A White House correspondent and CNN political analyst demonstrated her ignorance on Monday, tweeting that she learned a new word — “stagflation.”
April D Ryan serves as the White House correspondent for the American Urban Radio Networks and is a political analyst with CNN.
She seemed to try and mock the White House for making up a new word during Monday’s press briefing, writing, “The Trump administration has 133 nominees waiting for a vote and we learned a new word in the briefing, ‘stagflation’!”
The Trump administration has 133 nominees waiting for a vote and we learned a new word in the briefing, “stagflation”!
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 10, 2017
Of course, as anyone who has taken an introductory economics course knows, stagflation refers to a period of high unemployment and high inflation. Stagflation is rare in the economy, but not as a concept.
Twitter users blasted Ryan for apparently never hearing of “stagflation,” and she tried to walk back her tweet nearly an hour later. Ryan claimed she was pointing out a mistake by White House spokesman Marc Short as opposed to her own ignorance.
“Marc Short made a mistake and said stagflation instead of stagnation,” she argued. “Of course I have heard of that word over the decades!!”
Marc Short made a mistake and said stagflation instead of stagnation. Of course I have heard of that word over the decades!!
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 10, 2017