GDP soars and Trump's economy roars. Liberals still won't give him credit.

USA Today

6 days ago

Will Democrats put politics aside and applaud as the American economy shows a strength and resilience that so many of them doubted? Probably not.
Thanks to President Donald Trump's bold policies, it appears that the United States will avoid a recession this year − one that so many liberals were predicting only months ago.
Will Democrats put politics aside and applaud as the American economy shows a strength and resilience that so many of them doubted? Probably not.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis on July 30 released more good news about our nation's vibrant economy. Gross domestic product grew a healthy annual rate of 3% in the second quarter after recording a less than 1% decline in the first three months of this year. Fears of a recession should now dissipate like morning haze after the sunrise.
Nearly all markers of a strong economy are in top form. Unemployment is low, hovering at 4.1%. The past three months have seen steady job growth. Average hourly earnings for U.S. workers grew 3.7% over the 12 months ending in June.
Consumer spending is expected to rise, and there's been a modest uptick in consumer confidence. The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, increased 2.7% over the 12 months ending in June, far below the 40-year high recorded in President Joe Biden's term.
Even the average price of eggs has dropped dramatically, to $3.31 per dozen, down from a spike to $8 in February and back to roughly the same price level as a year ago.
Stock indexes continue to grow at a strong pace, recovering from the sell-off this spring driven by concerns over Trump's tariffs. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 have set multiple record highs in July, a boon to millions of Americans with retirement accounts and other investors.
On the tariff front, Trump's new trade deal with the European Union should be a catalyst for further economic growth, particularly in the energy and construction sectors.
If this is what a recession looks like, let's keep it coming.
Critics said Trump was destroying the economy
Despite such healthy economic markers, I doubt I'll see many kudos offered to the Trump administration for powering past a recession, which the left predicted in doomsday terms.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in May that Trump and "MAGAnomics" were "destroying the economy and waging war on the middle class and the poor." The headline thundered that Trump was "making America backward again."
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Interestingly, Krugman claimed that the U.S. economy was in good overall shape when Biden left office in January. He charged Trump with wrecking the economy in a mere three months. Now, that the data clearly shows otherwise, will Krugman admit his errors? I doubt it.
Krugman, to be fair, wasn't the only so-called expert spouting off about our supposedly crumbling economy. CNN published an analysis in April with a headline that claimed "Trump took the US economy to the brink of a crisis in just 100 days."
That same month, the Center for American Progress bemoaned that "President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally launch a global trade war could be one of the worst economic statecraft blunders in American history."
I read these articles in the mainstream news media and wonder if we share the same universe. Do progressives not see the same healthy economic markers that millions of other Americans and I see?
The answer, of course, is that they do see − but they are too blinded by partisanship to admit it.
Good economic news should be nonpartisan
I don't have a problem with liberals criticizing Trump. Sometimes he deserves it. But when it comes to obvious wins like a blossoming economy, the constant derision is tiresome and pedestrian. A robust economy under any president is good news for Americans, regardless of their party affiliation. Right?
I didn't care for Biden's leftist policies. But I didn't cheer when the economy struggled. It was bad news not just for Biden but, far more important, also for our nation and its citizens.
More than a year after Biden entered the White House, annual inflation spiked to 9% in June 2022, the highest rate in four decades. Americans were hit with sudden increases in food, housing and transportation costs.
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Compounding the pain, the Federal Reserve acted to cool inflation by raising interest rates, which pushed up consumers' payments for auto, housing and credit card loans.
Democrats tried to blame decisions made in Trump's first term, including federal spending used to fight consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Biden spent more even as the pandemic began to wane.
In 2024, more than half of American voters said the economy was the issue that mattered to them the most. It's why Trump won more than 77 million votes and returned to the White House.
Now, he is delivering on his promises to rebuild our nation's economy. But not everyone is happy about it.
It's too bad liberals can't separate economic success from Trump's party affiliation. I can't help but wonder if they wanted a recession so they could blame Trump even more.
Nicole Russell is a columnist at USA TODAY and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at [e-mail] and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track, here.