New Trailers This Week | Week 34 (2022)

The public is rejecting President Donald Trump's "make-believe" approach to the current economy — and he's "going to be disappointed," according to a new report.

Americans are not convinced by the president's claims of an "economic renaissance," Steve Benen, producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show" writes on the MaddowBlog Friday.

In his post, Benen points to the results from the CBS News/YouGov poll released this week that reports 60% of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, as 51% say the president's economic agenda has left them worse off. Other polls and surveys indicate a similar tone, he adds.

"And yet, he acts as if he can bully Americans’ economic attitudes into submission through constant, reality-defying repetition," Benen writes.

During his White House cabinet meeting this week, Trump said "we have the best economy we've ever had."

Benen argues that things are not good — and 22 states could be heading to recession and economic downturn following the Trump tariff policies and aggressive immigration tactics, according to a new report this week from Axios.

"The idea that Trump, during his first term, delivered the greatest economy ever seen by human eyes is demonstrably absurd," Benen writes. "But the idea that our current economy has reached heights without precedent in the history of the United States is every bit as ridiculous."

The White House might not want to hear it, he adds, but Americans aren't happy.

"I don’t know whether Trump has genuinely convinced himself that Americans now have 'the best economy we’ve ever had,' or whether he was just peddling the latest in a series of lies. Either way, if he thinks such nonsense is persuading a frustrated public, he’s going to be disappointed," he writes.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem prayed for a "hedge of protection" around federal agents while meeting at an official Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

According to MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, Noem began a meeting at the Portland ICE office with a prayer to Jesus Christ.

In her prayer, Noem asked God to give her agency "wisdom and discernment to make the best decisions not just for the people that are here enforcing the law but also for the citizens of this country."

"And Lord, I just ask you to continue to put a hedge of protection around these officers, keep them safe, Lord, but that also that you continue to bless each and every one of them and their families," she continued. "And Lord, that you would protect the freedoms that we all enjoy that we're given to us by you."

"We love you, we praise you," she concluded. "Amen."

According to Johnson, the prayer was the "first thing" Noem did upon arriving at the office.

"We are witnessing incredible things," he wrote on X.