Objectively, the news on the economy over the last few weeks has not been encouraging. November’s jobs report showed a miss of over 50%. Then yesterday’s inflation numbers dropped like a thermonuclear weapon on the White House’s narrative. After a week of colluding with the media and waging a PR war to try to convince people the economy is actually great, inflation was revealed to be 6.8%, the highest in 39 years.

Naturally, the polling has shown significant disapproval with the situation, whether we are talking about Joe Biden personally or the right-track/wrong-track numbers. Yet, instead of resetting their messaging, the White House has instead decided who’s really at fault here: You.

Yes, according to Jen Psaki, your concerns over the current economic malaise are not based in reality, but are, in fact, a condition of psychosis due to COVID-19.

A reporter asks why “more and more Americans” are saying the economy is on the wrong track.

Psaki: “People’s psychology on the economy, on how they’re experiencing things in the country right now, is related to Covid.” pic.twitter.com/FAORweEjY7

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) December 10, 2021

Pro-tip for Psaki: If you are going to try a Jedi mind-trick, then you’d better be a Jedi.

There are two parts to this idiocy, in my view. On the one hand, this shows how detached from reality the administration currently is. They do not want to accept that much of the country returned to normal life months ago (and in some cases, over a year ago). Most Americans are not walking around, terrified of COVID and shaping their economic views around the pandemic. That Psaki believes she can get away with suggesting the real problem with the country’s economic woes is the outlook of consumers due to COVID is stark evidence of the bubble she lives in. Most of the country does not reside in the Acela Corridor.

Of course, on the other hand, what Psaki is saying is just a lie, and I’m fairly certain she knows it. I understand she’s just a mindless mouthpiece for a senile president, but you can tell she’s starting to crack. Piling untruth on top of untruth has to be grating. Thus, we’ve started to get more and more snark like this.

REPORTER: "Does the president acknowledge that inflation is more entrenched and not transitory?"

PSAKI: "Doesn't really matter what you call it" pic.twitter.com/FaM6XQxMKb

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 10, 2021

It absolutely matters what you call the current inflation crisis. For almost a year, the administration insisted it was transitory, denigrating anyone who would suggest otherwise. Now, they want to say it’s out of bounds to revisit their own false statements? That’s not how any of this works unless you are a fact-checker at CNN.

As I’ve said before and will say many more times, you can’t lie to people about what they have in their bank account. It is not the “psychology” of COVID that is causing people to disapprove of the economy. Rather, it’s their lack of buying power due to terrible policy decisions by federal and (some) state governments. COVID could cease to exist tomorrow and the majority of Americans would still believe the economy is in bad shape because it is.

Fortunately for Republicans, the White House has no plans to do anything but double down on their current messaging woes.

In the bubble:

“White House officials say they have no plans to shift Mr. Biden’s messaging on economic issues, even as poll after poll shows his approval ratings in decline and voter worry over inflation swamping all other views of the economy.” https://t.co/i1o086LzOt

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 11, 2021

Far be it from me to tell the Biden administration how to not be unpopular. If this is the path they want to take, more power to them. I’m all for Democrats continuing to rush headlong toward the 2022 buzzsaw. Still, the absolute absurdity with which Biden and his handlers operate is jarring at times. You keep waiting for the survival instinct to kick in and some shift in messaging to occur, but that would require some semblance of shame, and that’s in short supply in this White House.