* President Donald Trump’s contentious speech on the economy Wednesday night contained his usual exaggerations and falsehoods, but his most prominent lie was one that too many have come to accept as truth.
* Trump opened his remarks with it. Speaking of the nation’s economy, he said: *“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess.”*
* **No, he didn’t.** Trump inherited a strong and improving economy and he has made a mess of it. Blaming his predecessor is the foundation of Trump’s defense of his economic bungling. It’s a dodge he repeated when he came to North Carolina Friday for a speech in Rocky Mount.
* The event was part of the president’s reluctant outreach to Americans who are souring on the economy even as Trump rates it as “A +++++.” The president’s unwillingness to acknowledge the high cost of living is often said to be a repeat of former President Joe Biden’s political mistake.
* That, too, is false. It’s true that Biden and his advisers were slow to realize the persistence of inflation and the economic hangover from the pandemic. But it’s also true that the economy was improving rapidly.
>**Under Biden, unemployment was near a historic low.** Inflation had dropped from 9% to 3%. Wages were rising, especially for low earners. The stock market and corporate profits were strong. The government was making massive investments in infrastructure and low-cost renewable energy.
* Gerald Cohen, chief economist with the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the economy Trump inherited “looked pretty strong going into the beginning of the year.”
* Trump campaigned as if the economy was in a free fall that only he could reverse.
* In a speech in Asheville in August 2024, he said, “Vote Trump and your incomes will soar, your savings will grow, young people will be able to afford a home, and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before.”
* That’s not what happened. Instead, Trump imposed sweeping, disruptive and inflation-fueling tariffs. He has taken a Draconian approach to immigration that is depriving businesses of workers. His cuts in university research grants is slowing scientific progress and hurting regional economies, especially in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
>“If it weren’t for the tariffs, you would be seeing inflation settling lower,” said Cohen, a former U.S. Treasury official during the Obama administration. And the crackdown on immigration, he said, “is definitely having an effect. One reason the unemployment rate isn’t higher is because the labor force is shrinking.”
MidnightMimiX on
Inheriting a mess is the excuse people use after they wreck something that was working
LockheedMartinLuther on
It’s nice to see a news outlet using the proper word “lie”, rather than the cowardly “false claim”.
Historical_Bend_2629 on
Always a victim. He is an unmitigated mess of a destructive personality.
At one point, the Trump administration was claiming that Biden’s economy was “fake good” and everyone “needed to feel a little pain” for a correction.
These people are so full of shit. What’s scary is people will eat it all up with a spoon.
Different-Pin-9854 on
No you did not, stop with the lies.
Historical_Bend_2629 on
Interesting that he puts it in terms of inheritance. Let us go there. You father was a crazy mess of a father, and you are mess as a father. Lots of money, and a big, crazy mess. Sociopaths raising sociopaths. And given a green light by ignorance and fear.
Swagtagonist on
It’s been a mess since Trump fucked it up the first time.
justbunnies on
Things were slowly picking up, you old pedo bastard.
Choice-of-SteinsGate on
The Republican party claims often and loudly that the Biden administration was directly responsible for the economic problems we faced during the pandemic and beyond.
But it is far more nuanced than this and simply not the case. Sadly, MAGA isn’t all that partial towards nuance.
Let’s start with the fact that a financial crisis emerged towards the end of the last two (three?) Republican administrations. A Democrat was elected in the aftermath of these disasters and became responsible for overseeing an economic recovery.
How did Republicans respond? They chose to concentrate most of their energy on non-governing; committing to scathing, partisan and performative blame games that tried to hold Democrats accountable for the economic fallout of these financial emergencies.
Instead of addressing economic issues head on, Republicans chose to obstruct the Democratic party’s legislative efforts at all costs while escalating their culture wars and driving a wedge between Americans during a time of financial insecurity and economic crisis.
Unfortunately, it was very effective. In the run up to the 2024 election, a large swath of the electorate believed that Republicans, and Trump specifically, were “better for the economy.” But they were mistaken. Especially accounting for Trump’s currently abysmal ratings on his handling of the economy—an issue he primarily campaigned on no less.
It’s no surprise that a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job as president, his approval ratings have been consistently underwater because he hasn’t addressed the immediate problems that Americans care most about in any sort of fundamental way.
Trump has been mostly fixated on pageantry, pomp and circumstance, on exploiting his power to obstruct justice; on using the presidency to enrich himself, his family, and his wealthy benefactors; on weaponizing the government against his political opponents; on covering up his corruption scandals; on his own personal vanity projects; and among other things, on transforming the government and presidency into a dictatorship and kleptocracy that benefits a select few at the expense of most Americans.
Nevertheless, Trump supporters continue to blame Joe Biden and Democrats for inflation and every conceivable economic problem that arose during the pandemic ; ignoring the unforeseen circumstances and all of the contingent economic factors that contributed to an unavoidable, global economic disaster.
The pandemic impacted the world economy, Incumbent parties lost support for their candidates, and government spending increased globally.
Voters simply didn’t know or care to hear that under Biden, the US saw one of the strongest and fastest economic recoveries in the world, so much so that it became the envy of other nations.
But Trump said the word “groceries” repeatedly and convinced enough low informed voters that he could fix everything on “day one.”
Trump managed to win on this bad faith messaging; inheriting a growing economy for the *second* time—and an economy that Trump helped destabilize within his first 100 days in office thanks in no small part to his kleptocratic, reckless and vindictive trade, tariff and domestic policies.
Policies that have led to higher prices for American consumers, volatile supply and demand fluctuations, trade wars and retaliation from trade partners, slowed job growth, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, stock market volatility, among other things, and all while he continues to escalate economic and diplomatic tensions between the US, its allies, trade partners and foreign competitors.
There’s also Trump’s “big beautiful bill” that amounts to a massive redistribution of wealth, spends needlessly on national security, and explodes the debt and deficit, all while his cuts to healthcare and food assistance don’t even begin to remotely offset the costs of his other policies.
As to why voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy:
The Trump administration is adding significantly the debt and deficit; issuing unilateral, excessive and illegal tariffs that are raising costs, hurting domestic industries and destabilizing global trade while damaging our relationships with allies.
The government is obfuscating economic data and lying to investors; straining our economic and geopolitical relationships with allies and trade partners while ignoring inflation, labor shortages and poor jobs figures.
The Trump administration is distorting facts and eliminating transparency by dismantling independent oversight and firing directors and qualified civil servants without cause; stripping them of their protections and replacing them with MAGA loyalists.
The Trump regime is also appointing billionaires, corporate cronies, special interests, plutocrats, and rich MAGA donors, extremists and sycophants into high ranking positions of power within the government; keeping that revolving door swinging.
Trump and Republicans are providing tax breaks and incentives for massive corporations and rich people. Costs that are not being offset by policies that gut social programs, slash funding for healthcare and food assistance, that defund and/or dismantle community support structures, public health and environmental initiatives, and the agencies responsible for protecting consumers and regulating predatory financial institutions.
The Trump administration is literally taking from the poor to give to the rich and ushering in the greatest redistribution of wealth in a generation.
Trump’s legislation invests heavily in excessive national security measures so he can federalize the military and local law enforcement to centralize authoritarian control over the country. These costs are certainly not being paid for by provisions included in Trump’s big ugly bill.
The government is pursuing a kleptocratic agenda by concentrating economic power and resources into the hands of a small group of political and wealthy elites while the rest of Americans suffer under economic tyranny and from financial hardship brought on by Trump’s own policies.
Trump showed Americans how out of touch he is and where his priorities lie as he threw tone deaf, elaborate parties and demolished the White House to make way for an invasive and increasingly expensive “ballroom” while millions lost access to their benefits and as the government remained shut down.
Trump has shamelessly monetized the presidency to the tune of billions, engaging in massive insider enrichment and accepting bribes, political contributions and lavish gifts from billionaires, CEOs, foreign governments and autocrats in exchange for economic and defense deals, political favors, lax regulations, and influence and access to the president.
Trump has pushed crypto-friendly policies that directly benefit him and his family, his political connections and investors in Trump family meme coins and businesses.
Trump is intimidating American companies and CEOs—like a Mafia don—into giving the government a financial stake in their businesses and political leverage over them and how they run their companies.
Trump has also been pressuring and bullying the Fed board, ignoring the independence of these agencies.
He threatens them and their jobs until they submit to his demands, or he replaces them with loyalists who align with him on monetary policy.
Donald Trump and his allies say that this is the “golden” age of America. No, Trump is ushering in another “gilded” age of America.
NubEnt on
Technically, he inherited the mess he started, that was improving under his predecessor, and is now making worse again.
cytherian on
No, Trump inherited a recovering economy that had been torqued by Trump’s horribly inept handling of the pandemic. He did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to assuage the impact of the pandemic on the US supply chain. It seeded inflation to come under Biden’s watch.
Ok-disaster2022 on
He handed over a mess and left a lot of Republicans who would criticize and impead any progress Biden could make on it. But Biden still produced a half decent infrastructure Build Back Better Bill that Republicans voted against them campaigned on voting for to their constituents. Biden handed over a stable economy that was well on it way to full Obama level recovery (not stellar but a recover non the less). Pedo Trump took that and shit all over it.
I told my sister in November if Trump tries to claim in April that the economy is doing amazing it’s all because of what Biden had left. Instead Pedo Trump starts trade wars.
TheFutureIsAFriend on
You know…if you knew you were inheriting a mess…you didn’t have to run.
Also, genius move you arrogant POS: lets levy tariffs on all of our global trading partners so we kneecap every – single – American business in the process.
Dude doesn’t know wtf “trade deficit” or “trade debt” mean, and neither do the set of toadies he has as advisors.
rollem on
The trajectory of the Biden years was “bad but improving” and the trajectory of the past year has been “hold your breath, 🌮’s about to post something crazy” and it’s impossible to plan in this environment.
unaskthequestion on
He said in an interview in May 2025:
“Good parts are the Trump economy, bad parts are the Biden economy”
vaxick on
Look in the mirror idiot, this is all you. You’re 79-years-old and acting like a 9-year-old blaming somebody else on the playground for what you caused.
TheGOPisTheDeepState on
Biden inherited a broken economy, while Trump inherited a steady recovery and ran it into the ground in record time. Trumpcession 1.0 > Democrats repairing > Trumpcession 2.0. History shows Republicans consistently underperform on the economy, and usually are recession bound.
SavageSan on
This is the second time he’s mishandled a good economy. The economy Obama handed him was much stronger, and he ruined it with tax cuts for the rich, a mishandled pandemic, and PPP scams.
panelbeater352 on
No, you made a mess. It was being cleaned up then you made a mess again. Just like the toddler you are.
Safe_Site_6745 on
…with a lying, manipulative, and profiteering pedophile at the head of your country. You Americans are in deep trouble!
Purgii on
Biden inherited a mess.
COVID was killing a record amount of Americans with no plan for vaccine roll-out. Biden accelerated that beyond what brain deads at Fox News thought possible.
Inflation was inevitable after a global shutdown. The US dealt with it better than most nations under Biden and got it back under control much faster than most.
He renewed confidence among allies that were disillusioned under Trump.
Trump screwed up the gains the US had in record time. Appointed an idiot who’s undermining vaccine efficacy. Instituted tariffs which has accelerated inflation and turned the US back into an unreliable ally.
geoffvro on
If trump inherited a mess then Biden inherited inflation
25 Comments
Snippet:
* President Donald Trump’s contentious speech on the economy Wednesday night contained his usual exaggerations and falsehoods, but his most prominent lie was one that too many have come to accept as truth.
* Trump opened his remarks with it. Speaking of the nation’s economy, he said: *“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess.”*
* **No, he didn’t.** Trump inherited a strong and improving economy and he has made a mess of it. Blaming his predecessor is the foundation of Trump’s defense of his economic bungling. It’s a dodge he repeated when he came to North Carolina Friday for a speech in Rocky Mount.
* The event was part of the president’s reluctant outreach to Americans who are souring on the economy even as Trump rates it as “A +++++.” The president’s unwillingness to acknowledge the high cost of living is often said to be a repeat of former President Joe Biden’s political mistake.
* That, too, is false. It’s true that Biden and his advisers were slow to realize the persistence of inflation and the economic hangover from the pandemic. But it’s also true that the economy was improving rapidly.
>**Under Biden, unemployment was near a historic low.** Inflation had dropped from 9% to 3%. Wages were rising, especially for low earners. The stock market and corporate profits were strong. The government was making massive investments in infrastructure and low-cost renewable energy.
* Gerald Cohen, chief economist with the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the economy Trump inherited “looked pretty strong going into the beginning of the year.”
* Trump campaigned as if the economy was in a free fall that only he could reverse.
* In a speech in Asheville in August 2024, he said, “Vote Trump and your incomes will soar, your savings will grow, young people will be able to afford a home, and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before.”
* That’s not what happened. Instead, Trump imposed sweeping, disruptive and inflation-fueling tariffs. He has taken a Draconian approach to immigration that is depriving businesses of workers. His cuts in university research grants is slowing scientific progress and hurting regional economies, especially in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
>“If it weren’t for the tariffs, you would be seeing inflation settling lower,” said Cohen, a former U.S. Treasury official during the Obama administration. And the crackdown on immigration, he said, “is definitely having an effect. One reason the unemployment rate isn’t higher is because the labor force is shrinking.”
Inheriting a mess is the excuse people use after they wreck something that was working
It’s nice to see a news outlet using the proper word “lie”, rather than the cowardly “false claim”.
Always a victim. He is an unmitigated mess of a destructive personality.
https://i.imgur.com/muNH5GK.png
Shocker! Guy who lies keeps lying??
At one point, the Trump administration was claiming that Biden’s economy was “fake good” and everyone “needed to feel a little pain” for a correction.
These people are so full of shit. What’s scary is people will eat it all up with a spoon.
No you did not, stop with the lies.
Interesting that he puts it in terms of inheritance. Let us go there. You father was a crazy mess of a father, and you are mess as a father. Lots of money, and a big, crazy mess. Sociopaths raising sociopaths. And given a green light by ignorance and fear.
It’s been a mess since Trump fucked it up the first time.
Things were slowly picking up, you old pedo bastard.
The Republican party claims often and loudly that the Biden administration was directly responsible for the economic problems we faced during the pandemic and beyond.
But it is far more nuanced than this and simply not the case. Sadly, MAGA isn’t all that partial towards nuance.
Let’s start with the fact that a financial crisis emerged towards the end of the last two (three?) Republican administrations. A Democrat was elected in the aftermath of these disasters and became responsible for overseeing an economic recovery.
How did Republicans respond? They chose to concentrate most of their energy on non-governing; committing to scathing, partisan and performative blame games that tried to hold Democrats accountable for the economic fallout of these financial emergencies.
Instead of addressing economic issues head on, Republicans chose to obstruct the Democratic party’s legislative efforts at all costs while escalating their culture wars and driving a wedge between Americans during a time of financial insecurity and economic crisis.
Unfortunately, it was very effective. In the run up to the 2024 election, a large swath of the electorate believed that Republicans, and Trump specifically, were “better for the economy.” But they were mistaken. Especially accounting for Trump’s currently abysmal ratings on his handling of the economy—an issue he primarily campaigned on no less.
It’s no surprise that a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job as president, his approval ratings have been consistently underwater because he hasn’t addressed the immediate problems that Americans care most about in any sort of fundamental way.
Trump has been mostly fixated on pageantry, pomp and circumstance, on exploiting his power to obstruct justice; on using the presidency to enrich himself, his family, and his wealthy benefactors; on weaponizing the government against his political opponents; on covering up his corruption scandals; on his own personal vanity projects; and among other things, on transforming the government and presidency into a dictatorship and kleptocracy that benefits a select few at the expense of most Americans.
Nevertheless, Trump supporters continue to blame Joe Biden and Democrats for inflation and every conceivable economic problem that arose during the pandemic ; ignoring the unforeseen circumstances and all of the contingent economic factors that contributed to an unavoidable, global economic disaster.
The pandemic impacted the world economy, Incumbent parties lost support for their candidates, and government spending increased globally.
Voters simply didn’t know or care to hear that under Biden, the US saw one of the strongest and fastest economic recoveries in the world, so much so that it became the envy of other nations.
But Trump said the word “groceries” repeatedly and convinced enough low informed voters that he could fix everything on “day one.”
Trump managed to win on this bad faith messaging; inheriting a growing economy for the *second* time—and an economy that Trump helped destabilize within his first 100 days in office thanks in no small part to his kleptocratic, reckless and vindictive trade, tariff and domestic policies.
Policies that have led to higher prices for American consumers, volatile supply and demand fluctuations, trade wars and retaliation from trade partners, slowed job growth, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, stock market volatility, among other things, and all while he continues to escalate economic and diplomatic tensions between the US, its allies, trade partners and foreign competitors.
There’s also Trump’s “big beautiful bill” that amounts to a massive redistribution of wealth, spends needlessly on national security, and explodes the debt and deficit, all while his cuts to healthcare and food assistance don’t even begin to remotely offset the costs of his other policies.
As to why voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy:
The Trump administration is adding significantly the debt and deficit; issuing unilateral, excessive and illegal tariffs that are raising costs, hurting domestic industries and destabilizing global trade while damaging our relationships with allies.
The government is obfuscating economic data and lying to investors; straining our economic and geopolitical relationships with allies and trade partners while ignoring inflation, labor shortages and poor jobs figures.
The Trump administration is distorting facts and eliminating transparency by dismantling independent oversight and firing directors and qualified civil servants without cause; stripping them of their protections and replacing them with MAGA loyalists.
The Trump regime is also appointing billionaires, corporate cronies, special interests, plutocrats, and rich MAGA donors, extremists and sycophants into high ranking positions of power within the government; keeping that revolving door swinging.
Trump and Republicans are providing tax breaks and incentives for massive corporations and rich people. Costs that are not being offset by policies that gut social programs, slash funding for healthcare and food assistance, that defund and/or dismantle community support structures, public health and environmental initiatives, and the agencies responsible for protecting consumers and regulating predatory financial institutions.
The Trump administration is literally taking from the poor to give to the rich and ushering in the greatest redistribution of wealth in a generation.
Trump’s legislation invests heavily in excessive national security measures so he can federalize the military and local law enforcement to centralize authoritarian control over the country. These costs are certainly not being paid for by provisions included in Trump’s big ugly bill.
The government is pursuing a kleptocratic agenda by concentrating economic power and resources into the hands of a small group of political and wealthy elites while the rest of Americans suffer under economic tyranny and from financial hardship brought on by Trump’s own policies.
Trump showed Americans how out of touch he is and where his priorities lie as he threw tone deaf, elaborate parties and demolished the White House to make way for an invasive and increasingly expensive “ballroom” while millions lost access to their benefits and as the government remained shut down.
Trump has shamelessly monetized the presidency to the tune of billions, engaging in massive insider enrichment and accepting bribes, political contributions and lavish gifts from billionaires, CEOs, foreign governments and autocrats in exchange for economic and defense deals, political favors, lax regulations, and influence and access to the president.
Trump has pushed crypto-friendly policies that directly benefit him and his family, his political connections and investors in Trump family meme coins and businesses.
Trump is intimidating American companies and CEOs—like a Mafia don—into giving the government a financial stake in their businesses and political leverage over them and how they run their companies.
Trump has also been pressuring and bullying the Fed board, ignoring the independence of these agencies.
He threatens them and their jobs until they submit to his demands, or he replaces them with loyalists who align with him on monetary policy.
Donald Trump and his allies say that this is the “golden” age of America. No, Trump is ushering in another “gilded” age of America.
Technically, he inherited the mess he started, that was improving under his predecessor, and is now making worse again.
No, Trump inherited a recovering economy that had been torqued by Trump’s horribly inept handling of the pandemic. He did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to assuage the impact of the pandemic on the US supply chain. It seeded inflation to come under Biden’s watch.
He handed over a mess and left a lot of Republicans who would criticize and impead any progress Biden could make on it. But Biden still produced a half decent infrastructure Build Back Better Bill that Republicans voted against them campaigned on voting for to their constituents. Biden handed over a stable economy that was well on it way to full Obama level recovery (not stellar but a recover non the less). Pedo Trump took that and shit all over it.
I told my sister in November if Trump tries to claim in April that the economy is doing amazing it’s all because of what Biden had left. Instead Pedo Trump starts trade wars.
You know…if you knew you were inheriting a mess…you didn’t have to run.
Also, genius move you arrogant POS: lets levy tariffs on all of our global trading partners so we kneecap every – single – American business in the process.
Dude doesn’t know wtf “trade deficit” or “trade debt” mean, and neither do the set of toadies he has as advisors.
The trajectory of the Biden years was “bad but improving” and the trajectory of the past year has been “hold your breath, 🌮’s about to post something crazy” and it’s impossible to plan in this environment.
He said in an interview in May 2025:
“Good parts are the Trump economy, bad parts are the Biden economy”
Look in the mirror idiot, this is all you. You’re 79-years-old and acting like a 9-year-old blaming somebody else on the playground for what you caused.
Biden inherited a broken economy, while Trump inherited a steady recovery and ran it into the ground in record time. Trumpcession 1.0 > Democrats repairing > Trumpcession 2.0. History shows Republicans consistently underperform on the economy, and usually are recession bound.
This is the second time he’s mishandled a good economy. The economy Obama handed him was much stronger, and he ruined it with tax cuts for the rich, a mishandled pandemic, and PPP scams.
No, you made a mess. It was being cleaned up then you made a mess again. Just like the toddler you are.
…with a lying, manipulative, and profiteering pedophile at the head of your country. You Americans are in deep trouble!
Biden inherited a mess.
COVID was killing a record amount of Americans with no plan for vaccine roll-out. Biden accelerated that beyond what brain deads at Fox News thought possible.
Inflation was inevitable after a global shutdown. The US dealt with it better than most nations under Biden and got it back under control much faster than most.
He renewed confidence among allies that were disillusioned under Trump.
Trump screwed up the gains the US had in record time. Appointed an idiot who’s undermining vaccine efficacy. Instituted tariffs which has accelerated inflation and turned the US back into an unreliable ally.
If trump inherited a mess then Biden inherited inflation