The Commerce Department had barely announced the news that the GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2017 was a weak 0.7% before Twitter started assessing the political implications. "Looking forward to the verbal pretzels of Trump apologists about the "Trump bump," tweeted the newest New York Times columnist, Bret Stephens.
Well, since he asked, here goes (though I am hardly a "Trump apologist": Maybe the GDP figure isn't Trump's fault, or Obama's, but has more to do with the Federal Reserve running around raising interest rates while talking about how great the economy is doing. The "Trump bump" in the stock market has been undeniable and has to do with expectations of future earnings, which would have been lower with a President Clinton adding regulations and increasing taxes.