-President Trump has been freaking out about
the possibility of a recession.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
If there's one thing Trump loves to brag about,
it's the stock market.
He talks about it constantly, and by talks about it,
I, of course, mean he lies about it
because he lies about everything.
I would say lying for him is as natural as breathing,
but he's not great at breathing either.
-[ Panting ]
[ Laughter ]
-In fact, this week the "Washington Post" published
an exhaustive study that found that as of August 5th,
Trump made over 12,000 false or misleading claims as president.
Which means that Trump said something false about
once every three hours on average.
Once every three hours, that means he has to wake up
in the middle of the night just so he can get his lies in.
-"Russia's a witch hunt."
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
How does he even keep track?
He must have like a Fitbit for lies.
Like a -- like a Fib-bit
"Oh, no. I need to get my 10,000 lies in.
I better hold a rally."
[ Laughter ]
Trump's apparently told so many lies that if he never told a lie
ever again in his life he would still have average
8.7 untrue claims per day over the span of his first term,
even though, under this imaginary scenario,
he hasn't said anything untrue in more than a year.
First of all, let's just bask in that imaginary scenario
where Trump hasn't said anything untrue in more than a year.
I mean, imagine what his rallies would be like
"Folks, people are coming to the border
and they're seeking asylum, which is perfectly legal.
And we should welcome them because diversity
is our strength.
Also, I'm terrible -- I'm terrible at golf.
[ Cheers and applause ]
In fact, Trump gave -- Trump gave a speech on energy
to workers in Pennsylvania on Tuesday,
and it was one reporters job
to basically sum the whole thing up.
It's what's known in politics as the pool report.
And here is the actual White House pool report
summing up Trump's speech.
"In a 60 minute speech, that at times resembled
a campaign rally, the President meandered
through several topics, meaning have little to do with energy.
He talked about trade, immigration, trucks,
emoluments, his 2016 victory, union leaders, his poll numbers,
the media, steel, China, the amount of money he believes
he's losing as president, the Green New Deal,
windmills, the WTO screwing us, President Obama's book deal,
Hillary Clinton's comments on coal workers,
pipelines and New York, Iran, veterans choice and more.
Oh, my God.
That sounded like a months worth of "Jeopardy" categories.
I'll take windmills for $400.
The answer, this famous idiot believe they cause cancer.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Oof.
They cause cancer.
In fact, one of the lies Trump told at that speech was about
the various lawsuits against him, including a lawsuit
alleging that he is violating a section
of the constitution that specifically prohibits
what are known as emoluments or gifts
from foreign governments.
For example, a Saudi-funded lobbyist paid
for 500 rooms at Trump's hotel after the 2016 election.
Does Trump's hotel even have 500 rooms?
I just assume there was a lobby, and if you went upstairs,
it was just fake doors painted on the walls.
Now, that seems like a pretty clear violation
of the constitution, and yet Trump
wasn't concerned about that.
He complained instead about how much
the lawsuits were supposedly costing him.
-This thing is costing me a fortune being president.
Somebody said, oh, he might have rented a room
to a man from Saudi Arabia for $500.
What about the $5 billion that I'll lose.
It will probably cost me, including upside, downside,
lawyers 'cause everyday they sue me for something.
These are the most litigious people.
It's probably costing me from 3 to $5 billion.
-I don't believe you're losing $3 to $5 billion from lawsuits.
I would believe you're losing $3 to $5 billion
just from, you now, like being Donald Trump.
I mean, you lost $1 billion in ten years,
and that was in the '80s and '90s,
when everyone was making money.
I mean, back then a little kid could open a lemonade stand
and make enough money to buy a Bugati.
So Trump lies about everything,
and the stock market is no exception.
But if you compare his record to the previous Presidents,
it's not as impressive.
In fact, if you look at the change in
the Dow Jones industrial average over the same period of time,
Clinton saw 41.4 percent increase,
Obama saw a 41.7 percent increase,
and Trump has seen a 30.1 percent increase.
So, Trump's been outdone by Clinton and Obama,
the two presidents he hates the most.
The only way that could be more embarrassing for Trump
is if he did loose $3 to $5 billion
and they had to repossess his penthouse
and rename it Hillary Tower.
[ Cheers and applause ]
More importantly --
more importantly, the stock market is not the whole economy.
In fact, most working people
aren't really invested in the stock market.
It's mostly just a sign at how the wealthy few are fairing.
In fact, one study found nearly 40 percent of the market
is owned by the richest one percent of the population
while bottom 90 percent of the population
owns just 19% of stock market wealth.
Basically, for a lot of people the stock market numbers
in the bottom of the CNN corner are just something
you staring at while waiting for your flight.
It's like, "I don't know.
I guess green is good and red is bad.
I'm gonna go to the Cinnabon."
[ Laughter ]
Trump's economic policy has only benefited
the elite few to begin with, and that a recession
seems like it might be on the horizon,
he's freaking out because for two years he's been able
to coast on the economic tide left by Obama while ignoring
the growing wealth gap, massive inequality
or the shuttering factories in states he promised to rescue.
In fact, Trump is so desperate for something to brag about
that during that rambling speech in Pennsylvania
he touted the Shell plant that was about to open
and repeatedly claimed credit for it.
-This would have never happened without me and us,
this would have never happened.
It was the Trump administration that made it possible.
No one else.
Without us, you would never have been able to do this.
-There you go.
The Shell plant would never would have happened
without Trump. Just one problem.
Shell announced its plans to build a complex
in 2012 when President Barack Obama was in office.
"Oh, it's been three hours.
Better check my fib-bit."
[ Laughter ]
I mean, he's taking credit for a plant
that was announced when Obama was in office.
What's next?
"Do you know I killed Osama bin Laden?
I swear it's true. I have --
I have a very real photo to prove it."
[ Laughter ]
Trump is freaking out about the possibility
of a recession after spending 2 1/2 years
catering the wealthy elite.
He doesn't care about growing inequality
or shuttering factories.
We've got a lot of problems, and in many cases...
-It was the Trump administration
that made it possible.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]