Donald Trump faced backlash from Fox News viewers after comments made by his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, during a live TV appearance.
Bessent appeared on The Ingraham Angle on Friday, December 19, where he spoke with host Laura Ingraham about artificial intelligence and the US job market.
Claims about job growth raise questions
Ingraham asked whether the AI boom would lead to more jobs for American workers rather than foreign workers. Bessent responded by saying that job growth this year had gone entirely to native-born Americans.
He said, “100% of the job growth has gone to Americans.”
Many viewers were confused and angry. Several took to social media to challenge the claim, saying it did not match publicly known employment data.
“There hasn’t been any growth in jobs for months,” one viewer wrote. Another asked where Bessent was getting his numbers. Others said his statement was mathematically impossible or avoided the question entirely.
One commenter wrote that he could not say something like that with complete certainty. Another summed it up by asking, “What job growth?”
Federal Reserve offers a different view
Bessent’s comments also clashed with recent warnings from Jerome Powell, the chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
In October, Powell said the labor market was losing momentum. He warned that AI is allowing companies to do more work with fewer employees.
“Job creation is pretty close to zero,” Powell said. He also suggested that payroll data may overstate job gains once adjustments are removed.
Powell added that many organizations have announced layoffs, often pointing directly to AI as a reason. “Much of the time they’re talking about AI and what it can do,” he said.
Another moment that upset viewers
Later in the same interview, Bessent appeared to make another comment that caught viewers’ attention.
He said, “I think 2026 will be a great year for growth, inflation and the American people the president works for every day.”
Ingraham did not react to the mention of inflation and moved on. Viewers, however, quickly noticed.
“Did he just slip up and say inflation?” one person asked. Another joked that inflation would be good for the government, not for ordinary people.
For many viewers, the moment added to their frustration and reinforced doubts about the claims made during the interview.
