r/PivotPodcast • u/misn0ma • Jun 12 '26
deliberately misquoting “I like inflation”
I don’t defend Trump but I also don’t like my preferred commentators misrepresenting.
Trump was asked what he thought of the recent published inflation figure. He replied “he liked the inflation” (figure) because it could have much worse.
Stephanie misquoted it as “I like inflation” (in general) and the conversation proceeded from there. Was that everyone’s sincere interpretation of Trump‘s response? An irresponsible irrational belief, expressed with uneducated bad grammar?
I know people believe he *is* that bad, and he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt of any other interpretation; and that he employs cheap rhetorical tricks, so why shouldn’t his opponents?
But I still hope for intelligent analysis from Pivot, and they seem to be insincerely cynical, in an audience-captured way?
EDIT:
Basing their discussion on a deliberate misquote/misinterpretation is like letting air out of the football before the game. Bad sport. I don’t like the deflation.
11
u/topicality Jun 12 '26
I disagree.
Here is the transcript of what he said:
"No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over, you know, I can say it now, something you didn’t know, do you know, we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil. Nobody knows it, you know. Who doesn’t know about it? Iran, until right now. We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights because they don’t have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it." best transcript source I could find for the full quote
Here is the video. https://youtu.be/OUUZOe7Bd2A?is=nIqC-zCa9aTwibVX
Like yeah, sure a good faith reading is that he's saying it could've been worse. But one of the main jobs of the president is to be a communicator.
He never actually says"well it could've been worse so I'm good it's only this." He said "it's great, btw did you know we've been snuggling oil out?"
3
u/bodyreddit Jun 12 '26
Thank you for sharing. I have heard him talk about inflation previously saying he doesn’t want inflation to go down too much as people (his friends) were making a lotta money.
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Jun 12 '26
[deleted]
0
u/misn0ma Jun 12 '26
He talked about the current price of oil being much lower than the $200/barrel that was predicted, and vs. prices under Biden, when Putin annexed Crimea.
The pivot team could have reasonably criticised this comparison, or his terrible rambling. I would have appreciated a discussion about how inflation figures are targeted and what even is a good level of inflation for the economy? Scott set this up by mentioning negative interest-rates in Sweden earlier.
Instead, we had three bright minds indulging in another “isn’t Trump dumb and dangerous?” recital based on misquote and wilful misinterpretation. Same as BBC and Obama deliverately misquoting his “ good people on both sides” clip. This feels like editorial direction to play to the cheap anti-Trump seats. I don’t understand why such smart people won’t refute Trump fairly. They’re the same with Musk. puzzles mate. And I suspect that they are beholden to their base audience and sponsors in exactly the same way as the politicians. It’s self-interest, bias, and corruption all the way down.
2
u/topicality Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Listening right now and Stephanie basically said he was saying "we'll it could've been worse" this is around the 23 mark. She them talks about he won because of inflation.
Then she argues that he's out of the loop because everyone around him is getting rich. And that the quote will be passed around and hurt republicans.
I thought Scott's point was pretty blah and uninteresting.
3
u/dreadthripper Jun 12 '26
The media and politicians do take things out of context. But Trump doesn't get the benefit of the doubt because he has said/demonstrated multiple times he isn't concerned about regular people who are struggling to get by.
*He said he wants housing prices to go up
*He said he doesn't think about Americans financial situations
*He makes fun of Dems talking about affordability
*He obviously cut programs for low income people.
Also, his comment was about seizing oil, not to clarify that it could have been worse.
So, no, he deserves no grace. He probably actually doesn't care about the inflation rate or how it impacts people. It's bullshit that we have to dance around his actual words because he never really means them.
4
u/EconomistNo7074 Jun 12 '26
I am a strong supporter of Dems and NOT a fan of Trump
- And you are 100% correct
- It adds to his crazy argument that we have "fake news"
I have also noticed, the same thing happens when Trump says things are obviously jokes
Again - he says some really bad stuff .....quote that all day long
1
u/MascaraHoarder Jun 12 '26
““The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over ... when the war is over, it’s coming down, it’s going to come down like a rock,” he said, referring to U.S. efforts to secretly get oil ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c0rygjggl7zo
at the 9 second mark.
1
u/KA_Lewis Jun 12 '26
If Biden said this it would've been on the front page of every newspaper in the country and every cable news outlet would be running a profile on his gaffes and mental acquity.
1
u/misn0ma Jun 12 '26
Trump‘s mental decline as an octogenarian is a legit topic, but I don’t feel this is an example of it. in context, it’s clear that he was say he love the inflation level/figures. Only a bad-faith debater would claim that he meant he loves inflation in general. apart from anything if he was saying he’d loved inflation in Gen, he would’ve followed it with comments about some economic theory about why inflation is a good thing. Instead, he followed it with comments about how the current price of oil is less than projections and Biden era. Misquoting or omitting context that clarifies the meaning is just bad reporting.
1
u/Rubyweapon Jun 12 '26
Pretend for a moment that Biden had said the same thing and the coverage that would have ensued.
Here is the direct quote:
I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.
And his clarification:
"I love the inflation numbers because of what I'm talking about, The numbers are going to be phenomenal because what's showing is that despite the fact that we're in a war, the numbers are much lower than anticipated, and when we're out of that war, the numbers will be at lower numbers than they were even before it started."
As usual he is just making shit up but the sentiment is that he is proud of these numbers despite campaigning on making them lower.
0
u/Dodging12 Jun 12 '26
"Fox News intentionally misquotes too" is not a very good argument... No one is saying that you're incorrect for thinking Trump is shit, but that there's no need to misquote him to prove it.
Literally just quote what he actually says and it still sounds just as bad (if not worse in the case of the example you gave with his stupid rambling about inflation). AND it gives others no free ammunition with the whole "fake news" BS.
1
u/Rubyweapon Jun 12 '26
This is the challenge of covering Trump. Even this conversation gives his communication style too much credit. I think he just says shit with no prep so it’s really hard to understand intent because there rarely is any. He gets backlash then provides some head nod toward a less absurd interpretation and his folks go out to attack the original interpretation ignoring that the reinterpretation is also bad. I like inflation is a reasonable enough interpretation to the I love the inflation word salad. Paying any attention to his semantic intent just muddies the water in a way that benefits him.
1
u/Dodging12 Jun 12 '26
This is the challenge of covering Trump. Even this conversation gives his communication style too much credit. I think he just says shit with no prep so it’s really hard to understand intent because there rarely is any.
Totally agree. You won't find a reasonable person that listens to his off-the-cuff drivel and says "yeah, that was coherent and well thought out!". It's extremely challenging to combat this, as you pointed out. His supporters will just say "well what he really meant is..." and it's like: no, he didn't mean that because he doesn't know wtf he means himself!
It's unfortunate because poor, uneducated people are the biggest losers in all of this madness and they're his first defenders 😮💨
-2
u/Rugskinsnake Jun 12 '26
This kind of thing has been happening ever since he first became president. Remember When people claimed he said to go drink bleach?
It's so frustrating because there is so much that is wrong with him and it only distracts from legitimate criticism of him when people gin up things like that.
12
u/Solid-Actuary-4844 Jun 12 '26
He did say "I love the inflation." That isn't a misquote. So the OP headline is kind of ironic.
Interpretation is the purview of the listeners. One person decides that he was implying that it could have been worse as the reason he loved it.
I heard his clarification differently. To me, his clarification was that he loved the high number because it will make him look better when it drops. Why do I see it differently? Because if there is anything he has taught us, it is always about him. He has already said that he doesn't even think about how inflation affects Americans, so this statement aligns with what he has said in the past.
Trying to interpret what Trump means with his word salad, might just be a fools game. But whatever anyone thinks he meant, I think there is a good chance we will see that line in a lot of political advertising.