Will Trump get credit for Biden's successes?

Trump will try to take credit for the Biden economy. Don't let him. And don't let Republican enablers of Trump or the media give him credit, either. In 2017, Trump inherited a strong economy from President Obama and never stopped congratulating himself for it. He claimed that "we created the greatest economy in the history of the world." Rubbish. Trump tanked the economy with his trade wars and his botched pandemic response. Now, Trump is inheriting an even stronger economy. On Friday, the Department of Labor reported that the nation added 256,000 jobs in December, significantly more than economists expected. The total number of jobs created under Biden's four years is 16.6 million. That makes him the only president in history to have presided over an economy that created jobs every single month. He has also presided over the lowest average unemployment rate of any president in a half-century, ending at 4.1 percent. The nation gained more jobs in Biden's four years than it did under Trump's first term of office, or under either of Barack Obama's or George W. Bush's terms of office. Working-age women are now employed at record levels. The gap in employment between Black Americans and their white counterparts is at the lowest level ever. Biden has also presided over an economy that has grown faster and created more jobs than any other advanced economy around the world. Under Biden, the American economy grew faster than did the pre-pandemic Trump economy. Yes, the United States and every other country had to deal with inflation, but Biden brought inflation down to below 3%-- lower than in most other countries. Americans have every reason to be outraged at decades of policies that prioritized corporations over people. But the Biden administration cracked down on corporate price-gouging, monopolization, and trickle-down nonsense. All this means that Trump begins his second presidency with the best economy a president has inherited in living memory. Will he claim credit for it? You betcha. In addition, some of the most important Biden initiatives will start to pay off only during the Trump presidency (assuming Trump doesn't reverse them). Biden took on Big Pharma by capping out-of-pocket drug costs for millions of seniors on Medicare. That lowered the price of 64 drugs. These changes will take place throughout 2025. More drugs are scheduled to get cheaper in the following years. Will Trump claim credit? Of course he will. Biden's infrastructure law will give us better roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband access. But most Americans won't see those improvements for a year or two, well into Trump's term of office. Biden's CHIPS and Science Act will provide more American-made semiconductors, but we won't see them for a few years, so during Trump's presidency. Biden's clean energy initiatives will also pay off with greater fuel efficiency and less pollution. But here again, not for several years. Will Trump claim credit for these successes as well? Do birds fly? His whole life, Trump has taken credit for things he simply inherited, starting with his own personal fortune. Just as he avoids accountability for the bad stuff he's done, such as his attempted coup against the United States, he congratulates himself for the good stuff others have done. If Trump doesn't wreck the economy with his bonkers tariff plans or cruel mass deportations, you can be sure he'll take a bow for what Biden built. Don't let him. Don't let Republican politicians claim credit. Don't let the media allow Trump or other Republicans to claim credit. Speak out. Remind America that these good things happened because of Joe Biden. (Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of "The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It." Read more from Robert Reich at https://robertreich.substack.com/)