Trump continues to lie about the current economy and is now lying about it in his first 4 years.
Donald Trump’s Economic Misinformation Campaign: Distorting the Past and the Present
Since re-entering the political spotlight in his 2024 presidential campaign, former U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified his efforts to reshape public perception of the U.S. economy. Not only has he repeatedly made inaccurate claims about the current state of economic affairs under President Joe Biden, but he has also begun rewriting the record of his own administration’s economic performance from 2017 to 2021.
This pattern of economic distortion—widely documented by economists, independent fact-checkers, and financial analysts—has become a central theme in Trump’s public rhetoric, particularly as the 2024 U.S. election cycle unfolds. In this article, we examine the key areas where Trump’s statements diverge from reality, covering job growth, inflation, GDP, the stock market, trade, and deficit spending.
Rewriting the Past: Trump’s Economic Record in Office
Claim: “I built the greatest economy in history.”
This bold assertion has been a hallmark of Trump’s stump speeches since leaving office. While the U.S. economy saw strong performance in the first three years of his term—largely continuing trends from the Obama administration—it is factually incorrect to label it the best in American history.
Reality:
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GDP Growth: Trump promised 4%–6% annual GDP growth, but never delivered. The economy grew 2.3% in 2017, 2.9% in 2018, and 2.3% in 2019. In 2020, GDP contracted by 3.5% due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the worst decline since World War II.
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Job Creation: During the first 36 months of Trump’s presidency (before the pandemic), the U.S. economy added approximately 6.6 million jobs. During the final 10 months, it lost over 9 million jobs due to COVID-19. Overall, Trump ended his term with a net loss of jobs—the first president to do so since the Great Depression.
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Stock Market: The S&P 500 rose by approximately 67% from Trump’s inauguration to his departure. However, this performance was not significantly better than that of his predecessors. For instance, the S&P rose 148% under Obama and 30% under George W. Bush (before the crash).
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Unemployment: The unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low of 3.5% in 2019 under Trump. However, it surged to 14.8% in April 2020 during the pandemic—undoing years of progress.
Claim: “I brought back manufacturing and fixed trade.”
Reality:
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Manufacturing: U.S. manufacturing jobs increased modestly during Trump’s first two years but began to decline before COVID-19. By the end of his term, nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost.
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Trade Deficit: The U.S. trade deficit with China and other countries actually widened during Trump’s term, despite tariffs and aggressive rhetoric. The overall trade deficit reached a record $916 billion in 2020.
Misrepresenting the Present: The Economy Under Joe Biden
Claim: “We’re in a depression. It’s worse than the Great Depression.”
This claim is wildly inaccurate and has been debunked across the board by economists and federal agencies.
Reality:
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GDP Growth: The U.S. economy grew by 2.1% in 2022 and 2.5% in 2023. In Q1 of 2024, preliminary estimates put growth at a steady 2.2%—solid numbers, especially amid global uncertainty and lingering inflationary effects.
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Unemployment: As of March 2025, the unemployment rate sits at around 3.8%, consistent with a healthy labour market. Job creation remains strong in sectors like healthcare, technology, and clean energy.
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Inflation: After surging in 2021–2022 due to supply chain disruptions and pent-up demand, inflation has cooled. Core inflation has dropped to around 2.5%, close to the Federal Reserve’s target.
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Wages and Consumer Spending: Real wages (adjusted for inflation) have started rising again in late 2023 and early 2024. Consumer spending, a key driver of U.S. GDP, remains robust despite interest rate hikes.
Trump’s characterisation of the current economy as “worse than the Great Depression” is not only misleading but detached from all empirical measures used by economists: GDP, unemployment, industrial output, and consumer confidence.
Why These Lies Persist
Media Echo Chambers and Social Media Amplification
Trump’s economic claims often gain traction within conservative media ecosystems, where fact-checking is limited and narratives are curated for political ends. Platforms like Truth Social, where Trump posts directly, and sympathetic outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, frequently amplify his talking points without contextual analysis.
Political Strategy
Trump’s distortion of economic data is part of a broader political strategy to undermine President Biden’s perceived strengths. Polls in 2024 and 2025 show that voters consistently trust Biden more on healthcare and character—but Trump retains an edge with some voters on the economy, largely due to persistent misinformation.
The Danger of Economic Falsehoods
Misinformation about the economy is not harmless. It shapes voter perception, undermines trust in institutions, and affects consumer and business confidence. When a political leader deliberately misrepresents economic data, it not only poisons public discourse but also risks distorting policy debates.
Furthermore, such misinformation can obscure legitimate issues that need addressing—such as housing affordability, wage stagnation, or regional inequality—by substituting complex, data-driven discussion with inflammatory soundbites.
Conclusion
Donald Trump’s economic rhetoric has shifted from exaggeration to outright fabrication. His claims about building “the greatest economy in history” omit inconvenient facts like net job losses, increased deficits, and trade failures. His portrayal of the current economy under Biden as a “depression” is categorically false when judged against virtually every standard economic indicator.
Voters, journalists, and policymakers must challenge these falsehoods with facts, data, and historical context. A functioning democracy requires more than partisan spin—it requires truth.
