Day 1,182: Keep America Great? Trump calls U.S. a ‘developing nation in my book’

The United States has a GDP that equals the entire European Union plus Brazil and Canada. From a GDP per capita perspective, the U.S. is ranked in the top 10 in the world. None of the other eight countries with at least 140 million residents cracks the top 60 in that metric.

While there is income inequality and issues on the micro level, as a whole, the U.S. is exceedingly wealthy. By any sense of the phrase the U.S. is a highly developed and sophisticated country.

Except, apparently, to the guy selling red “Keep America Great” hats on his website.

Donald Trump gave remarks during what should have been a coronavirus briefing, and ended up ranting about China. During his gesticulating tirade he declared that “[the U.S. is] a developing nation, too, in my book.”

Developing nations have less industrialization, lower levels of human capital and lower GDP per capita when compared to other nations. The U.S. doesn’t come close to meeting any of those criteria.

Yet it’s not the first time Trump has made such a ridiculous claim.

Maybe the red hats for sale on Trump’s website will soon be revised to say “America’s Economy Is Less Developed Than Its Peers,” since apparently that’s what he believes.

1,182 days in, 280 to go

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