Politico Now Says Democrats Were ‘Tricked’ On The Economy

Politico released an analysis on Tuesday: “How Democrats were tricked into believing the economy was strong.” In that analysis, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig explained that “voters were right about the economy” and it was the “data” that “was wrong.”

“Before the presidential election, many Democrats were puzzled by the seeming disconnect between ‘economic reality’ as reflected in various government statistics and the public’s perceptions of the economy on the ground,” Ludwig wrote.

“Many in Washington … charged that right-wing echo chambers were conning voters into believing entirely preposterous narratives about America’s decline,” Ludwig continued.

But as it turns out, it was Politico itself (and dozens of other propaganda outlets) that was “conning” the American people into believing the economy was prosperous.

Take this Politico article published in October of 2024: “Harris is riding a dream economy into the election. It may be too late for voters to notice.”

The numbers showed a “solid economic picture” and a “remarkable victory” for the Biden-Harris administration, according to the article, which cited statistics like the unemployment rate, the stock market, and gross domestic product (GDP).

Less than a month later, Politico released yet another rave review about the economy.

“‘Surprisingly strong’: Economy shows robust growth in final report before election.”

“The economy’s surprising resilience through the final months of the presidential campaign represents a positive outcome for Vice President Kamala Harris as she makes her closing argument to voters,” the article stated, adding, however, that voters were “still incensed over still-elevated price levels since Biden and Harris entered office.”

Months earlier Politico salivated at “Biden’s ‘holy grail’ economy.”

“The strong job market, coupled with the end of price spikes, counters Republicans’ campaign message that the economy is weakening,” the report stated.

A separate Politico report said, “Biden world is seeing signs of hope” with the economy, framing the article around how “US growth shatters expectations, boosting Biden’s economic pitch.”

It’s no mystery why Democrats thought they had a strong economic message: As conservative outlets were confronting the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats with the truth, propaganda press members like Politico were going into overdrive to cover for the disastrous economy — because that’s what a propaganda press does. But while Democrats were screaming into their echo chamber, Americans were screaming out for help.

Ludwig said that the “government statistics were fundamentally flawed” and “misrepresentations” of the economy.

“What if, in fact, darker assessments of the economy were more authentically tethered to reality?” Ludwig posited. He then noted that Democrats “seemed much more inclined” to believe what the government said about the economy, while “Republicans … seemed more inclined to believe what they were seeing with their own two eyes.”

Ludwig went on to explain that the “filters used to compute the headline statistics are flawed” and “paint a much rosier picture of reality than bears out on the ground.”

Ludwig cited the U-3 unemployment rate as misleading, explaining how that statistic does not include the number of Americans who are so discouraged by the job market that they’ve stopped searching altogether. He also notes how the unemployment statistic does not take into account “the meagerness of any individual’s income.”

Ludwig explained that if the government filtered the statistics to include people who can’t find anything but part-time work or only make “a poverty wage,” then “nearly one of every four workers is functionally unemployed in America today — hardly something to celebrate.”

(Notably, Politico did its best to celebrate the numbers, calling Biden’s labor market in June “too hot to handle” and lauding its “surprising resilience” that helps “bolster President Joe Biden’s economic messaging.”)

Ludwig then touched on weekly earnings, explaining that if the government were to include unemployed workers and those in part-time work, the median weekly earnings number would drop from around $62,000 to approximately $52,000.

“Think of that: American workers on the median are making 16 percent less than the prevailing statistics would indicate,” Ludwig wrote.

Ludwig also discussed how the inflation and GDP statistics were misleading and painted a better picture than reality showed.

“[Statistical discrepancies] all shroud the reality faced by middle- and lower-income households,” Ludwig wrote. “The last four years did not turn things around enough for the lower 60 percent of American income earners.”

The Biden-Harris administration kept touting faulty and misleading statistics to sell the lie that the economy was thriving. That’s expected, of course. But a functioning press would have questioned the numbers and data, not regurgitated them on demand. Instead, Politico parroted the data and dismissed the possibility that the government could be — gasp — misleading the public on purpose.

So sure, maybe some Democrats were “tricked.” But it wasn’t just because of misleading government statistics — it was because propagandists like Politico pushed a phony narrative to drag their preferred party across the finish line.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2