Trump discloses economic data early as he tries to spin economic slowdown

Early Friday morning, February 20, President Donald Trump blamed Democratic lawmakers for the partial shutdown of the federal government and claimed they were hurting the economy in the process. And the Wall Street Journal's Jared Mitovich had an observation on Trump's timing.

Mitovich's observation came after WSJ's Harriet Torry reported on the state of the economy that morning.

According to Torry, "The U.S. economy grew more slowly the fourth quarter of last year, weighed down by last fall’s record-long government shutdown and slower consumer spending. U.S. gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced across the economy — rose at a 1.4 percent seasonally and inflation adjusted annual rate in the final quarter of last year, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 2.5 percent reading. The quarterly reading was a sharp slowdown from the summer’s blistering 4.4 percent rate."Trump, on his Truth Social platform, posted, "The Democrat Shutdown cost the U.S.A. at least two points in GDP. That's why they are doing it in mini form again. No Shutdowns!"

Mitovich, commenting on Trump's post, noted a pattern with Trump.

In a February 20 post on X, formerly Twitter, Mitovich wrote, "NEW: For the second month in a row, Trump appears to have disclosed economic data early. At 7:50 a.m., he blamed the government shutdown on costing 'at least two points in GDP.' Figures released at 8:30 [a.m.] showed that real GDP grew 1.4 percent in Q4 vs. 4.4 percent in Q3, a sharp slowdown."