Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Trump supporter, sang praise for Trump’s economy during a Thursday afternoon appearance on Fox News. A clip of her comments soon went viral, drawing several scathing critiques highlighting the flaws in her memory.
Lost Paradise?
“Under Trump, we had a thriving economy,” Dr. Nesheiwat claimed on “Outnumbered,” a Fox program. “You could fill up your gas tank,” she continued, “and go for a movie.”
Forgetting Something?
“During the summer/winter of 2020, you literally couldn’t fill your gas tank or go to a movie,” one user on X commented in response to a video clip of Nesheiwat’s comments, “because there were gas supply delivery shortages and the movie theatres were shut down.”
External Circumstances
While some argue the pandemic wasn’t the fault of former President Donald Trump, others highlighted his controversial responses, which have been widely criticized for contributing to the virus’s spread.
Failed Response
One user on X commented that it was “funny” that Nesheiwat “conveniently” forgot how “millions lost their jobs and many hundreds of thousands died because Trump refused to take COVID seriously.”
False Memories
Trump’s economic policies have been widely criticized, including by conservatives. Earlier this week, a Fox News correspondent argued that Joe Biden’s economy far surpassed that of Trump’s.
Biden’s Achievements
Jessica Tarlov, the Fox correspondent, went on a half-minute-long defense of the supposedly “indefensible” Biden. They listed his achievements, from an “unheard-of” increase in GDP to increased economic confidence to positive economic ratings.
Formal Analysis
In 2021, ABC thoroughly analyzed the economic legacy of Trump’s presidency. What they found was largely negative.
Unemployment
Initially, Trump did well on unemployment, achieving a record low of 3.5%. However, unemployment skyrocketed during the pandemic. At the end of Trump’s term, unemployment was 6.7%, above the 4.8% he inherited from former President Barack Obama.
National Debt
Despite the Republican Party’s frequent complaints about the national debt, it increased to more than $7 trillion under Trump. In 2021, investigative outlet ProPublica warned that this debt would “weigh down the economy for years.”
Trickle-Up Economics
One of Trump’s first significant pieces of legislation was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of December 2017. By cutting corporate income tax from 35% to 21%, Trump effectively gave “trillions of dollars away to the wealthy,” a Harvard professor told ABC News.
Trade Wars
Trump also started a fierce trade war with China, implementing tariffs that prompted China to introduce retaliatory tariffs of its own. According to various outlets, this battle resulted in hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, $1.7 trillion in stock value lost from U.S. firms, and an increase in the American trade deficit.
Stock Market Success
Despite all this, the stock market did rise under Trump. However, economists told ABC that this was mainly due to the actions of the Federal Reserve, which is independent of the White House, and the benefits of the rise mostly went to wealthy Americans.
Blunt Critique
“Trump inherited a thriving economy from Obama,” one user on X complained, “and he screwed it all up.”
In His Own Words
Ironically, many of the critiques of Trump’s economy and Nesheiwat’s defense of it mirror a comment Trump made in 2004. Speaking to Wolf Blitzer, Trump said, “I’ve been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.”
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