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“Everyone keeps saying it’s the”—Donald Trump paused while addressing a crowd at a rally the day before his inauguration. “I hesitate to say this,” he stated. “It sounds too self-aggrandizing, but here it goes—the Trump effect.” He then elaborated on the booming stock market, the rise in bitcoin prices, and boasted about Apple’s domestic-infrastructure investment, much of which was already in motion prior to the November election.
Despite his statements to the contrary, Trump has no reservations about claiming credit for accomplishments that were already underway or completed before he took office. He has claimed full responsibility for negotiating a hostage exchange and a cease-fire agreement in the Israel-Hamas conflict (Trump mentioned on social media in mid-January that “this EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened due to our Historic Victory in November”), conveniently omitting that President Joe Biden had announced some terms of the deal last year. The Trump administration asserted that its policies had curtailed migrant border crossings; immigration statistics are challenging to interpret, especially over such a short timeframe, but figures indicate that border crossings had started to decline during the Biden presidency. Additionally, this week, Trump took credit for rescuing two astronauts who had been stranded for months at the International Space Station; while NASA had revealed plans to bring them home in 2025 last summer, Trump claimed without evidence that Biden “was embarrassed by what happened, and he said, ‘Leave them up there.’”
Trump employed similar tactics during his campaign: Prior to a debate with Biden last year, he asserted that “low INSULIN PRICING was secured for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden,” accusing Biden of trying to take credit for achievements he had initiated, in this case, ME! It would have been fair to share credit here: While Trump did sign an executive order during his first term that limited out-of-pocket insulin costs for some Medicare patients to $35 a month, Biden broadened this cap to encompass all Medicare drug programs through the Inflation Reduction Act, impacting a much larger group of patients. Trump also took credit for accomplishments from the Obama administration during his first term: For example, in 2017, he claimed credit for Obama’s immigration initiatives and boasted about a Ford factory investment that had been already planned following a 2015 union agreement.
Politicians are essentially storytellers, and Trump unabashedly narrates only the story that elevates his image. The stock market is flourishing under Biden? That’s because of predictions that Trump will win, he claimed last year (despite economists suggesting that such increases were also tied to low unemployment, decreasing inflation, and steady growth). The economy struggles after Trump assumes office? Blame the “catastrophic” conditions Biden left him with (even though many economists believe that the recent declines in the stock market stem from concerns about the impacts of Trump’s trade war). Discussing the surge in egg prices in January, the White House criticized the Biden administration for culling sick chickens, failing to mention that this was a route Trump also took during his presidency.
Biden has had difficulty articulating successes during his administration, particularly regarding the economy, which created a “void” for Trump to exploit, according to Lori Cox Han, a presidency scholar at Chapman University. Americans’ perception of an ailing economy under Biden, influenced by their personal experience of inflation, shaped their voting decisions. Whenever control of the White House shifts, some initiatives inevitably carry over from one administration to the next. Adopting a stance of continuity across terms can signify that a president prioritizes effective policy results over rejecting their predecessors’ contributions: If a federal program benefits Americans, why not maintain it? However, Trump is doing something different—he’s attempting to negate other presidents’ roles in policy successes altogether.
Previous presidents have also tried to claim credit for achievements initiated by the preceding administration—or even to delay a victory until they could take office. The debate surrounding whether Ronald Reagan’s aides tried to postpone the release of U.S. hostages in Iran so they could arrive home during the start of his presidency, with the accompanying publicity, has lingered for years. Yet, Han observes, unspoken rules of decorum generally stop new presidents from claiming full credit or disparaging their predecessors. This, she notes, is another norm that Trump has ignored.
Trump has consistently aimed to present himself as America’s singular savior. Recall his campaign slogan from 2016: “I alone can fix it.” As my colleague Yoni Appelbaum noted back then, in urging Americans to place their trust solely in him, Trump “departed from two centuries of American political tradition, where candidates for office—and especially for the nation’s highest position—acknowledge their fallibility and limitations, appealing for the assistance of their fellow citizens and of God, to achieve what they cannot accomplish alone.” Trump seems intent on conveying the notion that he requires no help—and that, improbably, he has received none along the way.
Related:
Here are four new articles from The Atlantic:
Today’s News
- Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a conversation regarding cease-fire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Trump proposed that the U.S. could manage Ukrainian power plants to safeguard that infrastructure.
- The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates and indicated that inflation may be slightly higher than previously forecasted in December.
- Turkish police apprehended Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key political opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on charges of corruption and terrorism.
Evening Read
What Exceedingly Affluent Women Do for Love and Fulfillment
By Sophie Gilbert
As With Love, Meghan progressed, it began to hit several classic pleasure points. A stunning woman adorned in a wardrobe of stealth-wealth beige separates and floral garments? Check. An obsession, both dietary and aesthetic, concerning the best way to nourish one’s family, featuring fruit platters artfully arranged like rainbows and jars of chia seeds and hemp hearts discreetly included in pancakes? Check. An unusual aside where she elaborates on the significance of taking her husband’s name? Ding ding ding: We’ve entered tradwife territory now. This is absurd, of course. Meghan isn’t a tradwife; if anything, she’s more of a girlboss, a clever, media-savvy entrepreneur with a new podcast tailored for businesswomen and an emerging retail brand. So why does she seem to be making such an effort to rebrand as one, presenting this sentimental portrayal of femininity and outdated domestic skills that feels orchestrated—and rather familiar?
Read the full article.
More From The Atlantic
Culture Break
Watch (or skip). The Electric State (streaming on Netflix) provides a lesson on creating an instantly forgettable, yet expensive movie, as Shirley Li explains.
Read. In his latest book, author Julian Barnes expresses skepticism about whether we can truly overcome our entrenched beliefs. He ought to remain open-minded, Kieran Setiya suggests.
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Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.
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