Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick sang the praises of President Donald Trump's economy speaking on Sean Hannity's show on Tuesday night. One former Republican Party strategist tore apart the claim.
Lutnick claimed on Tuesday night that the U.S. economy grew 4.3 percent. "What that means is that Americans overall — all of us — are going to earn 4.3 percent more money. We’re making a raise. It’s a simple way to do it. We’ve got more jobs, lower energy costs and lower interest rates coming.”
“This is the golden age coming,“ he continued. “4.3 percent this quarter means Americans, on average, are making more money, more money in their pocketbooks. That makes for a great Christmas.”
The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the increase in GDP is likely coming from increased household spending.
"GDP growth is not the same, in any sense, as growth in personal income. 4.3 percent GDP growth does not mean we are all 'going to earn 4.3 percent more money.' I used to assume Lutnick was just a liar. Now I'm wondering if he's just really dumb," James Surowiecki, The New Yorker's former "Financial Page" writer, wrote on X.
The unemployment rate also increased slightly in the quarter more than was expected. The rate is now 4.6 percent, which is the highest it has been since Sept. 2021.
MS NOW host Ali Vitali said Lutnick's comments are a lot like Trump's address last week, "where he said a lot of things that on their face would just be fine if only he could give the accurate depiction of what they were."
Former Republican and host of "The Bulwark's Podcast," Tim Miller agreed saying that even if people ignore the facts from economists, the American people don't connect to a message like that.
"Polls are showing that people are feeling less secure about their own finances, showing that they don't approve of the president's handling of the economy or upset about how inflation has stayed stubbornly high. And, you know, the actual jobs numbers themselves are not showing a lot of job growth," Miller said.
He continued, saying that thus far under Trump the U.S. has "seen pretty much stagnant job growth over the last quarter in the country."
Meanwhile, the GDP numbers, he said, are an "outlier."
"We are seeing some growth in certain sectors, health care and AI, but, like, that's not reflective of what people are thinking [about] the entire economy," Miller said. "And this is one way where this administration, which is so unusual and abnormal in their messaging, in so many ways. This is like a very typical president problem they're running into, which is that the economy — the people don't think the economy is good and they [the Trump administration] want to take credit for it, and they're struggling with how to message it."
He called it no different from what former President Joe Biden was talking about throughout 2024. The difference in that case, however, is that Biden did have success as the economy slowly crawled its way out of the financial crisis that came from the pandemic, CNN reported in January. While Biden was able to shrink inflation, it hasn't countered higher housing costs that exploded under Trump's first administration, the American Enterprise Institute described.
As with Biden, people are not resonating with Trump's message that everything is amazing.
"If you're the president, people aren't happy about the economy, shouting at them and telling them that the economy is good, is not going to help your political standing," Miller closed