During Donald Trump’s latest interview on Fox News, host Laura Ingraham heard the president claim the current U.S. economy is “as strong as it’s ever been.” She asked a reasonable follow-up question: “Why are people saying they’re anxious about the economy?”

He questioned the premise. “I don’t know that they are saying that; I think polls are fake,” Trump replied. “We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”

TRUMP: The economy is as strong as it's ever been

INGRAHAM: Then why are people saying they're anxious about the economy?

TRUMP: I don't know they are saying that. The polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we've ever had

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-11-11T00:16:37.714Z

.....To hear Trump tell it, the current state of the economy isn’t just amazing, these are quite literally the single greatest economic conditions ever seen by American eyes in the history of the United States. Sure, there have been a great many boom eras over the course of many generations, but according to the Republican incumbent, they all pale in comparison to the magnificence of the 2025 economy.

At this point, I could spend several sentences explaining why these boasts are demonstrably ridiculous, pointing to sluggish economic growth, stubbornly high inflation, a weak manufacturing sector and the slowest U.S. job growth since the Great Recession......

Last week, for example, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent conceded to CNN that there are “sectors” of the U.S. economy “that are in recession.” A few days later, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council and one of the most influential voices in Trump’s inner circle on economic policy, admitted during a Fox Business interview that the U.S. employment market is “a little bit softer right now” than officials would prefer.

In that same interview, Hassett went on to endorse Bessent’s line: “[W]e’re starting to see pockets of the economy that look like they might be in a recession.”

The line from the Republican administration is increasingly divided against itself. Either Trump is right and the U.S. has “the greatest economy” in the nation’s history, or Trump’s economic team is right and the job market is struggling amid signs of a recession.

It can’t be both.