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Tom Steyer: Trump’s Economy Is Not That Great, No Matter That Numerous Polls Say Otherwise

Tom Steyer: Trump’s Economy Is Not That Great, No Matter That Numerous Polls Say Otherwise

In a Sunday ABC News interview, Tom Steyer inadvertently demonstrated how hard it will be for Democrats to run against President Trump on the economy.

https://youtu.be/yepbicXl4qc

President Trump’s resiliency in the face of being impeached and amid the constant barrage of attacks against him since day one has been a source of immense frustration for Democrats in 2020, especially in the aftermath of his unapologetic State of the Union address and his acquittal after the Senate’s impeachment trial.

Adding an extra layer of frustration for Democrats are several recent polls on the economy, in which Trump has received record-high numbers and where a clear majority of the American people have expressed that they are better of now than they were in 2016.

With all that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Democrats have tried to counter the polls, as evidenced by former President Barack Obama trying to take credit for Trump’s economy in a tweet he posted on Monday. As Fox and Friends reported this morning, Trump characteristically pushed back on Obama’s claim:

Another tactic some Democrats have used is to suggest that the poll respondents simply don’t know what they’re talking about, as was the case with Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer in an interview he did with ABC News on Sunday.

During the segment, ABC’s Martha Raddatz grilled Steyer on how he would counter Trump on the economy considering that polls showed he was virtually untouchable on the issue. Steyer’s answer indicated he was in a state of denial about the numbers:

TOM STEYER: I think if you take a look at what he says, everything he says superficially sounds right but is actually a lie.

So when he says the economy is growing, I can show that, in fact, all the money’s going to rich people. When he says unemployment is low, which is true, I can show that the wages people are getting doesn’t support a family. And when he says the stock market is up, these are his three big statistics, it’s largely because of the huge tax break he gave to big corporations, but it also is — doesn’t matter that much because most of the stocks — 85 percent of the stocks are held by the top 10 percent of — 10 — ten percent of the richest Americans.

RADDATZ: But — but I want to go back to that 70 percent number.

STEYER: So it’s — this has been —

RADDATZ: You talk — you talk about the wealthy. They’re not all wealthy people. Seventy percent say the economy is good and they’re doing well.

When Steyer accused Raddatz of “standing up for Mr. Trump’s version of the economy,” she let him have it:

RADDATZ: I’m telling you about a national poll. I’m standing up for anybody. I’m telling — I’m telling you about a national poll.

STEYER: And what I’m saying is this, there is a different story of this economy and this country that has to be told. Mr. Trump has to be face down about what he’s saying on the economy because he is running on the economy. That’s exactly what he’s going to say. He’s going to say, I’m great on the economy and Democrats stink.

Watch their contentious exchange below:

What Steyer inadvertently did there was to demonstrate how hard it will be for Democrats, especially the eventual nominee, to run against Trump on the economy.

If you contrast what Steyer is saying versus what Obama said, the Democratic messages on the state of the economy are muddled and come across as incoherent.

Sen. Bernie Sanders acknowledged last year that the economy was “doing well” but placed credit for it at Obama’s feet, not Trump’s. But while on the campaign trail over the last year, Sanders has also preached about so-called “income and wealth inequality.” He also claimed the current strength of the economy is allegedly due to the rich getting richer while everyone else is left behind.

But polls released over the last few months strongly counter that narrative. Assuming the economy keeps on humming along and more polls are released showing more favorable numbers for Trump on that front, Democratic candidates like Sanders and Steyer are going to need to pick one lane on the economy and stay in it. They have a few options:

1) The American people are really not better off even though they think they are.
2) If they are indeed better off, it’s not due to Trump but because of Obama.
3) If they are better off because of Obama, Obama’s economic policies enabled the so-called “economic inequality” Sanders often talks about, which means the economic boom only helped people who didn’t really need it.
4) If they are better off because of Trump, Trump’s economic policies supposedly caused only the rich to get richer.

Which message will they choose?

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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Comments

Today’s Democrat’s revel in doom in gloom. They embrace misery and fear. The live desperate angry lives. A party for maladjusted malcontents.

If PDJT’s economy isn’t that great, why is obama trying to steal the credit for it? TDS all around.

    texasron in reply to CKYoung. | February 19, 2020 at 12:05 pm

    Obama did help making the economy reach new highs, in all categories. He did it by simply leaving the office so Trump could fix everything Obama did to stifle our growth.

    Trump got rid of the many anti-business regulations imposed by Obama. Obama even warned the nation that things were never going to improve after he finished his work.

theduchessofkitty | February 18, 2020 at 7:29 pm

Dems are now using the “Who are YOU gonna believe – ME, or your lying eyes?” campaign tactic.

It didn’t work for Bob Dole in ‘96 – and it won’t work for them this year.

Faced with a huge defeat in November… I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past the Dems including collusion to tank the economy and plunge the US (and world) into a depression. That would work to ding Trump and scare people into voting socialism. The judicial deep state and foreign affairs deep state have had their shot but we haven’t seen the financial deep state nor globalists play their hand. The timing has to be perfect to wreck the economy but not give enough time to uncover who did it yet make voters go left. As for Dem senators discussing issues with Iran (and Russia??) … watch out. China is on the ropes now so they could also be willing to be “flexible”.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to alaskabob. | February 19, 2020 at 1:57 am

    Oh! So that’s why they always do it in October!!!!!!!

    scooterjay in reply to alaskabob. | February 19, 2020 at 3:21 am

    It is no secret German elites that support the EU have no love for Trump. Perhaps that explains why BMW Plant Spartanburg seems to have gone off the rails with some silliness lately. Idling that one manufacturing center would cripple the economy of South Carolina’s upstate.

      scooterjay in reply to scooterjay. | February 19, 2020 at 3:26 am

      Whenever a certain Senator from SC is up for reelection there is always a whisper campaign about the BRAC coming in to reevaluate the need for Shaw AFB, same with certain State Representatives. “Keep me in office or risk losing Military bases and the money they bring”.

    MattMusson in reply to alaskabob. | February 19, 2020 at 8:43 am

    But, will they deliberately spread the Corona Virus to hurt Donald Trump?

    That is the question.

      Tom Servo in reply to MattMusson. | February 19, 2020 at 10:27 am

      no, what they will do is pull off their shirts and pour koolaid over their heads on camera, while chanting something no one can understand. Because that always works.

Radio announced today on the business report for the first time since Volker, the 1980s, the wage increases among the lower/entry level workers and among the middle class, two distinct economic groupings, are faster than that of the upper classes by a significant and measurable amount. The two lower class groups were at a 5% annualized rate of increase for the last two quarters.

amatuerwrangler | February 18, 2020 at 8:57 pm

Steyer and his ilk are trying to counter the upward movement of the stock market by various means, especially claiming it only benefits the “rich”. This is wrong.

One of the largest, if not the largest, holders of stocks is the California Public Employees Retirement System, affectionately known as PERS. They control enough equities to move the market when the execute a large trade. This system is the retirement funding for all kinds of state workers, from landscapers and janitors to police officers and fire fighters, and all the clerks and office staffs in between. These are not the uber-rich the Dems want everyone to believe they are. The Dems attack on the rising stock market is an attack on the retirement funding of everyday workers, many represented by the commie (my opinion) SEIU. And these are the people they want to vote for them, not that they actually see the connection between their retirement funding and the stock market.

    Didn’t California recently turn over the management of CalPERS to a Chinese national with ties to the Chinese military (or intelligence)? And hasn’t that person moved a huge amount of their funds over to Chinese stocks?

      Tom Servo in reply to rabidfox. | February 19, 2020 at 10:29 am

      Probably a real estate investment company that specializes in buying the properties of coronavirus victims, cheap.

      I wonder if one’s chances of “catching” that disease get much much higher if one owns a particularly attractive piece of property.

I am going to positively enjoy seeing how well that argument works out for him.

Steyer is a idiot. Living proof that you don’t have to have any sense to become rich.

To listen to Democrats, the beneficial effects of Democratic policies are not felt until a Republican administration takes over from the Democratic one that pursued the “beneficial” policies.

And the “ill” effects of Republican policies are not felt until a Democratic admininistration takes over from the Republican one.

So doesn’t it follow that we should always keep Republicans in power to get the full benefit of wise Democratic policies?

“Which message will they choose?”

All four.

Being self-contradictory has never been a problem for anyone on the left.

They’ll tell all four lies, and many others, and their idiot base will swallow them all whole.

The poverty rate is at a historic low and the standard of living at a historic high, not just in America or the West, but in global terms.

So, you know, it isn’t just opinion polls.

Steyer is an ignoramus.

    DaveGinOly in reply to McGehee. | February 19, 2020 at 12:56 am

    I don’t believe he is. He’s speaking to the large number of ignoramuses out there who will believe what he’s saying. He’s telling them what he thinks will improve his own value to those same ignoramuses.

    hopeful in reply to McGehee. | February 19, 2020 at 7:53 pm

    Occam’s Razor. Not an ignoramus, just lying, as they all do constantly.

Zero spent his entire political career taking credit for other people’s triumphs and placing blame on others for his failures. This is nothing new under the sun.

Yup, all the money goes to rich people. And they stuff it in their mattresses, where it does absolutely no good at all. Effing rich people!

they need to lose the House.

Economy’s good enough for this guy to become a billionaire, of which he gives 0 to average Americans. He can shuck 100M or whatever for “climate change”, which is issue #278.2 for millions of blue-collar and beige-collar guys (tech workers who got H1-B’d) who can’t afford to marry, raise a family, etc.

Attention all you deplorables! Who you gonna believe, Styer or your lying eyes?

Tom Steyer has gone into Full Nigel “These Go to 11!” Tufnel Mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o

Steyer is delusional, and he has no style (the tartan tie has got to GO!).

There is another option for the Democrats:

5) There is no such thing as an economy, so shut up.

thalesofmiletus | February 19, 2020 at 9:52 am

Who are you going to believe: Tom Steyer or your lying 401K statement?

One who CAN’T recognize reality is to be pitied. One who REFUSES to recognize reality is to be ridiculed…. He is either to be pitied or he is to be vilified. I don’t believe the pity route is genuine!

Looking at Steyers’ 2018 and 2017 tax returns, small parts of which he has posted on line, his income went from $146,000,000 to $185,000,000. So he is living example of the rich benefiting. That said, he paid a lot more in taxes as a percentage of his income due to Trump’s new tax plan which clearly makes the wealthy pay more taxes.
.
For people like Steyers and Sanders, doing better is a zero sum proposition. If the rich make more, the poor must be making less. Not true and they won’t convince me or any other working schlepp that our 401k’s are worse.

This kind of thing is what grinds me about the Dems. They just lie continually. It’s the in your face, yeah, I’m lying, so what, sociopath kind of lie, and it never stops. They are all doing it. Pelosi and Biden have done it for years. Guess you can’t pass the entry test if you aren’t up to the lying.

Keeps my right arm twitching.