Payne also made blatantly false statements about the “media” supposedly “trying to talk the economy into a recession last year”. And that’s NOT what happened at all.

In reality, the economy has mostly continued to recover from the W Recession, along the same trajectory it was on with President Obama. In 2018, there was a sugar high effect from the GOP Tax Transfer, as the super-wealthy received massive tax cuts. There was also a sugar high factor that came from some goosed-down withholding on people’s weekly paychecks starting in January 2018, so that working class and middle class employees saw a bit more every week, and then of course spent it.

But 2018 also included a terrible final quarter, where Pence’s childish spokesman undid all the gains of the first three quarters by instigating a massive tariff war with China and gloating about it. This wasn’t “the media” talking anyone into a problem – it was Pence’s childish spokesman.

2019 saw the stock market recover from that hole, which is why the year’s results look better in the short term. 2019 also saw the working class and particularly the middle class suddenly realize in March that the Tax Transfer had actually hurt them in many cases. People’s expected tax refunds in 2019 were replaced in millions of cases by large tax bills, since their tax burdens had been increased but their deductions had been erased – and the lowered withholding only meant that they owed even more. And those voters are going to get a reminder of how bad the Tax Transfer hurt them again in 2020 – and one would think they’d remember that hit when they go to the polls in November.

Fox News should ask itself why the Pence White House continues to be so unpopular in spite of the economy continuing to benefit from the improvement seen under President Obama. Under normal circumstances, Pence should be at an 80 percent approval at this time. The reality is that the Pence White House has been hateful to everyone but its limited base, and most voters aren’t happy with them. And the thing about voters who are feeling relatively comfortable when they get into a voting booth is that they tend to remember that this was the White House that put children in cages, that cheerled bigotry and that skyrocketed their taxes. Not to mention that this White House was just impeached for abuse of power and obstruction.

The only thing outpacing norms is Payne’s sycophancy. While the typical Fox News host merely gently kisses Trump’s rosy red butt cheeks, Charles enthusiastically sucks the flesh off Dear Leader’s ass.

If presidencies were reversed the lower third would read ‘Obama Fails, Can’t Keep Pace With Dear Leader’s’. But what do you expect from a ‘news’ cable franchise that hired the Misinformer of the Year, John Solomon?

Not sure what is funniest – the SNL Pirro, the real Pirro or the ridiculous contortions Fox’s ‘experts’ go through to pretend the great lump is a successful president.