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White House Rebuts Ariana Grande Over Instagram Critique, Citing Inflation, Ticketing Crackdown

The deputy press secretary issued a personalized statement that turned the repost into a broader fact-check over the administration’s claims.

Overview

  • Grande reshared activist Matt Bernstein’s post asking Trump voters if life had improved after 250 days, highlighting immigration sweeps, trans rights concerns, and free speech issues.
  • Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai replied using her song titles, asserting Trump ended Biden’s inflation crisis and signed an order that enabled the FTC to pursue Ticketmaster.
  • News outlets cited Labor Department data showing inflation rose to 2.9% in August, which qualified or contradicted the White House’s characterization.
  • Coverage noted the FTC had already announced a lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster earlier in the month over deceptive resale pricing practices.
  • Grande had not issued a direct follow-up, while Bernstein questioned the government’s priorities as funding talks threatened a shutdown.