Ahead of Election Day 2020, Donald Trump told supporters that a Joe Biden presidency would “unleash an economic disaster of epic proportions” and force the country “into depression.” We now know, of course, that the predictions were spectacularly wrong; the United States under Biden has seen a dramatic economic recovery, and Americans are now benefiting from the strongest economy on the planet.
In theory, this would be around the time that the former president offered some kind of explanation for being wrong. In practice, Trump is simply recycling the same false predictions. At an event over the weekend, for example, the GOP presidential nominee, pointing to a claim no credible observers have actually made, argued that some believe “if Trump isn’t elected, this country is going to go into a depression the likes of which you had in 1929.”
Trump: And if Trump isn't elected, this country is going to go into a depression the likes of which you had in 1929… The stock market gained, they think, is because it looks like we're going to win the election. pic.twitter.com/NoX7PSJlqw
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2024
This is, of course, effectively identical to what the Republican predicted four years ago. He was wrong then, and there’s obviously no reason to believe the absurd claim has improved with age.
But it’s not just the economy. Trump said crime rates would get worse under Biden, and instead they’ve improved dramatically.
On energy policy, in late October 2020, the then-incumbent president declared at a rally that a Biden presidency would mean “no heating in the winter, no air conditioning in the summer, no electricity during peak hours.”
Around the same time, Trump told voters: “Under Biden, there will no be no school, no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgivings, no Easters, no Christmases, and no Fourth of July.”
How’d that one turn out? In August 2020, he also predicted that if Biden were to win, “we will end up with one very boring socialist country that will go to hell.” Four years later, capitalism remains intact, there’s nothing boring about the United States, and I’m pleased to report that the country isn’t going to hell. I don’t doubt that Trump will continue to make ridiculous predictions in the coming months, but sensible observers should take note: This guy’s crystal ball clearly doesn’t work.
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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