Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) thinks President Trump should credit all the economic success in his presidency to former President Barack Obama. Schumer said Trump should thank his predecessor in remarks he made on the Senate floor Tuesday just hours before Trump’s State of the Union address to Congress.
"The president will be eager to defend the accomplishments of his nascent administration and take credit for a healthy American economy, pointing to low employment, job growth, and a soaring stock market,” Schumer said. “But the truth is these trends were present before Donald Trump took office.”
“President Trump was handed an already healthy economy by his predecessor,” he claimed. “Like many things in his life, he inherited the healthy economy. Here are two words we won't hear President Trump say tonight about the economy - thanks, Obama - because much of the growth in 2017 was created by President Obama's policies and by many measures the growth under President Obama was better than under President Trump."
"If you're going to pat yourself on the back, give a shoutout to Barack Obama because he did even better than you in job creation," he told Trump.
The White House has repeatedly pushed back on this narrative this past year.
After Obama jokingly took credit for strong 2017 U.S. employment numbers, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hit back on Twitter last month.
Can't make it up: Obama now wants credit for the booming Trump economy. At least we can all agree the economy is better under President Trump.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) December 10, 2017
I'm old enough to remember when President Trump's election was going to "crash the market." One year later: market up over 30%, two million new jobs & 1,000 new manufacturing jobs created every day just last month...and now Obama wants credit for the booming Trump economy.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) December 10, 2017