Stephen Moore, Senior Economic Adviser to President Donald Trump, on ‘Head to Head’
In a wide-ranging interview where he defended the US president, senior economic advisor to Donald Trump Stephen Moore, also said to Al Jazeera English’s Mehdi Hasan the following about President Trump:
“I wish he would bring us together more and be less divisive,” Moore told Hasan during the taping of Head to Head at George Washington University. “He should be the president of all the people. He's got to work on that.”
Responding to a question about Trump’s lies as president, Moore conceded it can be a problem.
“When Trump says things that are false, that does undermine his presidential authority,” he said. “And I wish he wouldn't do it.”
When pressed further on numerous false statements Trump has made publicly, like needing an ID to buy a box of cereal and suggesting that wind turbines cause cancer, Moore said, “Donald Trump would be better off to stop talking so much and let his record speak for itself.”
“What I'm saying is, what Americans care about is his performance, his results, not what he says and how he acts,” he added.
On the economy, Moore was asked to respond to the numerous failed economic promises and projections made by President Trump.
“Trump makes grandiose promises, he exaggerates,” he said. “And sometimes I wish he wouldn’t do that.”
“But, you know, if you compare where the economy is today versus where it was when he entered office, it's substantially stronger,” he added. “If you're an American worker and you're looking for a job, this is the best labor market for workers, probably in 50 years.”
Asked about the ongoing trade war between the US and China and whether it was wise to start an economic war, Moore replied, “I think we should, right now”.
“I mean, we have to,” he added. “And Donald Trump will not back down.”
Moore, who says he worked on immigration policies for the Trump Administration, was asked if he believed the President’s policies were “dangerous, crazy and extreme”.
“No,” replied Moore, not realizing he was responding to his own quote prior to working for President Trump.
“I don’t always agree with his positions on immigration,” he added. “But I do believe that until we get the border secure and we get that wall built, once we do that, we can increase our legal immigration.”
The second half of the interview focused on Trump’s personality and character, and Moore was asked what it’s like to advise someone who, Hasan suggested, knows so little about anything.
“I think people underestimate his intelligence,” he said. “I think he’s probably got about a 180 IQ.”
Hasan and Moore were joined by a panel of three experts: liberal commentator Tiffany Cross, Republican strategist and author Rick Wilson and Jenna Ellis Rives, a constitutional lawyer and member of the Trump 2020 Advisory Board.
