Day 898: For the third time in two weeks, Trump thanks himself for Obama’s economy

Barack Obama inherited a recession from George W. Bush, and turned the economy around through a series of shrewd decisions and time. By the time Donald Trump was inaugurated, the stock market was humming, the employment rate was shrinking, economic numbers were overwhelmingly positive. An empty seat in the Oval Office could have done nothing and things would have continued on the same trajectory for a while.

The markets have done far better under Obama than Trump so far.

When it comes to talking himself up, Trump in particular has compared himself to Barack Obama. So, how do the two presidents measure up in terms of growth in major indexes, measured between their inauguration and May 31 of their third year in office?

The short answer is that Trump has quite a way to go. Under Obama, the S&P 500 grew by 56.4%. The Dow Jones Industrials Average was up 50.6% and the Nasdaq, 92.9%.

The numbers under Trump were 21.4% for the S&P 500, 25.2% for the Dow, and 34.2% for Nasdaq.

Still, Trump would take credit for the sun rising every morning if he thought a handful of voters in swing states would believe him. Trump’s ridiculousness has gotten to the level that he is frequently thanking himself for the economy. Three times over the past two weeks, including Saturday, did Trump thank himself.

Trump’s economic policy could charitably be described as uneven. His frequent babbling and implementing of tariffs has caused trade wars and injected uncertainty into market. His 2017 tax cuts for corporations largely did nothing for American consumers, while trying to goose the markets even more.

Nevertheless, he is publicly thanking himself over and over again, all but begging others to chime in. Ironically, while no one really believes him, Trump has described himself as “humble” on many occasions, and even compared his humility to that of the pope.

898 days in, 564 to go

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