Trump Shares Wildly Deceptive Chart Making His Inflation Numbers Seem Dramatically Better Than They Are
(Photo Credit: Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
President Donald Trump shared a chart on Sunday which made inflation during his second term look great in comparison to other modern presidents — but it wasn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.
The president shared a video on Truth Social showing inflation at 4.71% at Month 18 during his second term; the video stacked that figure from “Trump II” up against terms from other presidents like Joe Biden, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and showed Trump II sliding down the ranks to the bottom of the inflation list as the clip hit Month 48.
But the clip — complete with dramatic music in the background — was misleading, because it assumes inflation will stay the same from Month 18 to Month 48 during Trump’s second term.
Here’s how the presidents compared after 1.5 years, based on the clip Trump posted:
Trump shared the video shortly after his daughter-in-law and Fox News host Lara Trump posted it on Instagram.
“Wow. Great chart,” Lara Trump said.
“This chart compares cumulative inflation across the last 10 presidential terms, with every presidency starting from the same baseline,” she added.
She then said:
*Trump II is only through Month 18 because, inconveniently, we have not yet developed time travel.
This is cumulative CPI-U inflation, not the annual inflation rate.
You can watch the clip via her Instagram below:
View this post on Instagram
The president shared both the video and Lara Trump’s caption on Truth Social.
Trump’s post comes a day after CNN data guru Harry Enten said the economy is the top issue the president has lost support on, with his net favorability plummeting 42 points from +9% in his first term to -33% currently.
“Simply put: it’s inflation,” Enten said.
He said inflation wasn’t even polled as an issue at this point in Trump’s first term, but he now has a -50% approval rating in CNN’s latest poll.
“I went back through the history books… no president before President Trump had a negative 50 point or worse net approval rating on inflation.”
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