Trump faces brutal 'reality check' as 'golden age' pledge crashes and burns

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the announcement of new fuel economy standards, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 3, 2025. REUTERS Brian Snyder

President Donald Trump is facing a “reality check” over his promise of a new "golden age" as economists warn his “rosy” outlook may not come to fruition, Axios reports.

Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president for science and technology, laid out the president’s vision for “A New Golden Age” in a report last month. Writing to Trump, Kratsios imagined a revitalization of “America’s science and technology enterprise” and “dominance in critical and emerging technologies.”

The report also emphasized AI, which Axios notes has “buoyed” U.S. financial markers despite a “roller coaster” economy suffering from “tariff uncertainty, stubborn inflation and his Iran war.” The result, according to Axios, is a “muddled economic picture.” And, despite the president’s promise of a “golden age,” “many voters aren't buying it.”

The Wall Street Journal last month reported that “U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter,” decreasing from 2.1 percent in the first quarter to 1.5 percent In the second. On the same day as the GDP report was released, Fed officials voted to “hold the central bank’s benchmark interest rate steady,” according to the Journal. Discussing the move, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh argued “the economy is showing impressive resilience.”

Still, the Fed faces pressures from Trump and members of his team to cut interest rates. As Axios reports, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in January that growth could have hit 6 percent in the first quarter if the Fed cut interest rates. Lutnick’s more modest proposal — that growth could hit 5 percent even without Fed intervention — failed to materialize. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s economic blueprint likewise “targets sustained 3 percent annual growth.”

Michael Klein, an economics professor at Tuft University's Fletcher School told Axios that Trump officials’ predictions are “just unrealistic.”

“You don't see that in an economy like the United States,” Klein said.

Klein isn't the only one scratching their heads at Trump officials' claims. Per Axios, Joseph Lavorgna, a former advisor to Bessent, noted that 3 percent is possible but said he "can't get there on the arithmetic” for 4-to-5 percent growth.

"The dynamics aren't going to allow us to grow at those growth rates, at least for the foreseeable future," Lavorgna told Axios.

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