Fox’s Faulkner Slams Former Dem Rep For Glossing Over ‘Bidenflation’
During a segment on Fox News Tuesday, host Harris Faulkner pushed back on former Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania in a debate over former President Donald Trump’s newly proposed tariffs. The conversation quickly turned to the economic strain Americans have faced under the Biden administration, with Faulkner pointing out rising inflation and ballooning credit card debt.
Trump introduced his new tariff strategy during a Rose Garden speech, calling out “horrendous imbalances” in international trade. According to reports, nations like Japan and South Korea are already expressing interest in trade talks.
When Murphy criticized Trump by citing inflation and increasing credit card delinquencies, Faulkner stepped in to remind him of the Biden administration’s economic performance.
“We don’t want inflation, right? Inflation has gone down, it was still too high,” Murphy began, only for Faulkner to interrupt, saying, “Well, you wanted it for the last four years because you tolerated it.”
Murphy defended his position, stating, “Harris, I’ve been on here, it was 9%, it’s down to 2.6%. It’s ticking up, it’s still too much. The goal is 2%. The reality is this, though: American people have been put through the wringer.”
He continued, referencing the impact of the pandemic: “We lost 10 million American jobs because of COVID. We lost one million Americans. Right now, the national average of people’s credit card debt, it’s the highest it’s ever been. Delinquencies on paying that credit card off are too high.”
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit a four-decade high of 9% in June 2022, shortly after President Joe Biden enacted several expansive spending initiatives, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—despite repeated warnings from economists about potential inflation. Since Biden took office, overall consumer prices have surged by over 20%.
By the end of 2023, household debt hit $17.5 trillion. Credit card balances reached $1.17 trillion by November 2024, with defaults amounting to $46 billion in just the first three quarters of the year.
Faulkner pushed back on Murphy with a few key points.
“Two things here, two facts there,” she said. “One, you have different presidents and notice what happened to the inflation. That’s one. The second thing is the highest that we’ve ever seen people in debt actually happened about 12 months ago."
She went on to explain, “We know that because the credit reporting bureaus were saying people were asking for, you know, extra counseling to handle their debt. It didn’t just get paid when President Trump became president, but the goal is to try to get them some equality between what they’re earning and what things cost.”
WATCH:
As part of his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has made economic recovery and fighting inflation central promises. Throughout the campaign season, polls showed “the economy” was consistently ranked as the top concern for voters.
Elsewhere on Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich issued a stark warning about what he described as Democrats’ “very dangerous” behavior, claiming it could lead to serious consequences for Trump.
In an interview, Gingrich criticized House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ claim that Republicans are “on the run,” arguing that Democrats are consumed by anger and lack real solutions.
According to Gingrich, Democrats are embracing radical tactics in their resistance to Trump and their opposition to Elon Musk’s calls for reduced government spending.
“Well, I think that everything you showed earlier reflects what Lincoln said at Gettysburg when he said, this is a test of whether this system or any system so conceived in liberty can survive,” Gingrich stated.
“You have a hard-line group who believe that they have the right to be violent, that they have the right to deny the American people the choice of their leadership, that they have the right to break the law. The answer to all of that is, frankly, you have to lock them up. You have to enforce the law,” he continued.
Gingrich added, “The fact is, the Democrats currently have no solutions. They are so enraged that Trump is actually changing what, overwhelmingly, Americans believe is a corrupt system. I’ll just give you one piece of data. Our America’s New Majority project just had a poll come out yesterday. 82% of the American people believe the system is corrupt. Now that’s dangerous.”