President Donald Trump spent Labor Day flooding social media with memes, rants, attacks and boasts about his administration.
But he probably should have taken a closer look at one of the videos he shared, because the clip contained a few details that undercut his own message.
Trump posted a nearly seven-minute clip from RFD-TV’s Cow Guy Close, an agriculture and markets program hosted by Scott “Cow Guy” Shellady. In the clip, Shellady and T.J. Wilson of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute praised Trump while discussing inflation and the cost of groceries.
“At least we’re getting something from this higher inflation,” Shellady said, describing the price increases as a “small tax” that Americans could pay to disarm a “big terrorist country.”
The segment was clearly intended to showcase Trump’s economic record.
There was just one problem.
The news ticker scrolling underneath them was telling a very different story.
As the two men praised Trump, the ticker reported that the latest Consumer Price Index showed inflation continuing to rise in July. Another headline noted that prices were up 3.4% from a year earlier, with food prices 3% higher and the energy index up 14.7%.
So while the people on screen were talking up Trump’s economic success, the information running directly beneath them was quietly undercutting the message.
And then came another awkward headline.
The ticker reported that nearly 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef had been recalled after entering the United States without undergoing the required federal import reinspection. The USDA said the recalled beef was distributed in Texas and Florida.
That was particularly conspicuous given Trump’s focus on lowering beef prices by increasing imports.
The visual was hard to miss.
Trump shared a video designed to celebrate his economic record, apparently without noticing that the news crawl at the bottom of the screen was supplying viewers with a series of less-than-flattering economic headlines.
MeidasTouch was among those who noticed, posting screenshots of the ticker and pointing out the apparent contradiction.
In other words, Trump didn’t need an opponent to interrupt the sales pitch. He shared the rebuttal himself.
