Several mainstream media outlets have linked sluggish first quarter economic growth to President Donald Trump, who presided over just seventy of the first ninety days of the year. But back when the economy shrank considerably during the first quarter of the Obama administration, there was no attempt to link the contraction to the president.
The Commerce Department reported last week that Gross Domestic Product only grew 0.7 percent during the first quarter of 2017, following a gain of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The Associated Press claimed that the slow GDP growth in the beginning of 2017 “marks the first quarterly economic report card for President Donald Trump, who has vowed to rev up the U.S. economy.”
“Americans say they feel more optimistic about the economy since President Trump was elected,” The New York Times wrote on April 28, “but they certainly are not acting that way, and that is shaping up to be a challenge for his administration.”
Bloomberg added to the chorus of outlets that expressed pessimism about the economy under President Trump’s first 100 days. “The U.S. economy is in better shape than Friday’s first-quarter figures will probably indicate,” Sho Chandra and Patricia Laya wrote, “but getting the growth that President Donald Trump wants is becoming even more difficult.”
But the media was singing a different tune during President Obama’s first 100 days.
Despite the slow growth that occurred at the outset of 2009, the outlets that linked President Trump to poor GDP performance failed to hold President Obama to the same standard. full story
