President Donald Trump is now claiming in private conversations that opponents are conspiring against him to skew economic data so that his chances of reelection in 2020 are damaged. This was reported in The New York Times on Sunday.
Sources familiar with the matter told The Times that the president had told aides and allies that opponents were seeking to rob him of a key strength entering the 2020 election campaign. Trump, agitated by news reports and warnings by economists of recession signals, claimed that “forces that do not want him to win” have been exaggerating the damage his trade war has caused the global economy, according to the report. Trump has continually brought up conspiracy theories during his presidency, on issues such as the recent death of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as well as Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
The president has also attempted to blame critics for the data in tweets and public statements, last week claiming that “the Fake News Media is doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election.”
He also took aim at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, a man he nominated to lead the Fed and called “strong,” “committed,” and “smart” when he was first appointed.
In a message Sunday, Trump boasted of the strength of the US economy, and in remarks to reporters he said the US economy was outperforming other economies.
“The rest of the world, if you look at Germany, if you look at European Union, frankly, look at the UK — I mean, look at a lot of countries — they’re not doing well.”
“China is doing poorly,” Trump added. “Parts of Asia are doing poorly. We are doing better than any country, or even area, anywhere in the world.”
“There is no recession in sight,” the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Consumers are working,” he said. “Their wages are rising. They are spending and they are saving.”
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