Following last week’s release of the redacted Mueller Report, Donald Trump has faced plenty of criticism from the news media. While the president hoped the report would end questions about Russia and obstruction, that certainly has not happened.
The president took to Twitter today to attack those who dare critique the job he is doing in the White House. According to Trump, the strong economy means that no media outlets should be able to disparage him.
Trump wrote on Twitter, “In the ‘old days,’ if you were President and you had a good economy you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, ‘It’s the economy stupid.’ Today, I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history…and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!”
In the “old days” if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, “It’s the economy stupid.” Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history…and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2019
The president has often claimed that the current economy is the best in US history. There are certainly some encouraging features. Job growth, which began under President Obama, has continued to be strong.
Under Trump, GDP growth has also been good. It still, however, falls far below the booming numbers of the post-war years and the late 1990’s. Obama’s presidency also featured good GDP numbers. According to the Washington Post, “Trump has seen growth top 4 percent in one quarter, but Obama topped it three times during his term and in one quarter topped 5 percent.”
There are also negatives to the economic state under Trump. Wage growth has been stagnant during his term and barely above inflation. His tax cuts have done nothing to improve these numbers.
Deficits are also projected to reach $1 trillion by 2020. Trump had promised to eliminate the National Debt, but his tax cuts have only helped to grow the number.