What did Donald Trump do today?

He decided it wasn't the Trump economy after all.

Trump's Commerce Department today made it official: the United States economy is contracting under Trump. GDP went down by 0.3%, and consumer spending growth was an anemic at 1.8%. Worse for American companies, more of that spending than usual went overseas as Americans tried to stock up on foreign goods before Trump's tariffs kicked in.

A sharp decline in government spending also hurt American businesses. Trump has been zeroing out budgets for everything from cancer research to food inspection to crime prevention to mine safety inspections to veterans' suicide prevention, among other things. 

 But while the federal government is spending money faster than ever before under Trump, that extra money is going towards nonproductive purposes like salaries for furloughed workers, while contracts for supplies and services from American businesses are canceled.

Apparently trying to get out ahead of the news, Trump took to his private microblogging site this morning to declare that he had nothing to do with the economy, which is something of a change in position.

Left: January 2024
Right: today

Economic policy is complicated, so let's break down Trump's position in terms of the GDP numbers he was trying to duck responsibility for:

Asked about the economic contraction at a Cabinet meeting today, Trump tried a slightly different tack: Americans have too much purchasing power and will be better off with fewer and more expensive choices on store shelves.

Why does this matter?

• American prosperity is (or rather was) a good thing, not a bad thing.
  

• Presidents who can't take responsibility for their actions can't do the job.