Trump took to Twitter this morning to mock former President Obama by falsely attributing a quote to him. He quoted his predecessor as saying “President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4% GDP.” He then bragged that the number is actually 4.2% now. Of course, like almost everything Trump says about Obama, it was untrue.
“President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4% GDP,” stated President Obama. I guess I have a magic wand, 4.2%, and we will do MUCH better than this! We have just begun.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2018
In reality, Obama said something much different in 2016 while Trump was on the campaign trail. The “magic wand” comment was about Trump’s general dealmaking and his promise to boost American manufacturing jobs. It had nothing to do with GDP growth.
“Well, how exactly are you going to do that? What exactly are you going to do? There’s no answer to it. He just says, ‘Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.’ Well, what, how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And, usually, the answer is he doesn’t have an answer,” said Obama.
Now, The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, has taken to Twitter to hit back against Trump’s misinformation. He pointed out that Obama never said what Trump claims he said and also pointed out that GDP growth under Obama was 5% during one economic quarter. In other words, not only is Trump lying, he’s bragging about something that Obama bested.
Kessler made a joke about Obama having a “bigger magic wand,” presumably a double entendre and exactly the kind of jab that drives Trump mad with rage.
Our current president has built his entire political persona around undermining the legacy of our first black president. He’s deeply insecure over the fact that Obama is an exponentially superior person and president and these numbers are just one of the many things that prove it.
Not only did Obama never say this, but Obama topped 5% in one quarter, so who has the bigger magic wand? https://t.co/RALoEcQquj
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) September 10, 2018
