在最近一次做客美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）《State of the Union》节目时，白宫国家经济委员会主任兼首席经济学家凯文·哈塞特提出了诸多错误论点。其中最令人难以接受的是，他声称美国民众对当前的经济状况感到满意。
During his latest appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council and the top economist in the White House, presented all kinds of misguided arguments, but it was especially jarring to hear him make the case that Americans are satisfied with the economic status quo.
“如果民众真的不满意，”哈塞特辩称，“这种情绪肯定会体现在数据上。”
“If people were unhappy,”Hassett argued“it’d show up in the data.”
主持人杰克·塔珀则提醒这位嘉宾：“数据上确实有所体现，只是并非您所关注的那部分数据。”这一指正十分中肯。事实上，美联社上周发布的全国民意调查显示，82%的美国民众不认可唐纳德·特朗普处理生活成本问题的方式。这一结果也绝非个例：马凯特大学法学院近期开展的类似调查也显示，80%的民众对总统在此问题上的表现持否定态度。
It fell to host Jake Tapper to remind his guest“It seems to be showing up in the data, just not the data you’re looking at.”It was a fair point. Indeed, The Associated Press last week released its latest national poll which showed 82% of Americans disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling the cost of living. There was no reason to see this as an outlier: Similar recent surveys from Marquette University Law School also showed 80% disapproval for the president on this issue.
需要强调的是，在选举季里，要让八成美国民众就某件事达成共识本就极为困难，尤其是在涉及争议性政治议题时。但在生活成本这一问题上，数据却显示出近乎全民一致的看法：在特朗普当选后承诺要解决的核心问题上，他表现得极其糟糕。然而，这一现实却是这位总统始终不愿承认的。
In case this isn’t obvious, it’s tough to get 8 in 10 Americans to agree on much of , especially regarding contentious political issues during an election season. But on affordability, the data suggests we’re approaching a near public consensus: On the one issue Trump was elected to address, he’s failing badly. It’s a reality the president refuses to accept.
特朗普称：“物价正在全面下跌。一旦战争结束，物价更会大幅暴跌。”
Trump: "Prices are all going way down. But they really are going to plummet as soon as that war ends."
在周一晚于内布拉斯加州举行的集会上，特朗普夸耀着那些只存在于他想象中的经济成果。他说道：“物价正在全面下跌。”几天前，特朗普也曾宣称：“我们所做的就是让物价大幅下降。”
The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com)“Prices are all going way down,”he said during a Monday night rally in Nebraska, boasting about developments that have occurred only in his imagination. A few days earlier, Trump similarly declared“We’ve done nothing but bring prices way down.”
就在前一天，这位总统还在自己的社交媒体上发文称，消费品价格“正在迅速下降”。数小时后，他又再次声称：“正是我们让物价降了下来。”问题在于，特朗普的言论不仅与美国民众的普遍认知严重不符，其内容也完全脱离现实。自他开启第二任期以来，通货膨胀率持续攀升，民众根本感受不到总统口中那种“迅速改善”的经济状况。
The day before, the president published an item to his social media platform in which he claimed that consumer prices “are coming down, RAPIDLY.”Hours later, he again said“We’re the ones bringing down the prices.”The problem isn’t just that Trump’s rhetoric is wildly at odds with the American mainstream’s attitudes. It’s also the fact that his claims are delusional. Inflation has climbed since his second term began, and consumers simply aren’t seeing the rapid improvements the president keeps referring to.
正是在这样的背景下，财政部长斯科特·贝森特对Axios网站的迈克·艾伦表示：“我们不会像拜登政府那样，向美国民众吹嘘他们日子有多好过。”
It was against this backdrop that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Axios’ Mike Allen, “What we’re not going to do is do what the Biden people did and tell the American people how good they had it.”
我不知道贝森特是否留意到了同僚们近来的种种言行。事实上，特朗普团队的人一直在向民众宣扬“日子有多好过”。最近几天，特朗普反复坚称当前的经济状况堪称美国历史上最棒的时期；就在周日，哈塞特还称赞共和党政府促成了经济“繁荣”，迎来了一个辉煌的“黄金时代”。
I’m not sure if Bessent has been paying attention to his colleagues’ recent antics, but is tell the American people how good they have it. In recent days, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the economic status quo is the greatest in the history of the United States and as recently as Sunday, Hassett credited the Republican administration for having created an economic“boom”and a glorious“golden age.”
如果特朗普团队的成员指望民众会相信白宫那些脱离现实的乐观言论，而非相信自己钱包的实际变化，那他们很可能会失望而归。
If members of Team Trump expect people to believe the White House’s weird happy talk over Americans’ own wallets, they’re likely to be disappointed. The post With 8 in 10 Americans opposed to his handling of inflation, Trump turns to weird happy talk MS NOW