U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 3 percent in the second quarter, showing an impressive performance for the economy through an elevated interest rate environment set by the Federal Reserve. Three percent growth in the Commerce Department's third estimate of GDP performance confirmed the second estimate, which also came in at 3 percent. Both were up from 1.6-percent growth in the first quarter.
The standard Republican line about Trump's economic performance is that 2020, when there was a recession as a direct result of a pandemic, shouldn't count. But even if we exclude 2020, economic growth in the United States has been stronger under Biden/Harris than under Trump/Pence.
With fewer than 40 days remaining before Election Day, this probably isn't the news Republicans wanted to see.
In the Republicans' version of reality, the brief August Wall Street slide was obviously Vice President Kamala Harris' fault. The Republican National Committee hyped the "Great Kamala Crash of 2024," and the Trump campaign had produced and circulated on social media a video tying the vice president to Monday's dip in the markets. By the afternoon, the Trump forces had turned "KamalaCrash" into a "trending" subject on X.
As September comes to end, Americans are no longer hearing much about the "Kamala Crash," in large part because there's been no crash. All of the Wall Street losses from earlier in the month have been regained, and economic growth in the United States continues to quite good.
If voters are supposed to believe that Harris is directly responsible for the world's largest economy, how much credit are Trump and the GOP prepared to give the incumbent vice president for 3% GDP growth?
As for the Republicans' crystal ball, four years ago, Trump told supporters that Democratic policies would "unleash an economic disaster of epic proportions" and force the country "into depression." He's begun making nearly identical predictions ahead of Election Day 2024.
Everything Trump said was wrong - and he hasn't even tried to explain why his predictions were so hilariously misplaced, or why anyone should believe his new predictions in light of his awful track record.
As with most things, economic trends are not controllable in the way one talks about them is. I can only imagine how it would look if Trump were running on the economy over the last 4 years after Covid instead of against it. Who am I kidding? We all know what Trump would be saying - and this time rightly so. He'd say today is the best economy ever as the Dow Jones continues to reach record highs, GDP growth exceeds Trump's best years and inflation finally appears to be tamed for the moment. The US leads the world in oil production and exports while wage growth is outpacing inflation.Reality has a very strong Biden/Harris bias these days regardless of what Trump's gaslighting tv commercials are telling Americans about our current economic state.
