A discussion about presidential responsibility for the U.S. economy took a wild turn on Tuesday afternoon’s “The Five” when co-host Jesse Watters “pulled a Pelosi” and ripped up fellow co-host Donna Brazile’s papers while she was making a point.
As the panel began to discuss President Donald Trump taking aim at former President Barack Obama for tweeting that the Recovery Act “paved the way” for the current economic conditions, co-host Greg Gutfeld led with a joke:
“And maybe Obama had something to do with today’s economy,” he quipped. “I mean without Obama, would we have Trump?”
WATCH:
“I’d say you didn’t build that, Barack,” Watters joked before pointing out that Democrats who once claimed the “economy was going to tank under Trump” are now calling it “Barack Obama’s economy.”
“If there had been a Democrat who had taken the reins in 2016 you would’ve had strangling ObamaCare regulations, a Green New Deal, Paris climate deal, War on Coal, no new trade deals, tax hikes instead of cuts, no bonuses,” said Watters. “It would’ve been an absolute disaster. They can’t name one single metric that has gotten worse when Trump came over and took over the Obama economy.”
“Wages have gone up, stock market has gone up, manufacturing jobs up, every job has gone up,” he continued. “They can’t have a little fingerprint on any of this success, and the American people see that and that is why they’re giving Donald Trump credit for the good economy. They are saying they’re optimistic and they say they’re better off now than they were three years ago and that is why I believe he’s going to win reelection.”
“Trump inherited a strong economy that Barack Obama really helped to build,” Brazile responded. “We all know that when he took office … the economy was in a ‘hole’ … We’ve gone from 10 percent unemployment to 4.7 percent when Barack Obama left office. It’s now at 3.5%. Hooray. Eleven consecutive years of strong growth.”
After claiming that the economy “got better” under Obama, Brazille held up several papers:
“I also have graphs and maps, and anything you need,” she told Watters, “but the truth is I’m excited …”
At which point viewers could see Watters’ hands ripping up Brazile’s papers as she was speaking. (RELATED: HILL: Obama’s Economy Kept America Down — Trump’s Economy Is Lifting Us Up)
“Hey, I pulled a Pelosi,” he exclaimed, referring to when Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously ripped up her copy of Trump’s State of the Union address. “You guys liked it when she did it.”
