Fox’s Brian Kilmeade Makes Stunning Defense of Biden Economy: ‘Better Numbers Than Any Country in the World

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade offered up a stunning defense of President Joe Biden’s economic record on the eve of the president’s first major address of 2023 on the issue.

The White House announced Thursday morning that “In the afternoon, the President will travel to Springfield, Virginia and deliver remarks on our economic progress since he took office.”

Despite month after month of positive economic indicators on job growth, GDP, and other areas, inflation has been a major and persistent problem that has dogged President Biden — a problem that has shown signs of easing.

On Thursday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, the president got an unexpected assist from Kilmeade, who urged Biden to brag about in his speech instead of attacking Republicans:

BRIAN KILMEADE: To me, this would be the perfect time to say, listen, our numbers aren’t perfect, but we have better numbers than any other country in the world. And compare yourself to China, compared to Russia, compared to any European nation… You know, Japan’s got this low inflation and people have certain areas. Our numbers look good. And this way you could actually pretend, at least for a few months, that you’re a unifying president.

AINSLEY EARHARDT: But do you know what Americans would think if they heard that? We don’t care about comparing ourselves to other countries, we just want it to be better.

BRIAN KILMEADE: That’s a good point. That’s a that’s a good point. But I’m saying you have the, his choice is attack Republicans and how bad their ideas are. I’d say, hey, listen, look at me. I know countries. We have some challenges, but compared to everybody else, we’ve worked our way out of it.

Kilmeade’s fears about the president’s speech are not completely unfounded, but according to a memo from a White House official emailed to Mediaite, attacking “House Republicans’ MAGA Economic Plan” is just one component of the speech:

…President Biden will deliver his first major economic speech of the year in Virginia at a steamfitters union hall. He’ll highlight the significant economic progress we’re seeing under his leadership. Just in the last month we’ve learned that: a record nearly 11 million jobs have been created, the two strongest years of job growth in history; 750,000 manufacturing jobs have been created; we’ve reached the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years; we’ve had the best two years for small business applications on record; annual inflation has been falling for the last six months; and real wages are higher than they were seven months.

He’ll discuss how his economic vision—to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out—and his historic legislation, the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, helped our economy recover from crisis and are laying the foundation for strong and stable growth. The President’s economic plan keeps his promise to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out—with new factories and construction in communities across America, creating good-paying middle-class jobs that don’t require a four-year degree.

And the President will outline the biggest threat to our economic progress: House Republicans’ MAGA Economic Plan. House Republicans’ MAGA Economic Plan will raise taxes on working families with a 30% national sales tax, make gas prices more expensive, worsen inflation, and cut Social Security and Medicare. The President has been going on offense defining House Republican’s economic proposals in recent weeks as bad for working families in remarks, videos, and hosting Secretary Granholm in the press briefing room.