Donald Trump made a "revealing admission" in the process of backing out of a key campaign promise, a columnist said.
Welker interviewed Trump, and the video was released by the network Sunday. The president-elect lied about a variety of subjects in his latest NBC interview, according to a report from Rolling Stone.
An elections expert also flagged one question by Welker that he said was "deeply troubling."
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Columnist and editor James Downie said over the weekend that Trump "is already backing off his most important campaign promise." He then said Trump let slip an "unexpected but revealing admission in his first post-election television interview."
Calling it "arguably the most significant moment of all," Downie noted that, "During the campaign, Trump proposed tariffs of 10-20% on all imports — and 60% on goods from China. Welker asked whether he could 'guarantee' that Americans won’t pay higher prices under those tariffs."
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Trump replied, according to Downie's analysis.
"He noted (correctly) that his first term saw low inflation, even as he implemented new tariffs. But those tariffs were on a much smaller scale. Multiple studies project his sweeping new proposal would cost Americans hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year," Downie wrote. "The significance of inflation isn’t lost on Trump... And yet even Trump, who has built a career on bluffing and promising the impossible, couldn’t pretend that his plan to avoid future price increases will work."
He added, "Inflation indicators show annual increases of under 3%, well below the spike in the middle of Joe Biden’s presidency. But companies from Walmart-sized conglomerates to small businesses are already warning that they may have to raise prices. And just as Trump got credit for the low inflation in his first term, he will take the blame for any price hikes in his second."
