Trump economic adviser claims reporters covering recession fears 'want people to lose jobs'

Amid growing fears of a possible recession, President Trump's team is continuing to throw the media under the bus.

When not busy escalating the U.S.-China trade war and attacking the chair of the Federal Reserve, Trump is now claiming that the media actually wants a recession, as proved, apparently, by their reporting on it. The assertion was repeated by Tomas Philipson, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to The New York Times; Philipson claimed in a Thursday interview that reporters actually seem "to want people to lose jobs" and "become not economically self-sufficient."

Philipson went on to complain that the "way the media reports on our economy weighs on consumer sentiment." Megan Greene, a Harvard Kennedy School senior fellow, similarly told the Times that consumers could "lose confidence and stop spending" should "headlines about trade wars and currency wars dominate the media and the airwaves."

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Still, the Times notes that many economists say Trump's "trade policies and the uncertainty they are stoking" would be the "likely culprit" of any potential recession, with the media simply reporting on that fact.

Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly alleged that the press is trying to talk America into a recession to ensure he loses in 2020. But he could be projecting just a bit, as The Washington Post recently reported that Trump is trying to pull the opposite move in talking the U.S. out of a recession, with the president recently telling aides "that he thinks he can convince Americans that the economy is vibrant and unrattled through a public messaging campaign."