Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham grilled President Donald Trump on several issues during an interview at the White House on Monday.
While some might have expected The Ingraham Angle host to take it easy on the president given the network’s right-leaning content, she confronted Trump over his plans, one being his 50-year mortgage idea.
Highlights
- Laura Ingraham confronted Trump on his controversial 50-year mortgage plan, highlighting concerns about long-term debt and housing affordability.
- Trump blamed Biden and Jerome Powell for high interest rates while claiming the economy is the strongest it’s ever been.
- Ingraham pressed Trump on his plan to admit 600,000 Chinese students amid MAGA backlash, questioning its impact on American students.
The plan has gained criticism for potentially saddling homeowners with decades of extra debt, increasing total interest costs, and failing to address the root causes of the U.S. housing affordability crisis.
Laura Ingraham interviewed Donald Trump at the White House
Image credits: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
The average age for a first-time homebuyer in the U.S. is a record high at 40 years old.
Ingraham, discussing the figure with the president, noted his administration was trying to tackle out-of-reach housing costs.
“Yeah, but I inherited that. Look, you have to understand...” Trump interrupted, before Ingraham told him, “Right, but let me get to the question.”
She then brought up the 50-year mortgage idea which has faced “significant MAGA backlash” and asked, “Is that really a good idea?”
“It’s not even a big deal,” Trump responded. “I mean, you know, you go from 40 to 50 years.”
However, he was corrected by Ingraham, who said: “Thirty to 50.”
Trump defended the proposal saying all it meant was, “you pay less per month, you pay it over a longer period of time” as he blamed former President Joe Biden and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates fast enough.
“But even with interest rates up, the economy is the strongest it’s ever been,” Trump said.
To which Ingraham responded, “Well, then why are people saying they’re anxious about the economy? Why are they saying that?”
Trump replied, “I don’t know that they are saying that. I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
As well as mortgage rates and the economy, the interview touched on Trump’s plan to allow up to 600,000 Chinese students to study in America.
The August announcement sparked a MAGA meltdown and was widely seen as a reversal of policy.
“A lot of MAGA folks are not thrilled about this idea of hundreds of thousands of foreign students in the United States,” Ingraham said.
She continued to question why it was a “pro-MAGA position when so many American kids want to go to school” but are struggling to find places.
Trump conceded that if foreign students were banned from attending school, “you would have half the colleges in the United States go out of business.”
Ingraham questioned Trump on issues that have infuriated his MAGA fan base
Ingraham bluntly asked, “So what?” before Trump told her, “I think that’s a big deal.”
The host further pushed the issue, asking if the U.S. was dependent on China to fund its universities, and said the Chinese were “not the French” and claimed, “they spy on us, they steal our intellectual property.”
Not denying the claims, Trump asked, “You think the French are better?” with Ingraham responding, “Yeah.”
The president defended foreign students by saying he saw universities as a business.
“You don’t want to cut half of the people, half of the students from all over the world that are coming into our country, destroy our entire university and college system. I don’t want to do that.”
Then hitting back at MAGA criticism, Trump stated, “MAGA was my idea, it was nobody else’s idea. I know better than anybody else MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”
Trump’s Truth Social post offering a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers turning up to work during the government shutdown was also addressed.
Thousands of flights across the U.S. have been cancelled, with the FAA mandating flight reductions amid staffing shortages linked to controllers working without pay.
“Look, life is not so easy for anybody. Our country has never done better. We should not have had people leaving their jobs,” Trump told Ingraham.
“What I basically said the ones that stayed—there were a lot of them—I’m sending them a $10,000 bonus.”
“Where is that money coming from?” Ingraham asked.
Trump responded, “I don’t know. I will get it from some place. I always get the money from some place, regardless. It doesn’t matter.”