Republicans Kick Off Convention Pushing Myth Of Trump’s ‘Best Ever’ Economy

MILWAUKEE — Republicans kicked off their presidential nominating convention Monday continuing to sell a myth critical to their effort to win back the White House in November: that Donald Trump created the best economy in American history.

“A rip-roaring economy,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called it in his speech to delegates on the “Make America Wealthy Again”-themed night of the four-day gathering.

“The massive inflation caused by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” intoned Florida congressman Byron Donalds.

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn invoked the low gas prices when Trump left the White House in 2021 compared to now. “Bidenomics is a four-letter word,” she said.

The talking points began within months of Democrat Joe Biden moving into the White House — and remain as untrue now as they were then.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), right, on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15.

Because of the COVID pandemic, unemployment soared and the gross domestic product cratered in Trump’s final year in office, making him the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he took office.

But even discounting the pandemic year, Trump’s economy had lower GDP growth and fewer new jobs in his first three years in office than predecessor Barack Obama’s final three years. Republicans, including Trump, disparaged those years as an economic disaster.

On inflation, many economists believe that the high inflation rates of 2022 and 2023 — and subsequent high interest rates by the Federal Reserve — were caused by the $5.7 trillion in COVID stimulus spending designed to keep the economy from collapsing into depression. If they are correct, it follows that two-thirds of the responsibility for inflation logically belongs to Trump, under whose watch two-thirds of the spending took place.

And while it’s true gasoline prices collapsed in Trump’s final year, that was because so many Americans lost their jobs in 2020 and so many businesses had closed that the demand for gas plummeted. Prior to the pandemic, gasoline prices were on average higher in 2017, 2018 and 2019 than they were in Obama’s final year, 2016.

“While inflation is falling and manufacturing is booming under President Biden, economists are warning that a second Trump term will set off an ‘inflation bomb’ and raise middle class families’ costs by $2,600 a year,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika. “Americans can’t afford another four years of his failed leadership.”

Trump attempted a coup to remain in office after losing the 2020 election and in May became a convicted criminal, but nevertheless officially became the Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election on Monday. He is scheduled to give his acceptance speech on Thursday.