A Trump spokesman appeared on Velshi and Ruhle and attempted to give Donald Trump credit for jobs, the stock market, and more. In one of the best takedowns by cable TV journalists, Ali Velshi ultimately took him apart.
This is a story I reported on August 17th, 2017. Ali Velshi was one of the few journalists that kept Trump’s brigade of liars well exposed. We need to show what real journalism looks like.
Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle show what journalism looks like
Brad Thomas, a Trump spox, did not know what hit him when he appeared on Velshi and Ruhle. He forgot they weren’t Fox News hosts.
Stephanie Ruhle told Brad Thomas that the market was falling on rumors that Trump’s economic advisor Gary Cohn may quit. Thomas ignored the question and went into his prepared talking points. He claimed he is not a market timer but a long-term investor.
Thomas then pivoted. He falsely claimed that the long-term catalyst to move the markets is the corporate tax rate. Thomas claimed programs like Velshi and Ruhle don’t cover that. He made a mistake by challenging the hosts. They know economic topics very well.
Ali Velshi immediately began to school, Thomas.
“You know you are talking to two financial journalists, right?” Ali Velshi asked disgustedly. “This market started going up on March 9th, 2009. And if you have a ruler, it is pretty much a straight line. There is nothing Donald Trump has done to cause the market to be where it is.”
Velshi then went further.
“You guys keep peddling this myth that Donald Trump is responsible for this market,” Velshi said.
Velshi then embarrassed Thomas by asking him if he understood the market, the S&P index. He then asked him if he would give President Obama credit for all the growth that occurred during his administration from March 9th, 2009, to January 20th, 2017.
Thomas reverted to the talking points. Ali Velshi would have none of it and broke in. The best Thomas would say was that Trump is president now. Thomas then tried to give Trump credit for jobs. Velshi annihilated him with the facts. The last four presidents created more jobs in their first six months.
As Brad Thomas continued with his bloviation, Velshi got upset, especially when Brad implied he knew more about the subject than Ruhle and Velshi.
“You just can’t lie on TV, Brad.” an exasperated Velshi said. “I don’t know if your people told you who you were coming on TV with, but you can’t lie about the economy to us. … Again, you should fire your press person because if they didn’t tell you that you were coming on TV with Velshi and Ruhle which collectively, we have been doing this for about fifty years. This is just a silly conversation to have with us. You should go to other people’s media and say these things, but not to us.”
And that is how one does it when liars appear on your program.
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