President Donald Trump said the U.S. economy is strong and insisted that polls showing Americans are feeling economic pain are “false” during an interview on Fox News that aired Monday night.
Trump said bad news about the economy amounted to a “Democrat scam,” adding that Democrats “feed” anchors on major news networks the message that the economy is bad and then “every anchor” does “exactly what they say.”
“I’ll never forget they used a word like ‘fabricated,'” Trump said in the interview. “Remember the word ‘manufacturing’? It’s a ‘manufactured’ economy. Nobody uses that word. Every anchor was broken with ‘manufactured’.” They do exactly what they say. “It’s a very manipulated system.”
The US economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.8% in the second quarter according to the government’s final estimate, surpassing a 3.3% rate issued in its second estimate and far exceeding an initial estimate of 3%. But consumer prices rose 3% in September compared with a year ago, with inflation at its highest level since January, the latest government data showed. The inflation reading was lower than economists’ expectations.
Trump defended his handling of the economy, saying costs are “very low” across the board.
“So you’re ready? Costs are very low,” Trump said. “Gas is going to be $2 very soon, or about $2. Gas is $2.70 now and it was $4.50 under the Biden administration, under sleepy Joe. When gas goes down, when energy goes down, and everyone agrees that energy is down, we drill, you know, drill, drill, we go crazy.”
The average consumer price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $3.072 on Tuesday, according to AAA, which said the average price was $3.083 per gallon a year ago.
President Donald Trump speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of Sergio Gor as US Ambassador to India, at the White House in Washington, DC, November 10, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Trump was also pressed on his administration’s implementation of a 50-year mortgage option, something that faced criticism on social media when critics pointed out that the extended repayment schedule would mean Americans would pay more interest than over the life of a shorter loan.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham suggested to Trump that longer-term loans could be interpreted as a “giveaway to the banks” and would simply “prolong the time it would take Americans to actually own a home.”
Trump responded to Ingraham, saying “all it means is you pay less per month.”
“You pay for it over a longer period of time. It’s not a big factor. It might help a little bit,” Trump said. “But even with interest rates high, the economy is stronger than ever. You know, you asked me, to go back to the beginning of your question, you talked about prices. We’re low on energy. We’re low on interest rates.”
Trump also came under pressure over the controversial demolition of the east wing to make way for the grand ballroom now being built.
“Well, first of all, the east wing was a beautiful, little, little structure that was built many years ago, that was renovated and expanded and dissolved and had columns torn out, and it had nothing to do with the original building,” he said. “It was a poor, sad sight, and I could have built the ballroom around it, but it wouldn’t have been that way; by the way, we are building one of the best ballrooms in the world.”
“But the East Wing, that building, was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor on top, which was terrible,” Trump continued. “It was a small, tiny, plain brick window. It looked like hell. It had nothing to do with the original building and I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for a good one by leaving it right in the middle.”
