Objects viewed through the media lens are distorted by confusing partisan narratives and tortured logic.
Breaking news according to major media outlets: If Biden did it, it must be good. If Trump did it, it must be bad.
Meaning, media outlets seem to have suddenly noticed the affordability crisis that Americans have been complaining about since 2022 because…well, Donald Trump is finally in charge. With Trump in office rather than Biden or former Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats and their media allies can finally talk about the herd of high-priced elephants in the room.
The Biden Administration got a pass on higher prices, skyrocketing fuel costs, and runaway inflation for three long years. The media accepted all explanations and excuses at face value.
The affordability crisis was “Putin’s price hike.” It was transitory. It was imaginary. It was bad vibes. It was the “Everything is weird economy.” It was just a bunch of people getting bent out of shape over missing and more expensive treadmills. It wasn’t a big deal. Americans could afford it. Historically speaking, inflation wasn’t really that bad. Globally speaking, inflation wasn’t really that bad.
“5 Reasons Voters Underrate the Biden Economy.” — Eric Levitz. The New Yorker. February 2, 2022.
“Want to fight inflation? Take the bus.” — Malcolm Harris. The Nation. March 24, 2022.
“Joe Biden’s economy is, honestly, pretty amazing: How come he doesn’t get credit?” — Kirk Swearingen. Salon. November 13, 2023.
“Behind Biden’s booming economy.” — Jon Skolnik. Salon. January 8, 2022.
“The Economy Is Great. Why Do Americans Blame Biden?” — Alan S. Blinder. The Wall Street Journal. October 28, 2023.
“3 Reasons Biden’s Strong Economy is Unpopular.” New York Magazine. November 3, 2023.
“Biden’s Economy Is Booming. Here’s Why You’re Not Feeling It.” — Katherine Fung. Newsweek. August 4, 2023.
Ignoring, downplaying, and dismissing the economic concerns of everyday, working class Americans is why Democrats lost the election in 2024.
President Donald Trump was wrong to dismiss the affordability crisis recently. He should keep doing what Joe Biden should have done: Blame the whole thing on his predecessor.
It wouldn’t have been true. But at least media outlets could have run with that story more successfully than they ran with Democratic Party talking points about transitory inflation and the war in Ukraine making things unaffordable back home.
Revisions from the Biden era — jobs numbers fudged and revised down, moving goalposts, changing the definition for the word “recession” — went unremarked upon by media outlets.
Whereas, now they are warning in stark contrast about how the recently rosy numbers on GDP growth and falling inflation can’t be trusted because — guess why — they came from the Trump administration.
“The latest government inflation and GDP figures are worthless, and will be for months to come,” snickered Michael Hiltzik for the Los Angeles Times on December 25, 2025. “The federal government’s monthly releases of economic statistics — especially the inflation rate and growth as tracked by gross domestic product — have long occasioned partisan preening (or denunciation) and for a general public stock-taking of the health of the economy. Not this month. This time, they’re the occasion for doubt and confusion.”
Being considered a news outlet, the LA Times could get to the bottom of the real numbers. But dismissing everything Donald Trump says and does out of hand is the executive function of progressive media outlets.
Anything that helps Donald Trump, even if it’s true, has to buried, dismissed, and countered. Anything that hurts him, even if it’s false, has to be shouted from the rooftops.
It’s the reason that trust in media outlets, and indeed the Democratic Party, is at an all time low.
Republicans may really be in trouble. Donald Trump’s power over the GOP may indeed be on the wane, just as media outlets are reporting — yet again. But it would be hard to tell from the dozens of other mistaken reports of Donald Trump’s political demise.
Media outlets have a giant blind spot when it comes to Donald Trump. They can’t see anything good that he does. They can’t imagine anything good coming from it. And that means they can’t predict it.
“The latest GDP report shows the U.S. economy growing at a 4.3 percent annual rate, crushing expectations of 3.2 percent,” crowed Peter Navarro on Substack. “Early every major economist missed it. Again. The reason is simple: they still do not understand the power of Trump’s economic model — or they refuse to admit it.”
(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)