{"id":5292,"date":"2026-08-25T06:35:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5292"},"modified":"2026-08-25T06:35:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:35:49","slug":"haberman-insiders-constantly-talk-about-how-the-economy-bores-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5292","title":{"rendered":"Haberman: Insiders constantly talk about how ‘the economy bores’ Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Donald Trump continues to struggle in polls because of America\u2019s failing economy, but according to a prominent White House correspondent, he finds economic issues boring.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLet’s talk about how the White House could physically look different in the next few years,\u201d CNN correspondent Bianna Golodryga asked Maggie Haberman, a journalist from The New York Times who co-authored a book on Trump\u2019s White House called \u201cRegime Change.\u201d \u201cBefore we go, President Trump had this to say about his White House ballroom project, during a White House event on school choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golodryga then said Trump \u201cspends about 70 percent of his time on construction projects. The Washington Post appears to undercut the president’s argument that the White House needs a secure structure, noting that federal officials built a highly protected underground bunker more than a decade ago that can shelter the president and his top aides in a national security emergency, according to three former officials. What’s your reaction to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Haberman explained that the White House has pivoted between a number of explanations for why Trump wants a ballroom, Golodryga followed up by asking if Trump spends \u201c70-75 percent of his time on construction, what does that say about how much time he’s putting into policy, both domestic and foreign?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of things,\u201d Haberman responded.\u201d First, on the bunker the Washington Post reported \u2014 that’s absolutely going to further undercut the White House’s argument, though I’m not sure what the courts will do with it. As for how the president is spending his time: Jonathan and I write in our book about how much time he spends on these monuments to himself, these renovation projects, making sure he leaves a permanent mark on Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cThere are presidents who’ve done both, but the economy bores this president \u2014 that came up repeatedly with people who talked to him in 2024, and clearly that hasn’t changed. Things aren’t going well with the Iran war either, so I don’t think he wants to spend much time on that \u2014 it’s an intractable problem of his own making that he can’t quite escape. These physical projects just underscore, for people hurting economically around the country, that the president’s mind is elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the same interview, Haberman reflected to Golodryga that even though Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss possible areas where the White House could work with a Democrat-led Congress, Trump himself was likely not privy to those policy discussions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are still things we don’t know, like who hosted the meeting, among other things,\u201d Haberman told Golodryga. \u201cBut the main areas would be cost of living, housing, and immigration. As you said, the possibilities of compromise on those are remote. In our reporting, what Kushner was telling people \u2014 and Kushner is not working for the government; he’s been working outside the government on foreign endeavors, as you know well and we’ve both been covering \u2014 is unusual because he’s one of the only people who has a relationship with Hakeem Jeffries in this current White House. This isn’t a White House that has developed real relationships with Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking with AlterNet in July, a former top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton explained how Trump\u2019s tariffs specifically are hurting the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s about uncertainty,\u201d former Undersecretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Robert Shapiro explained. \u201cEvery investment is based on an assessment of the likely future demand for whatever you’re investing in, and how much it’s going to cost to produce it. So there are assumptions about labor costs, material costs and other input costs \u2014 and again, about demand. If you have a set of arrangements that give you some confidence about the price of your inputs coming from Mexico or Canada, or about demand for goods in Canada \u2014 and don’t forget, we have virtually no trade deficit with Canada; we have enormous trade, and it goes in both directions \u2014 so it’s certainly right, and it’s not just about investments based on these probabilities that the trade agreement can help reduce uncertainty about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro added, \u201cIt’s also about how much you’re going to produce today, apart from investment, because you’ve got thousands of companies selling goods or services into Canada. And so there’s uncertainty about whether this will lead to more conflict with Canada, which would hurt Canadian demand for US goods, or whether Canada will impose a new tariff in retaliation for ours that makes my goods less competitive there. Of course it’s bad \u2014 it’s bad for American workers, it’s bad for American investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these concerns, Trump continues to dismiss the American economy\u2019s ongoing problems, both in terms of the tariffs he levied and the war in Iran which he started and has caused oil prices to go up.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. President, what extent are Americans\u2019 financial situation motivating you to make a deal [with Iran]?\u201d a reporter shouted at Trump in May regarding the economy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNot even a little bit,\u201d Trump replied.<\/p>\n