Trump tried to clean up Wilbur Ross' tone-deaf comments on unpaid federal workers, didn't succeed

Trump talks grocery stores and federal employees

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 25 January 2019

On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross weighed in on the 800,000 federal workers who haven't been paid in over a month, and his comments were not widely viewed as emanating empathy. That's true even if you don't picture Ross as fictional fellow billionaire Mr. Burns from The Simpsons:

President Trump told reporters later Thursday that he hasn't "heard the statement, but I do understand that perhaps he should have said it differently." So Trump took a whack. In essence, he said local businesspeople would "work along" with unpaid federal employees, and he kept bringing up grocery stores.

The idea that a Walmart or Kroger or Safeway would give people food on personal credit (not credit cards) baffled a lot of people. Most of us "do not inhabit the world of Little House on the Prairie," noted New York's Sarah Jones. "Half Pint cannot go to the general store and place a dozen eggs on store credit until Pa's farm starts to make money."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Also, "who thinks grocery stores and mortgage banks are going to go easy on folks?" asked CNN's Chris Cuomo. "The president is confusing the treatment he got from banks because of his ability to have family millions prop him up as collateral. That's not the real world." Cuomo also lit into Lara Trump's feigned ignorance and explained why Trump won't win his wall, only cause more pain. Watch below. Peter Weber

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.