President Obama tweeted out a message on Monday to remind Americans that's it's thanks to him we are in such an economic upswing.
Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in generations, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history. pic.twitter.com/BmdXrxUAUf
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 17, 2020
But before he was truly able to give himself a pat on the back, lawmakers accused him of trying to steal the credit rightly due to President Trump. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) even brilliantly used Obama's own words against him.
With an economy this good, it's no wonder Barack Obama is trying to take credit.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) February 17, 2020
But I believe the saying is: "You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”@realDonaldTrump made that happen. https://t.co/8jsgdxrvZj
Team Pelosi: We need to stop giving Obama credit for the economy, it’s a losing message.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 18, 2020
Days later...https://t.co/j1uoUut2ja
Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is just one policy spearheaded by the president that reduced the corporate tax rate and in turn led to employee bonuses, higher wages and increased economic confidence.
“Obama and Biden orchestrated the worst economic recovery in modern history,” Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. “By contrast, though, deregulating, lowering taxes, and supporting free-market policies, President Trump has created the hottest economy on record.”
Guy highlighted the stark contrast too.
Your policies held back growth & wages, resulting in the slowest US economic recovery since WWII #weirdflex https://t.co/LoSnh2HMXW
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 18, 2020
Mercedes Schlapp, a member of Trump's re-election campaign communications team, saw these Democratic attack lines coming. But she suggested they were acknowledgments that Trump's agenda is winning.
"We came from a country in recession to now creating enough jobs to be a booming economy," Schlapp told us in New Hampshire last week. "Americans are feeling the boom and it’s the blue-collar workers who are really being able to see the benefits. It really is from bottom-up and I think that’s a very positive story to tell."
In other words, Trump fixed the mess. But if the trend continues and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) keeps winning all the Democratic primary contests and the White House, his socialist agenda will be the end of economic prosperity, Schlapp predicted.
He will "basically adopt these radical policies that would eliminate private health insurance that would basically destroy all the economic prosperity that President Trump has been able to achieve," she said.