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Donald Trump, US President from 2017 to 2021
Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP
One of the disturbing phenomena of Donald Trump's presidency is how steadfastly his supporters remain loyal to him.
On average, around 40 percent of citizens still state that they are satisfied with the way they have been in office.
Despite mass unemployment, a majority even thinks that Trump did a good job in economic policy.
Between 2016 and 2019 "many groups with historically low incomes and wealth have seen high gains"
Federal Reserve report
The polls stand in clear contrast to many warnings from economists and foreign policy experts at the beginning of Trump's term in office: The president's
America First
policy will first ruin globalization and then the prosperity of his own citizens.
The turbo-capitalist in the White House is only driving up debt with his maneuvers, making the rich even richer and America's poor poorer.
Trump's self-praise ("We have the best economy ever") is of course exaggerated.
Until the pandemic broke out, the US economy experienced one of the longest boom phases since records began, although this had already started under his predecessor Barack Obama.
The price for Trump's policy of tariffs against China and Europe was actually largely paid by US consumers - but apparently it didn't really hurt them.
By spring 2020, the US economy was spinning from one employment record to another.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent, the decline was also strong among blacks.
So is Donald Trump's economic record possibly better than commonly thought?
In 2019, the median income was higher than ever in US history
There are statistics that are made for the creation of legends among Trump supporters.
It traces the development of median household incomes in the USA.
For almost two decades this curve was a document of dreariness, values stagnated.
But that has changed in recent years.
Throughout the Obama era, the median real disposable income had risen from about $ 60,000 to $ 63,000 a year.
Under Trump, however, they jumped to $ 68,700 by 2019 (detailed explanations of the concept of median income can be found here and here).
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