Right-wing influencer claims Democrats will tank the economy so they can blame Trump

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said Thursday on Sean Hannity’s “Hang Out” podcast that Democrats would seek to deliberately weaken the U.S. economy over the next two years in an effort to hurt President Donald Trump politically.Shapiro, a founder of conservative media company The Daily Wire, told Hannity that congressional Democrats planned to push populist measures designed to look as though they were addressing the cost of living while actually slowing economic growth.“The Democrats right now have a strong incentive to basically crater the American economy over the course of the next two years and blame President Trump for it,” Shapiro said.According to Shapiro, this strategy involves targeting the artificial intelligence sector under the guise of protecting workers and addressing the cost of living, which he argued would appeal to the “legacy media” and uninformed voters. As an example, Shapiro pointed to opposition against AI infrastructure, referencing a recent campaign in which an activist gathered thousands of signatures to stop a planned $5 billion AI data center in Maryland.On Thursday’s episode of Sean Hannity’s ‘Hang Out’ podcast, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro predicted that congressional Democrats would intentionally damage the U.S. economy over the next two years (AFP/Getty)“I think they will offer, quote, unquote, affordability bills to help with the legacy media that aren’t actually about affordability,” Shapiro said. “They’ll say that the way we’re going to save your job is by destroying the AI industry, which is responsible for the vast majority of economic growth in the country right now, and they’ll do it in the name of populism.”He added that the resulting economic “fallout” would ultimately be pinned on Trump.Hannity appeared taken aback by the claim, letting out a long breath during their discussion of the midterm results before pressing Shapiro on whether he really meant it. Hannity predicted during his ‘Hang Out’ podcast that voters would experience ‘buyer’s remorse’ over the new congressional majorities within five months (AFP/Getty)“That is a powerful statement,” Hannity said. “They will purposefully crater the economy?” Hannity went on to suggest that voters would experience “buyer’s remorse” regarding the new congressional majorities within five months. He also questioned how Democrats might respond if the president attempted to find common ground on economic legislation.Naturally, Shapiro was unfazed and stuck to his talking points — the Dems will wreck it all just to spite Trump.