CNBC’s Sara Eisen Asks Larry Kudlow If The Real ‘Miracle’ Is That Trump Hasn’t Crashed The Economy

As is custom, Larry Kudlow made the media rounds on Friday to chat about the economy.

Larry’s “money mouth” (as Trump disturbingly calls it) gets to moving whenever there’s a top-tier data print that needs spinning, which means he’s a mainstay on GDP mornings and NFP Fridays.

Back in April, Kudlow ran up against David Faber, who wasn’t nearly as forgiving as some of Kudlow’s other former colleagues at CNBC when it came to calling out the absurdity in the administration demanding rate cuts while the economy is still strong.

Read more: Here’s Why It’s Important To Call Out Larry Kudlow For The Thousandth Time

Fast forward three months, and Larry was back with Faber and Sara Eisen who (God bless her) isn’t a pushover. Predictably, Kudlow blamed the Fed for the slowing economy. But he went a bit further on Friday. Here’s the (wholly farcical) clip:

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To be clear, it’s understandable that the president’s economic advisor defends the administration’s policies, but this is wholesale, obsequious pandering:

Look, I think you know, to keep this thing going in the face of severe monetary tightening in 2017 and 2016, 7 rate hikes, I think it’s almost a miracle [Eisen audibly laughs] that the economy is growing as rapidly as it is. I think President Trump’s policies of tax cuts and deregulation and energy opening and trade reform are having a huge impact. You know, this has not been easy with 7 rate hikes.

It wasn’t lost on Eisen that the Q2 GDP report betrayed signs that trade is hurting the expansion. Exports dropped 5.2% and imports rose just 0.1%.

“So, that may very well be true, Larry, but I think a lot of people would say it’s a miracle that we’re growing this fast given President Trump’s trade policies”, Eisen said, to a frowning Kudlow. “You call it reform, but we saw it show up”, she reminded him.

Not to be deterred, Larry doubled down. “I mean, the global economy is very slow, so that would help explain the slowdown in exports”, he said.

Yes it would, Larry. And what, pray tell, do you imagine is weighing on the global economy? Why, the president’s trade policies, of course.

The most unfortunate thing about this charade is that Larry knows Trump’s trade policies are potentially disastrous, but he isn’t allowed to say that to Trump, let alone on national television.

While Eisen did an admirable job of pushing back on Friday, the problem is that Trump’s sycophants (and cut us some slack – everybody knows that’s what Kudlow has morphed into) aren’t interested in actually debating the issues. They have a set script and they cannot deviate from it even a little bit, or risk Trump’s ire.

Speaking of Trump, about an hour after Kudlow’s CNBC cameo, the president blamed the Fed. “Q2 GDP Up 2.1%”, he tweeted. “Not bad considering we have the very heavy weight of the Federal Reserve anchor wrapped around our neck”.