CNN anchor Jake Tapper hammered President Donald Trump over his gaffe about “Americans’ financial situation” and his social media barrage on the eve of a high-stakes trip to China.

Trump spoke to reporters as he departed the White House for Beijing, China, on Tuesday afternoon, and dropped a bombshell response to a question about the effect of Americans’ financial struggles on his war decision-making.

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper flayed Trump over the gaffe, and his bonkers overnight posting binge:

TAPPER: Things are also not going so smoothly for President Trump here at home in the U.S., not just because of the high gas prices caused by the Iran war, which will cost you an average of $4.50 per gallon today. For the first time in three years, Americans wages are no longer outpacing inflation.

That is according to the new Bureau of Labor Statistics, which translates to life is getting less affordable and if you want to know how Americans feel about the state of the economy, look no further than our brand new CNN poll where 76 percent of the American adults polled say the cost of living is their family’s top economic problem, 77 percent say Trump’s policies have increased the local cost of living, and 75 percent say the war with Iran has had a negative impact on their personal financial situation.

So while hard working Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities and blaming the Iran war for at least some of that, surely the president is reading the room and focused on doing something about it, right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And as soon as this war is over, which will not be long, you’re going to see the golden age of America, frankly, and you’re seeing it now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?

TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about America’s financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. If the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So that’s the president saying out loud he does not think about Americans’ financial situations handing Democrats ready-made attack ads for midterms when he is talking about making a deal with Iran. And if you think perhaps he’s said something more nuanced or empathetic online, we look at his Truth Social page where, well, it looks like there was a rapid fire posting spree, more than 60 posts and repost after 10:30 p.m. last night and restarted again this morning filled with bogus conspiracy theories, off-color memes, a whole lot of nonsense, including an AI-generated cartoon of the Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, showing him eating tons of food and saying he’s too busy to keep Chicago safe. Shocker.

The president reposted former president, former general, rather, Mike Flynn claiming the 2020 election was stolen for the 4,000th time. The 2020 election was not stolen. None of Trump’s content that night, last night having to do with solving his very real growing political problems having to do with the U.S. economy.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.

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