Economics reporter debunks Donald Trump Jr.'s boasting as new data reveal his financial illiteracy

President Donald Trump and his allies have consistently pointed to the economy as a sign of his administration and leadership's strength, even while reality paints a more complicated picture.

And on Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released new numbers that deflate one of the administration's most frequent boasts: the supposedly astonishing economic growth under Trump. Donald Trump Jr., for one, touted economic growth in 2018, saying it had shown downright magical qualities and refuted doubters — such as President Barack Obama — who said his father's promises of 4 percent growth and higher were impossible.

"Remember when @realDonaldTrump said he would hit 4% GDP growth and you said 'There’s no magic [wand] for that'?" Trump Jr. tweeted last October. "Well ABRACADABRA @barackobama, we are at 4.2%. You just needed a leader to get it done!"

It was true that in the second quarter of 2018, growth reached 4.2 percent — probably due, in part, to the temporary economic stimulus of the 2017 tax cut. But while it's hardly unheard of for a single quarter's growth to spike that high, Obama's claims about the limits of growth was referring to growth over the whole year.

And if you look at the entirety of 2018, there's no magic to be found, as economics reporter John Harwood pointed out Thursday.

Not being able to distinguish between a single quarter's growth and a whole year's growth is a pretty embarrassing flub, revealing a pretty thin grasp on basic economic data. But Donald Trump Jr. has never let basic facts stand in the way of making a snarky tweet.