Big Media Fact Checkers Claimed Trump’s 4% Growth Target Was Unobtainable
Someone fact check the fact checkers. Big Media has a lot of explaining to do as the Associated Press, CNN, and Bloomberg all claimed Trump’s four-percent growth target was impossible. Yes, the same people trying to convince us the media isn’t intentionally biased and that an “apple is really an apple” got it wrong—again.
Topping the list is the Associated Press, which only two weeks ago penned a piece titled “AP FACT CHECK: Trump imagines 6 percent growth.” The problem is, the quote they are trying to nail President Trump with is highly misleading. Trump actually gives a range of possibilities, not a singular and static target. He actually spoke of GDP “getting up to 4, 5, and even 6 percent, because I think that’s possible.” (Source: “AP FACT CHECK: Trump imagines 6 percent growth,” Associated Press, December 6, 2017.)
Advertisement
Furthermore, AP keeps digging by stating that “There’s no clear path to the Gross Domestic Product growing close to 6 or 5 percent, or even 4. The tax cuts Trump may soon sign into law would probably max out at roughly $250 billion in 2020. Yet to generate growth of 6 percent, those cuts would have to spur a massive $1.2 trillion gain to GDP.”
Confused? I sure am. Is the Associated Press fact checking Trump’s six-percent growth claim or his four-percent growth claim? They constantly vacillate between both targets. Without a clear thesis on what AP is even fact checking, the audience is left to wonder whether this is more of an opinion piece than an actual “fact check.” Besides, claiming robust growth isn’t possible because it hasn’t happened in recent memory isn’t checking facts; it’s giving opinions. Readers should question the validity of such findings.
Serial fake news violator CNN pulled off the same stunt, although not in fact check format. Back in mid-October 2016, CNN claimed that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s four-percent growth target was a pipe dream. In fact, the first two words of their piece, titled “Trump promises 4% growth. Economists say no way,” were “No chance.” As in, there was no chance Trump’s growth target was going to be met, according to 11 economists surveyed by CNNMoney. They even quoted economist Robert Brusca, willing to go on record and saying, “No, pigs do not fly. Donald Trump is dreaming.” (Source: “Trump promises 4% growth. Economists say no way.,” CNNMoney, October 11, 2016.)
Finally, Bloomberg was guilty of pushing the same hyperbolic narrative as AP. That is, they slapped “Trump Paints Picture of 6% Growth” in the headline, even though what Trump really said was “I see no reason why we don’t go to 4, 5, even 6 percent.” By starting out with a dishonest premise, they destroyed any semblance of impartiality from the outset. (Source: “Trump Paints Picture of 6% Growth, Passing Even the Rosiest Forecasts,” Bloomberg Politics, December 6, 2017.)
Furthermore, Bloomberg stole a page from CNN‘s survey model, insinuating that four-percent growth was an impossibility since “only one of 80 forecasters is even close to Trump’s greater-than-4 percent GDP ambition. The median forecast for growth next year is 2.5 percent.” [Emphasis added.]
Again, which is it? Why is the mainstream media headlining Trump’s high-end forecast possibility then walking those predictions down? Seems to us that clicks and partisanship are in play.
Trump Has the Last Laugh
Seems like the mainstream media is about to eat crow yet again.
Just this past Friday, The New York Federal Reserve (NYFR) raised its estimate of U.S. gross domestic product growth for the fourth quarter of 2017 closer to four percent. This was based on upward revisions stemming from stronger economic activity. The NYFR’s “Nowcast” model is actually calculating economic expansion growing at 3.98% annualized in the fourth quarter, meaning four-percent growth is essentially here. It also means that Donald Trump has been vindicated. (Source: “N.Y. Fed raises U.S. fourth-quarter GDP growth view to near 4 percent,” Reuters, December 15, 2017.)
Verdict
Whether President Trump can keep pushing the bar past five-percent growth and beyond remains to be seen. But don’t look to the mainstream media fact checkers and opinion makers to give you an unbiased prediction. To be fair, almost everyone has been surprised at the economic upturn America has taken under President Trump. But until we can get an honest headline and impartial thesis, it’s hard to take any mainstream media prediction seriously.
