Former President Donald Trump joined “Kudlow” on FOX Business for a wide-ranging interview where he slammed President Biden’s handling of the economy as well as attacks on his trademark theme, “Make America Great Again.”

On “Kudlow,” host Larry Kudlow presented Trump with several recent and comparative economic statistics, contrasting 2.1 million jobs created in the first 30 months of Biden’s term versus 4.9 million during the same length of his tenure.

Kudlow also asked Trump about the difference between the 2.65% mortgage rate at the end of his tenure versus the current 7.51% figure at present day – as well as the 20% spike in grocery prices versus an average 1.9% inflation rate four years ago.

Trump said the 1.9% figure was a “perfect number” because economists have stressed to him 2% is the target inflation rate.

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He called Biden’s economy and the president’s condemnations of the Trump economy “a disgrace,” – suggesting the Democrat has routinely exaggerated his economic prowess with claims of 13 million new jobs or nearly one million manufacturing jobs having been created since 2021.

“No one can find them,” he said. “[M]aybe [they’re counting the] recovery from COVID,” Trump said, later adding that the key to curbing inflation is bringing down energy prices, which he said affect both corporate and personal economies.

Kudlow played a montage of Biden slamming “MAGA Republicans” and the “MAGA” political platform, including instances when the president claimed the mantra “double[s] down on the same failed policies of the past,” and claimed MAGA is an iteration of “a top-down, trickle-down economics [that] never ever worked.”

Trump riffed that in each of the examples, he was afraid Biden would not be able to finish his teleprompter-displayed remarks.

“It’s amazing because you watch him, you don’t even think he’s going to get through the sentence – the stopping and the halting,” he said.

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“But this guy is advising us he is the one negotiating with other countries. And, you know, we’re going to end up in a world war. So beyond taxes, I’m talking about [how] we have a man that’s grossly incompetent.”

Trump said Biden “doesn’t understand what MAGA means” and that he wouldn’t have an off-the-cuff definition for the slogan or platform if prompted.

“He would not be able to say ‘Make America Great Again’ — He’s always saying ‘MAGA — those MAGA people’. But if you would say ‘what does MAGA stand for’, he wouldn’t know,” he said.

In one case, Biden spoke on Independence Mall in Philadelphia in a speech wherein he suggested adherents to the MAGA philosophy represent a threat to democracy.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden warned in the September 2022 speech.

Trump said he will be sticking with the “Make America Great Again” slogan because the nation needs to reclaim the heights he brought following former President Barack Obama’s term.

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“You have to use it because we don’t have a great country. We have a country that’s a laughingstock all over the world. We have a president who can’t properly represent us. He goes to meetings in foreign countries and he makes a fool out of himself. He’s a fool,” he said.

Trump added he can easily picture world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping laughing at the state of America under Biden.

He later suggested Biden is not willing to take the same tough tact toward either leader, recounting a time when France was threatening what Reuters described at the time as a digital services tax on American tech firms.

Trump told Kudlow that during the 2019 situation, he was told Macron planned to go forward with the levy, so he personally called Paris to object – and warn Macron that doing so would result in a 100% tariff on French wine imports.

On Twitter – now known as “X” – at the time, Trump wrote he would announce a “substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly” before quipping that “American wine is better than French wine.”

Trump told Kudlow he is the only president that has or could pull off such tough diplomacy, saying instead, Biden implements tougher restrictions on his own people – in the form of regulations, especially in respect to green energy.

He said Biden essentially undid his administration’s home appliance deregulation in the name of climate change, and effectively has left Americans with insufficiently low-water dishwashers and clothes-washers and showerheads that lack proper pressure.

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“[If] you have beautiful hair like this,” he quipped of his famed coif, “I want to get out of this – I want to take a shower, wash my hair, and you have these things where the water just drips out it can hardly come at you – it’s brutal.”

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Ford is readying plans for its white-collar salaried employees to step in and keep parts flowing in the instance that its blue-collar union workers walk off the job next month amid threats that the United Auto Workers are preparing to strike at Detroit’s Big Three automakers.

The Detroit Free Press first reported that Ford is holding meetings with salaried workers like engineers to coordinate and prepare them for filling in at warehouses and operating forklifts to assure dealerships and customers that they are still able to obtain vehicle parts if operations shut down.

The outlet obtained a recording of a Ford manager explaining the plans to salaried employees, along with internal company documents providing details.

“We are working hard to reach a new deal. But, like we do for any scenario where customer service could be interrupted, we need to plan for the possibility of a UAW strike,” the manager says in the audio. “Our customers and dealers are counting on us to ship parts so we can keep Ford vehicles on the road.”

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The unnamed manager explained, “The continued operation of our Ford customer service depots will make the difference between first responders being able to respond to emergencies or not, utility trucks being able to respond to power outages or not, customers making it to work or not, and customers accessing health care or not. This is our core purpose for the company, giving people the freedom to move. That’s why we are preparing to supply dealer part orders in the event of a strike.”

Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch confirmed the preparations to FOX Business and said in a statement, “We have a responsibility to our customers and dealers to ship the parts that keep Ford vehicles on the road – especially to keep first responders and other essential services running.”

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Enoch added, “Like we would for any scenario where customer service could be interrupted, Ford is planning for the possibility of a work stoppage. Safety and customer service are top priorities for us.”

The UAW has repeatedly threatened that its 150,000 members at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler owner Stellantis are prepared to strike if new deals are not reached in ongoing contract negotiations by the Sept. 14 deadline. The labor union said votes on strike authorization will take place next week.

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Ford employs more hourly UAW members than any other automaker, and it said in a statement last week that the company looks “forward to working with the UAW on creative solutions” during the negotiations. But as the UAW noted last week, the clock is ticking on the talks.

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