federal employees and appointees who do it. It's extraordinarily counterproductive and there's simply no net long game benefit to going down this path."

Watch the CNN report below.

'Wow': CNN panelists try to breakdown Trump's mind boggling tariff 'whiplash'

CNN's Dana Bash opened Inside Politics Tuesday with a chart explaining the "Trump Tariff Whiplash" that led to the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices declining nearly 1 percent on top of the markets' "worst day of the year" Monday.

According to the chart, Trump first announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China on Jan. 31, with more actions taken, including month-long delays on imposing the tariffs throughout February and March that allowed the market to recover before dropping precipitously again Monday. That all led to Tuesday, when Trump announced he was doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, causing the stocks to tumble once again.

"You catch all that? Wow," Bash said after introducing her panel. "It is confusing. It is uncertain. It is trademark Donald Trump to govern by chaos, as we've said time and time again. But it is also trademark Donald Trump to care about the markets."

"Well, I think that's why you saw some of that whiplash," said political director David Chalian. "Some of that was in response to the markets, right? Not just to inject chaos for chaos's sake. I know he told reporters last week he doesn't watch the markets...There's absolutely no truth to that."

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

Chalian said he's talked to "Wall Street folks, both supporters of the president and not supporters of the president," who confirmed there's a "real concern that there is not a long term plan here."

Bash then read a quote from the chief market strategist for a wealth management company.

"Here's what he said to CNN earlier today. 'This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy. It feels as though the administration continues to move the goalposts. With that much uncertainty, it's impossible for investors to have any confidence."

Panelist Jeff Zeleny added, "That sums it up right there."

He continued, "In talking to Republican, largely supporters of the president on Wall Street this morning, a couple asked, 'Is he trying to intentionally spark a recession to bring down interest rates?' Those are actual questions being asked. I would be. That's very risky, and I doubt that's the case."

Zeleny said that the lack of communication from any Trump administration officials about what's happening with the economy was "unusual."

"For a president who loves to talk about records, ones that are true and ones that are fabricated, this is a record that he did not want — the record yesterday of the worst day on Wall Street, and it could be repeated today."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'He barely talked about it': Experts shocked that Trump brushed off major election issue

CNN pundits were shocked to discover how little of President Donald Trump's address to Congress included the issues most important to the American people: inflation and the economy.

Inside Politics' Dana Bash produced a bubble graph to illustrate the amount of time Trump spoke on the major issues. The result showed he spoke the longest — 9 minutes 49 seconds — about "immigrants and crime," and the very least — just 35 seconds — on the economy.

"Those small bubbles up on the top, those green bubbles? That's the economy and inflation! Those are the reason that Donald Trump was brought back to the dance," Bash exclaimed. "And he barely talked about them."

Political Director David Chalian said he was looking to see "what percentage of the speech would be focused solely on prices and the economy, and what people are feeling, given that that was issue number one."

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

"I do think, clearly, he's going to have to spend more time on that, or he is going to — the risk, the political risk you're talking about — that is going to be realized in some way, if not for Donald Trump — who, I think we see somebody that is unburdened by the fact that he doesn't have to run for re-election — certainly for his party," Chalian said.

"I just want to know, Dana, though — the tariffs that we're talking about now it is, like, multiples of what he did in the first terms. So, this is a dramatic increase in this, which means its impact on the economy, if these experts are right, could also be dramatically done ten-fold."

Trump's lack of attention on the economy during his speech is even more confounding when considering a Marist University/NPR poll released on the eve of his address.

It found that "57% of Americans believe grocery prices will increase over the next six months, while only 17% believe they will decrease. In the same poll, 54% of Americans said the country is moving in the wrong direction, and more Americans, by a 46%-42% margin, believe Trump's direction on the economy is for the worse than for the better."

Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.

'Heartburn to the White House': Expert claims aides in panic over economy failures

The majority of Americans are unhappy with President Donald Trump's first month in office — especially his efforts to bring down food prices, according to a new CNN poll.

Trump campaigned to make groceries more affordable "on day one" of his presidency, and said in December shortly before taking office that Americans are “going to be affording their groceries very soon."

CNN's David Chalian said Thursday that voters "are telling us that the honeymoon, as much as it may have existed, is over for Donald Trump at the moment."

Chalian brought up statistics to illustrate his point.

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

"You see that he's upside down here in terms of more people, a majority, a slim majority — 52% disapprove of how he's doing in our brand new poll than the 47% who say that they approve of his job performance. How does that stack up to other presidents beginning a term of their presidency here?" Chilean asked.

"He's still at an approval rating that's below where all these modern day predecessors had started their terms." They included Democratic presidents Barack Obama with a 76% approval rating, and Bill Clinton and Joe Biden tied at a 51% approval rating.

"What about these specific actions that he's taking?" asked anchor Dana Bash.

Chalian said, "Has he gone too far? Well, a slim majority says, yeah — 52% say using presidential power, gone too far. Cutting federal programs, gone too far."

Then Chalian brought out the number he said should most concern the Trump White House.

"I think this number in our poll, 62%, is the biggest number, that is going to give heartburn to the White House. Sixty-two percent say he has not done enough, not gone far enough to reduce prices. Only 11% say he has. I think that's a big warning sign," Chilean said.

What's worse, perhaps is that few Americans now believe he will bring down prices.

Chalian added, "More Americans now are saying they're afraid" and less optimistic about what comes next in Donald Trump's second term.

Watch below via CNN.

CNN's John King says Trump just created 'a Democratic campaign ad already made' for 2026

CNN's Inside Politics pundit John King claimed that President Trump's pardons on the J6 rioters and reports he was inviting some of them to the White House was ripe material for Democrats to use against "vulnerable House Republicans" in 2026.

During a roundtable discussion Wednesday, Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian said, "Donald Trump feels emboldened in this moment as he takes that popular vote victory, the larger electoral margin victory than he had the last time around, into the White House. We described that transition, and now I think we're seeing what that feeling of an emboldened Donald Trump looks like in action, because, as you say, he really wants to do this."

Chalian added, "It is clear that Donald Trump feels completely entitled, emboldened to to go the hardest he can on stuff."

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

"And going forward, that might be the most important point," King said. "We can debate the specifics about pardoning: people who are on video beating police officers. On video, beating police officers," he emphasized.

King continued, "He pardoned somebody who used the dark internet to sell cocaine, to sell heroin, to sell murder for hire. He pardoned him because Elon Musk and some others said, 'This is a good idea, sir.' That's a democratic campaign ad already made against House Republicans in vulnerable districts."

"Donald Trump saying, 'I'm going to do what I want. Sorry, Mr. Vice President. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, Republican majority. I don't care, I'm going to do what I want. Now, the question is, can he lower prices? Can he do the border enforcement that get voters two years from now to say, 'Okay, I'll take the bad with the good?' That's the big challenge. But you already have — smart move by his chief of staff, I guess — inviting some of those vulnerable House Republicans down to the White House, and they're going to say, 'Sir, really? We're 48 hours and 5 minutes in, and already I'm worried.'"

Watch the clip below via CNN or click here.