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babylonsister

(171,059 posts) Sat Jul 28, 2018, 06:48 AM Jul 2018

Top Obama official hits Trump for taking credit for economic growth

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/399306-top-obama-official-hits-trump-for-taking-credit-for-economy

Top Obama official hits Trump for taking credit for economic growth
By Aris Folley - 07/27/18 08:24 PM EDT

A top former White House official on Friday accused President Trump of wrongfully taking credit for the announcement of a strong second quarter economic report.

Richard Stengel, who served as undersecretary of State during the Obama administration, said on Twitter that Friday's economic report should be attributed to former President Barack Obama.

“Yup, our economy is the envy of the world because Barack Obama steered us out of the Great Recession and set up structures and policies that reduced unemployment and raised GDP,” Stengel wrote.

“You’re just a lagging indicator,” Stengel added, referring to Trump.

Link to tweet

Stengel's remarks came hours after Trump took a victory lap at the White House, touting his policies as drivers of the best economic growth in nearly four years.

“Once again, we are the economic envy of the entire world,” Trump declared from the White House's South Lawn. “As the trade deals come in, one by one, we’re going to go a lot higher than these numbers.”

According to the Commerce Department, the U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1 percent rate, the highest level since growth hit 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2014.

Stengel has taken aim at the president before, criticizing Trump for his tweets as proof of his "unfitness for the job."

"He does not see himself as representing the citizens of the United States (that's the job desc) but himself as a kind of petulant emperor who needs to be fawned over to do his job. Unpresidential in the extreme,” Stengel tweeted in response to Trump's tweets riticizing LaVar Ball, the father of a UCLA basketball player arrested in China on shoplifting charges.