The more Americans have confronted evidence of economic turmoil, the more Donald Trump has tried to blame discouraging news on Joe Biden, despite the inconvenient fact that the Republican’s claims have been demonstrably ridiculous. The incumbent president effectively reached the point at which he asked the public to believe that he deserves all of the credit when there’s good news, and Biden deserves all of the blame when there’s bad news.
When Trump sat down with NBC News’ Kristen Welker for his latest “Meet the Press” interview, he stopped implicitly making this argument and started explicitly making this argument.
“I really mean this,” he declared. “I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy.”
It’s a “heads I win, tails you lose” approach to political rhetoric that’s become a staple of Trump’s perspective. Polls that look flattering to the president are to be believed; polls that look discouraging to Trump are to be discarded as “fake” results resulting from an elaborate conspiracy. Economic data that tells the White House what it wants to hear must be seen as proof of the president’s genius; economic data that offers bad news should be attributed entirely to his Democratic predecessor.
It’s a profoundly cynical perspective, rooted in the idea that Americans are easily fooled.
Meanwhile, in the same interview, Trump appeared to suggest that the United States might soon face a recession — and he’s all right with that. NBC News reported:
Trump told Welker that the U.S. would be “OK” in the event of a short-term recession on the way to what he predicts, long term, will be a rollicking economy when his policies take full effect. “Look, yeah. Everything’s OK,” he said, adding: “I said, this is a transition period.”
The on-air comments came nearly a month after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the administration’s agenda is so worthwhile that it’d be “worth it“ if the United States’ economy slid into a recession.
Evidently, the president agrees.
Memories can be short when it comes to political rhetoric, but before the election, Trump was only too pleased to tell the electorate that he’d deliver results on “day one.” A vote for the Republican was a vote for immediate prosperity.
There were no caveats. No references to “eventual” prosperity. Nothing about periods of “economic transition.” The idea that there might be a recession — that would be “OK” and “worth it” — wasn’t part of the pitch. It’s precisely why the president has been so eager of late to rewrite recent history. “I said all of these things during my campaign,” Trump told ABC News last week. “I said, ‘You’re going to have a transition period.’” He added that his supporters “did sign up” for economic pain. A Washington Post fact-check report added soon after, “That’s false. We can find no evidence he ever even hinted this. Our search of campaign transcripts finds he used the word ‘transition’ only when referring to the transition period between administrations or men transitioning to women. Attacking transgender people was a big part of his campaign — but that’s not the same thing.” If there is a recession, it appears Trump will likely tell Americans, “Well, this is what you voted for.” If recent history is any guide, Republicans will eagerly tout the talking point, but the repetition won’t turn fiction into fact. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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