Eggs, Gas, Tariffs and the Propaganda of the Profoundly Ignorant
Karoline Leavitt sets the stage, and influencers perform the dumbest show in town.
Whenever I sit down at this keyboard after encountering yet another staggeringly stupid take, my mind drifts to an era when conservative pundits possessed not just voices, but thoughts—when principles weren’t optional accessories to their commentary. And yet, as I begin to write, I find myself constantly on the verge of typing the dreaded phrase: “There was a time.” It’s a crutch, an overused lament, lazy writing and yet undeniably true.
There was a time—distant though it now seems—when the self-styled conservative influencer class, fancied themselves a vigilant watchdog against government manipulation of economic data. No sooner would the Bureau of Labor Statistics release a Consumer Price Index (CPI) report than these self-proclaimed guardians of truth would pounce, poring over every footnote for the faintest hint of malfeasance, eager to expose how the mainstream media was complicit in massaging the numbers to suit the administration’s narrative. That was then. Although “then” was like 6 months ago when Biden was still President.
Now with Trump once again sitting in the Oval Office, in a turn that would be hilarious were it not so pathetic, these same influencers have become the very thing they swore to destroy. Today, they regurgitate administration-friendly economic spin with the fervor of a newly minted PR intern.
Karoline Leavitt and the Economics of the Profoundly Illiterate
I can’t even begin to talk about the influencer class economic illiteracy without mentioning the administrations own prime example of it. There are few spectacles in politics as excruciatingly awkward as a press secretary attempting to explain an administration’s economic policy without the faintest grasp of how economics actually works. It is a performance best described as an intellectual demolition derby—except instead of cars, the wreckage consists of basic economic principles, and instead of skilled drivers, we have Karoline Leavitt, whose approach to economic discourse appears to be a fusion of aggressive bluster and total incomprehension.
The most recent installment of this occurred yesterday when Leavitt was asked about tariffs. Now, tariffs, as any competent policymaker ought to know, are a tax on imported goods. They do not, as some protectionist simpletons would have you believe, “make the country richer.” Quite the opposite. They make goods more expensive for consumers, ignite retaliatory trade barriers, and often damage the very industries they were ostensibly designed to protect.
When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was confronted about the administration's tariff policy, specifically when asked about tariffs being a tax hike, she defensively claimed that tariffs are not a tax. She further asserted that tariffs are a tax cut for Americans, despite widespread economic understanding to the contrary. Instead of providing a substantive explanation, she became indignant at the very idea that her understanding of tariffs should be called into question. Her response, was:
“I think it’s insulting you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions this president has made”
How one can be insulted when you demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge is up to you, but this is the economic equivalent of insisting that gravity is a left-wing hoax and then reacting with outrage when someone demonstrates that objects still fall when dropped. It’s, quite simply, the politics of unchallenged ignorance—a conviction that if one says something loudly and confidently enough, the complexities of reality will cease to exist.
And here we arrive at the larger problem: Leavitt isn’t just an incompetent spokesperson. She’s the polished, official version of what the conservative influencer class has now become—a collection of economic illiterates who pretend to understand markets, inflation, and trade policy, but in reality, lack even the most rudimentary grasp of the subjects they speak about with such authority. This then get’s spread far and wide and repeated by those with even less of an understanding.
Witness the latest spectacle: a series of triumphalist claims, emanating from the digital sewers of Twitter and Telegram, that egg prices are down and gas prices are down—proof that all is well, the economy is thriving, and you should stop complaining.
Unfortunately there’s the small matter of reality, which, as it turns out, remains stubbornly unimpressed by influencer delusions.
The CPI Report and What It Actually Says
The February 2025 CPI report, released today, provides the unvarnished truth:
Egg prices rose 10.4% in February alone.
Over the past 12 months, egg prices have surged 58.8%.
Gas prices declined by 1.0% month-over-month, but they are down 3.1% year-over-year—a signal not of economic strength but of declining demand, often associated with recessionary pressure.
The influencers, however, have declared victory based on a daily fluctuation in commodity prices, as though a brief market correction could erase a year of punishing inflation. They found a single short-term decline in egg prices and pounced on it like a drowning man clutching at a deflating life vest.
That this is the level of economic sophistication one expects from TikTok conservatives isn’t surprising. What is surprising—indeed, downright
astonishing—is that they and their fanbase don’t seem to realize they’re doing the exact thing they once condemned.