President Donald Trump’s obvious manipulation of his power to benefit himself is starting to become clear even to those who voted for him, argues journalist Stephanie Ruhle.
Appearing on The Daily Beast Podcast, the MS NOW anchor said that feelings of antipathy in the U.S. toward the uber-wealthy were not strictly coming from Democrats, but from everyday Americans fed up with being neglected by their nation.
“I think this ‘Eat the rich’ sentiment is not being led by a group of Democrats—I think it’s being led by Americans who are saying, ‘This country doesn’t work for me,’" Ruhle told host Joanna Coles.
“And many of those Americans are the original MAGA voters who Donald Trump appealed to because he said, ‘You feel forgotten. You feel that there aren’t jobs for you in this country. I’m your guy,’” she continued. “And now, many of those people who don’t necessarily have a political affiliation, or not, with Donald Trump anymore are just saying, ‘This country, this world, doesn’t work. I’m ready to break the system.’”
Coles asked Ruhle whether Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill—legislation that hiked up healthcare premiums, lowered taxes for high earners, and ultimately shifted wealth toward the richest Americans—will impact Trump in the midterms.
“I don’t think it has a direct knock-on effect. I think your average person, even your informed person, can’t—isn’t digging that much into the Big Beautiful Bill," The 11th Hour host said. “But they’re just looking at life, right? They’re just saying, ‘My life doesn’t work for me.’”
“I would say great journalism is alive and well and strong as ever,” Ruhle explained. “Every single day, there’s another story out there about the grift. There’s another story out there about World Liberty Financial and the president’s crypto business, or the president suddenly, you know, buying thousands and thousands of shares of companies that he just met with.”
Reached for comment on Ruhle’s remarks, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told the Daily Beast: “Calling this left-wing hack a ‘journalist’ is generous.”
Trump, 79, has used his position as the leader of the free world to greatly boost his own family’s wealth. Since taking office last January, the president and his family have made an estimated $2.5 billion from various digital schemes, according to the House Oversight Democrats’ Trump Family Corruption Tracker.
Chief among the president’s numerous other grifts was his attempt to create a $1.8 billion slush fund of taxpayer money to compensate his political allies, potentially including Jan. 6 rioters.
The Justice Department, helmed by Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, said earlier this month that it would abandon the fund after it was blocked by the courts.
“People see that, right? They don’t necessarily dial back into what was in the Big Beautiful Bill, what tax breaks were given. But they just say, ‘Hold on. You’re the person in office,’” Ruhle said. “‘You now, finally, have the supreme wealth you always said you did. A group of business people are wealthier beyond belief, and I’m not. This isn’t working.’”
“And I don’t think this is unique to President Trump. Listen—what hurt Joe Biden, what hurt Kamala Harris, is that people were still struggling economically," Ruhle. “And they look and see and they say, ‘Who’s in the White House?’ And they blame that person.”
“What’s unique about Donald Trump is: the reason many of these people are struggling economically is a direct result of his policies,” she concluded.
Since the president started his war on Iran, which has raged for over 15 weeks with no end in sight, Americans have had to deal with the economic consequences.
After Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade corridor through which roughly 27 percent of the world’s oil supply travels, average domestic gas prices have skyrocketed to as high as $4.50 per gallon.
On Wednesday, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report found that the Consumer Price Index rose 4.2 percent in May compared with a year ago. The rise in inflation is the third consecutive monthly increase and the highest in three years.
The president, when pressed on this new report in the Oval Office on Wednesday, said: “I love the inflation.”
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