Batya Ungar-Sargon, who identifies as a "MAGA leftist," boldly asserted on Thursday that President Barack Obama's initial action in office was to pass the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was meant to stabilize financial institutions during the 2008 crisis. She reiterated her stance the next day on Twitter, accusing Obama of prioritizing Wall Street over Main Street, while simultaneously supporting Donald Trump’s tariffs as a means of helping ordinary Americans.

TARP was actually signed into law by George W. Bush on October 3, 2008, before Obama was even elected president and well ahead of his swearing-in. During her appearance on CNN Newsnight with Abby Philip, Ungar-Sargon lamented the experience of the millions who lost their homes during the Great Recession and lashed out at Obama for providing financial support to the banks responsible for the crisis, suggesting that he favored corporate interests over struggling citizens.

With a background in Marxist academia, Ungar-Sargon has since embraced a more populist, nationalist rhetoric reminiscent of Steve Bannon, advocating for Trump's trade policies as beneficial for "forgotten" Americans. She frames Trump's tariffs as a necessary action in the fight for the heartland and links them to addressing wider societal issues such as masculinity.

Despite her passionate defense of Trump's approach to tariffs, her central premise about TARP being an Obama initiative is fundamentally incorrect. The TARP legislation was passed during a critical time in 2008 as a response to an impending economic catastrophe caused by failing banks due to the subprime mortgage crisis. Although the program underwent modifications under Obama, including regulations against hefty executive bonuses for TARP recipients, its inception belongs to his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Ungar-Sargon continued to advocate her perspective on social media, but her assertions have not gone unchallenged. Various political commentators have criticized her for misrepresenting historical facts, pointing out that Bush was the president during the 2008 crisis and highlighting the need for basic understanding of political history before making such claims publicly. Such mistakes have sparked backlash over her perceived rewriting of economic history and the importance of accountability in political discourse.