Well, that escalated quickly.
Thursday on MSNBC’s Live with Stephanie Ruhle, hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle completely shut down Donald Trump for President advisory board member Brad Thomas.
The trio discussed the state of the economy after Donald Trump’s shocking statements following a violent attack against anti-racist protesters during a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Ruhle began by asking: “On the rumor that Gary Cohn may leave the White House after President Trump’s remarks, the stock market is dropping. Business leaders across industries have said, ‘mercy, we’re out.’ So where’s the selling point for President Trump now?”
Thomas responded, “The market is actually doing very, very well. Up 10 percent here today.”
Ruhle was quick to correct him noting the markets have been dropping based on the rumors the top White House economic adviser may quit.
Thomas then says he is a “value investor, and most people should be value investors” and that Trump’s corporate tax has been the “market mover.”
At this point Velshi jumped in to remind Thomas that both he and Ruhle are financial journalists—Velshi is chief business correspondent for NBC News; Ruhle is a business correspondent for NBC News in addition to anchoring for MSNBC.
“There is nothing Donald Trump has done to cause the market to be where it is right now,” Velshi told Thomas.
Ruhle chimed in: “And President Trump would like tax reform to get it done, but those that are working on it have said the president is doing nothing to advance that agenda.”
Things took a turn when Velshi asked Thomas if he gives former President Barack Obama similar credit for the market uptick between March 9, 2009 and January 20, 2017. Naturally, Thomas avoided answering the question.
The Trump Factor author tried to pivot to Trump’s job-creation numbers, but by then Velshi and Ruhle were fed up.
“Donald Trump’s not even close to being the largest job creator in the first six months of his presidency,” Velshi fired off.
After some more back and forth, Thomas replied, “And I know this is not your background, so it may be harder for you to understand this.”
“What are you talking about, Brad?” Ruhle and Velshi asked simultaneously. “It is far more our background than it is yours,” Velshi asserted.
“You can’t just lie on T.V. I don’t know who your people told you you were coming on T.V. with, but you cannot lie about the economy to us,” Velshi said, still visibly stunned.
Velshi later added: “You should fire your press person because if they didn’t tell you that you were coming on T.V. with Velshi and Ruhle, who I think collectively—I don’t want to give away Stephanie’s age—but between the two of us we have been doing this for about 50 years. This is a silly conversation to have with us.”
It certainly seemed that way.
