Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela “take away” from President Donald Trump talking about the economy.
York emphasized a column he wrote in December that argued that it’s Trump’s job to “stay focused” on the economy.
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“If you remember, the administration seemed to have remembered that the midterms are coming up and that they needed to do more on the economy and to talk more on the economy,” York said on Fox Business’s Kudlow.
York highlighted that the Trump administration was focusing on the economy through the president’s prime-time speech and various trips around the country where he held rallies focused on affordability.
Since the United States captured former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has dominated the news, York argued.
Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela and that it might take a while for a new leadership transition to take place in the country, following the military operation.
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“Less than a month later [since his affordability speeches], he does Venezuela, and that just becomes this huge thing because it’s going to last quite awhile,” York said. “Even the president told the New York Times it could take quite a long time to settle the aftereffects of this Venezuela action.”
“So does that take away from Trump talking about the midterms? I think it does, and that’s not a good thing,” York added.