Donald Trump held a “news conference” on Friday where he only used it to gloat about having a strong second-quarter economic report while refusing to take any questions from reports.
According to NBC’s Chuck Todd, that was the president’s attempt to sway people away from the issues that are surrounding his presidency.
“You could tell there was sort of an urgency in the president’s voice that bordered on — of almost pulling a muscle trying to pat yourself on the back,” Todd told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
It was announced on Friday by the Commerce Department that the U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1 percent rate for the second quarter, the highest growth recorded since 2014.
This, of course, prompted Trump to gloat about his presidency, saying that the U.S. is “going to go a lot higher than these numbers — and these are great numbers.”
Todd said that Trump is using this economic growth to shift focus from all the negative that surrounds his administration, including the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and the upcoming midterm elections that have Democrats leading in the polls.
“A good economic story to tell, the president wants to highlight it amidst, obviously, the Russia investigation and facing the midterm elections as well,” Todd said.
