Happy Recession Day, everybody!
Over the past several days, we’ve watched with great interest to see just how the media would find a way to downplay our ongoing economic downturn under President Joe Biden. We’ve seen plenty of hackery already, but we new that the real spectacle wouldn’t get underway until the numbers officially came out. Well, the numbers officially came out, and the GDP shrank by 0.9% in the second quarter. That’s a recession, folks.
Earlier this week, Erick Erickson made an observation about the media’s treatment of the Biden administration’s shameless attempts to redefine “recession”:
We're about to see just how much the media is over Biden. If they go along with the Biden Administration's redefinition of what a recession is after four decades of holding it as 2 quarters of negative growth, the press is dead, and only the propagandists remain.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 25, 2022
Now that we’re here, in this moment, it would appear that the press is, for all intents and purposes, dead.
Check out the AP’s reporting — if you can even call it that — on the GDP shrinkage:
BREAKING: The U.S. economy shrank for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession. https://t.co/dYUTWSjd80
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 28, 2022
“Raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession.” The nation isn’t maybe approaching a recession; the nation is neck-deep in one.
Not to be outdone, here’s Bloomberg, an outlet that ostensibly covers business news:
BREAKING: The US economy shrinks for a second quarter, raising the odds of a recession https://t.co/EPVD7zKdSG
— Bloomberg (@business) July 28, 2022
“Raising the odds of a recession.”
Where even are we right now? Is this real life?
Two successive quarters of declining GDP is the definition of a recession. Therefore the odds of a recession are 100%.
— Roger Entner (@RogerEntner) July 28, 2022
To 100%?
— Wittorical (@Wittorical) July 28, 2022
“May be approaching”
Just incredible propaganda here https://t.co/z3L1C7xc1C
— (•_•) (@AsTheWorldBurnz) July 28, 2022
It is in recession, you gaslighting clowns. https://t.co/kVTjyqwBVt
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) July 28, 2022
https://t.co/WkGm5fnkYU pic.twitter.com/aYn2CkdK6m
— bartleby (@ElderBartleby) July 28, 2022
Is there any doubt that if Donald Trump were president instead of Joe Biden, the media would’ve proclaimed that we’ve been in a recession since 2016? OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But at the very least, they’d’ve been screaming “WE’RE IN A RECESSION” for the past eight months. And you know what? If we were seeing these numbers under President Donald Trump, they’d be right to be talking about a recession. But we’re seeing these numbers under President Joe Biden, and the media just can’t bring themselves to be intellectually honest about the economy.
“Raising fears”, “may be approaching”. I’m sure that we’d have exactly the same spin if Republican was in the WH. https://t.co/mQVoHOlM7R
— Boris Ryvkin (@BRyvkin) July 28, 2022
The kindness displayed here when a Democrat is President is almost surreal. https://t.co/adRpMNA95O
— IncognegroNeville 🇯🇲🇺🇸 (@FormerlyCBM) July 28, 2022
It really is. This is the sort of thing that used to just be something we’d joke about. But it’s actually real. They’re actually doing it.
"May be approaching." The media's continued willingness to beclown itself is really remarkable.https://t.co/ouUf4rllVV
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) July 28, 2022
They can’t just say it.
The institution we rely upon to at least try to play it straight have given up. They used to at least pretend not to be wholly owned subsidiaries of the Democrat party. They don’t care if you know it now. https://t.co/ZRqW1EOIiM
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) July 28, 2022
For your sake I hope the WH is at least paying you for all of this insipid propaganda
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 28, 2022
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