On Monday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle couldn’t understand why President Biden’s poll numbers were collapsing, suggested the Omicron variant of COVID could help ease inflation, and whined about reporters covering high gas prices. All of that left-wing spin occurred throughout her 9:00 ET hour show as she desperately tried to protect the White House from criticism on multiple fronts.
“Heidi, we have got vaccines that work, American business is back, and it’s booming. And the hard infrastructure bill passed. Yet Democratic voters are losing motivation going into the midterms,” Ruhle lamented to former Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp. Moments later, the anchor whined to former Obama communications director Robert Gibbs: “Robert, why are the President’s poll numbers dropping? Getting the hard infrastructure bill passed was huge, where we stand with COVID is huge, our economic recovery very good, look at the jobs numbers.”
Even Gibbs was capable of understanding Biden’s unpopularity: “I just don’t think right now people are looking at their economic health through a jobs report. I think they’re seeing gas prices go up, I think they’re seeing their Turkey dinners on Thanksgiving be more expensive.”
To combat those problems, Ruhle seized on reports that “A lot of Democrats want Biden to be punching more, attacking Republicans more ahead of next year.”
In a later segment, while discussing the stock market taking a nosedive on Friday over fears of the Omicron COVID variant, Ruhle wondered if the new viral mutation extending the pandemic could actually be good thing:
Could this temporary bad news that spooks the market, Dan, actually be a positive in the broader sense of the economy? We’ve talked about the overheated demand, gas prices, suddenly people might say, “I’m not going to go out as much. I’m going to play it a little bit safer.” Could that temper these prices that keep going up?
Keeping with that theme near the end of the show, Ruhle again saw bad economic news as a positive:
Gas prices already started going back down, falling for the second straight week. And on Friday, oil dropped 13%, marking its worst day this year. Investors are worried about the Omnicron variant and whether these new lockdowns could come and cause less driving.
She concluded that segment by complaining that her media colleagues were actually reporting on high gas prices and instructed them to instead hype prices decreasing slightly: “And what we also hope, for every reporter out there who was standing at a gas station over the last month talking about rising gas prices and what it’s doing to Americans, I certainly hope those same reporters, those same storytellers, will be covering those prices as they’re going back down.”
Only a true left-wing hack like Ruhle could be so detached from reality that she thinks Biden deserves high approval ratings, an ongoing pandemic is somehow good news, and high gas prices should be downplayed by journalists.
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Here is transcript of excerpts from the November 29 show:
9:21 AM ET
(…)
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Heidi, we have got vaccines that work, American business is back, and it’s booming. And the hard infrastructure bill passed. Yet Democratic voters are losing motivation going into the midterms. What does Congress need to do?
FMR. SEN. HEIDI HEITKAMP [D-ND]: They need to get their work done. The bottom line is when the Democrats are in charge, even by a very slim minority of votes, they’ve got to produce results. And so it is time to get this done.
(…)
9:23 AM ET
RUHLE: Robert, why are the President’s poll numbers dropping? Getting the hard infrastructure bill passed was huge, where we stand with COVID is huge, our economic recovery very good, look at the jobs numbers.
ROBERT GIBBS: Yeah, it’s a great point, Stephanie. And we’ll get a new jobs report at the end of the week. I just don’t think right now people are looking at their economic health through a jobs report. I think they’re seeing gas prices go up, I think they’re seeing their Turkey dinners on Thanksgiving be more expensive.
(…)
9:24 AM ET
GIBBS: I think while a lot of President’s agenda is popular, I don’t think the American people know much about it because, as Senator Heitkamp talked about, the process of this has overwhelmed the specifics of the substance. That’s a messaging challenge for the White House and Democrats that they have to be focused on really over the next few weeks and also well into 2022, heading into the midterm elections.
RUHLE: Robert, you’re our communications guru. A lot of Democrats want Biden to be punching more, attacking Republicans more ahead of next year. Do you think he should be?
(…)
9:34 AM ET
RUHLE: Could this temporary bad news that spooks the market, Dan, actually be a positive in the broader sense of the economy? We’ve talked about the overheated demand, gas prices, suddenly people might say, “I’m not going to go out as much. I’m going to play it a little bit safer.” Could that temper these prices that keep going up?
(…)
9:52 AM ET
RUHLE: But here’s the real kicker. Gas prices already started going back down, falling for the second straight week. And on Friday, oil dropped 13%, marking its worst day this year. Investors are worried about the Omnicron variant and whether these new lockdowns could come and cause less driving. We will be keeping an eye on this and bringing you more of the facts as we get them. And what we also hope, for every reporter out there who was standing at a gas station over the last month talking about rising gas prices and what it’s doing to Americans, I certainly hope those same reporters, those same storytellers, will be covering those prices as they’re going back down.
(…)