Over the weekend, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) reportedly criticized former President Barack Obama for his recent assertion that he left former President Donald Trump with an exceptional economy when he departed office.
During a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash, Donalds made the comments in response to Obama’s remarks.
“Yes, it was pretty good, because it was my economy. It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time.” Obama said.
“I was working in finance during Barack Obama’s administration. Let me tell you, the economy under his last — especially the last five years was growing at about 1 to 1.5 percent per year.” Donalds said during a recent CNN appearance.
“I think, at the time, President Obama was saying that this era of large economic growth is something of the past. We’re going to have a more consistent economy. In his words, a consistent economy meant one that barely grew.” he added.
I was working in finance during Obama.
Obama’s economy grew VERY SLOWLY (under 2%).
Trump’s economy grew at nearly 2X THE PACE, wages adjusted for inflation were up, & the wealth gap was closing.
Why?
Successful tax-cuts.
Successful regulation-cuts.
Successful energy policy. pic.twitter.com/hCt7iago2L— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) October 13, 2024
“So, when Donald Trump came in, he brought his tax cut policy in, which cut taxes across the board for everybody in our country. Couple the fact that he did cut massive regulations from the Obama administration, and what did we see? Economic growth in the United States went from 1-1.5 percent under Barack Obama to 3-3.5 percent under Donald Trump. Wages adjusted for inflation, like I said, because it’s the truth, increased for every subgroup of Americans in our country.” Donalds continued.
“The wealth gap was closing. We were actually booming economically far more than we did under Barack Obama. So that’s a cool statement he made on the stump, but it’s not true.” Donalds concluded.
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