Trump’s Economic Success Leaves Liberals Red-Faced | The American Spectator

After six months of President Donald J. Trump’s audacious initiatives, the economic data tells the story: The United States should avert any semblance of a recession this year, a downturn many liberals not only predicted but hoped would eventuate.
Despite global uncertainties, a new tariff policy, and global trade tensions, the U.S. economy showed an impressive comeback in the second quarter of 2025. An advance estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3 percent, following an unfortunate but understandable performance of less than 1 percent in the first three months of the year. The handwringing, the posturing, and the hyped rhetoric of an “impending” recession should now subside.
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If one surveys this year’s economic indices, nearly all the indications of a strong economy are present. The Federal Reserve reported that civilian unemployment in July stood at a low 4.2 percent. And although the downward revisions concerning job growth were a surprise, they shouldn’t have been. Given the media’s relentless claims of impending doom regarding Trump’s tariff proposals, both Main Street and Wall Street had trepidations. Yet over the twelve months leading up to the end of July, average hourly earnings for U.S. workers have increased by 3.9 percent. 
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The central measure of inflation from the Consumer Price Index held steady at 2.7 percent over the twelve months ending in July, far below the forty-year high recorded under the auspices of President Joe Biden.
And, as a sequitur to subdued inflation, consumer spending reached an all-time high in the second quarter — growing at an estimated annual rate of 3.7 percent. Moreover, if economic parameters remain unchallenged, retail spending should continue to grow in 2026. It is therefore not surprising to see that consumer confidence cl…