Nicolle Wallace Spots 1 Figure Trump Is ‘Desperately Fending Off Comparisons’ To
MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace on Monday highlighted several recent polls showing just how “bad” things are for President Donald Trump, whose unpopular handling of the U.S. economy has him “desperately” trying to avoid comparisons to one former president.
The “Deadline: White House” host began by citing a Wall Street Journal report showing that the cost of living is “eroding” the GOP’s image as worthy stewards of the economy. Fox News polls also confirm that voters prefer Democrats on the issue for the first time since 2010.
“Well, how bad is it?” Wallace said Monday during her opening monologue. “It is so bad that, at this point, you can’t even make it up. Trump is desperately fending off comparisons to the president most Americans associate as the worst of the Great Depression. Watch.”
She then played clips of Trump saying on “The Axios Show” in June, “I have one primary wish as president: In terms of people, I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover.” A point he reiterated on CNBC in July, saying, “I don’t want to be a president that oversees the great worldwide depression,” before adding, “That was Herbert Hoover, and it was a terrible thing.”
Trump’s war on Iran has led the country to close the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. This sparked fears of a global energy crisis, but Trump argued in June that he never said it “would” cause a depression and only that it “could.”
He then seemed to admit that unnamed advisers specifically warned him at the time, “And they said I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover.” Wallace pounced on the MAGA leader’s seemingly growing fixation.
“For a guy who does not know a lot about history, he sure seems obsessed with Herbert Hoover,” she said. “NPR is reporting this about Trump’s growing Herbert Hoover obsession, as his war with Iran continues to put pressure on Americans’ finances.”
The NPR article published Sunday noted Trump has privately and publicly “acknowledged” wanting to end the Iran conflict “in hopes of escaping comparisons” to Hoover, who took office mere months before the 1929 Wall Street crash that heralded the Great Depression.
The U.S. job market stalled in July with employers cutting 23,000 jobs, while the war in Iran has led to skyrocketing gas prices and higher overall costs for everyday Americans. Even non-college voters appear to have turned on Trump since the 2024 election.
Wallace noted how palpable the economic distress has become for everyday Americans, claiming that “if you’re talking to anybody about anything” this summer, it’s “where the cheapest gas” or the “cheapest packs of chicken breasts” are sold.
“I mean, people are talking about how expensive life has become,” she continued. “People are talking without shame about bargain-hunting. People are commiserating about how quickly it’s become this bad, and that is what’s happening.”
Watch the full “Deadline: White House” segment on MS NOW’s YouTube account.