WINNING — Inflation Eases as Job Creation Soars and Border Security Pays Off

TLDR

This press release misrepresents economic and immigration trends by claiming Trump administration credit for improvements that began before his presidency. While February 2025 shows continued declining inflation and reduced border crossings, these positive trends were well established during 2023-2024 under the Biden administration. The statement omits context about pre-existing economic recovery and border security measures to create a misleading narrative about the impact of Trump’s six weeks in office.

The recent White House press release makes several bold claims about economic improvements and border security under President Trump’s administration. While some elements contain kernels of truth, many assertions require important context and clarification to provide a complete picture of current economic and immigration trends.

The press release celebrates a February 2025 CPI report showing declining inflation, with core inflation purportedly reaching its “lowest level in FOUR years.” This claim requires significant context. Inflation had already been steadily declining well before Trump took office in January 2025. By August 2024, during the Biden administration, inflation had already reached a three-year low of 2.5%. This represents a substantial cooling from the peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

The press release’s framing suggests that current inflation improvements are solely attributable to Trump’s policies implemented over just six weeks in office. Economic data shows that inflation had already moderated considerably before the transition of power. While the specific February 2025 CPI figures referenced may be accurate, attributing this trend exclusively to Trump’s administration overlooks the pre-existing trajectory established during 2023-2024.

Furthermore, the suggestion that Trump is “fixing the economic and inflation nightmare created by the Biden-Harris Administration” contradicts economic reality. Despite high prices being frustrating for many Americans, the average worker by January 2025 actually had more purchasing power than before the pandemic, with wages rising 25.8% compared to price increases of 22.8% since February 2020.

Job growth was already robust throughout the Biden administration, with the number of US-born workers increasing approximately 3.5% between May 2021 and mid-2024. The unemployment rate also declined 2.1 percentage points under Biden to 4.3%. Attributing new job announcements exclusively to Trump’s policies disregards this pre-existing positive employment trajectory.

The press release’s characterization of Trump’s first term economic management also conflicts with economic analysis. During Trump’s first term (pre-COVID), his administration prioritized “getting big headlines to juice stock market numbers” and acted “irresponsibly economically” according to economic assessments. Trump’s previous tax cuts primarily benefited the wealthy while adding $4.8 trillion to the national debt (excluding COVID spending), which contributed to subsequent inflation pressures.

The press release celebrates a “99% drop” in migration through Panama’s Darien Gap and suggests migrants are “turning around” due to Trump’s border policies. While there has been a significant decrease in border encounters, context matters greatly here.

Border crossings had already been declining significantly before Trump took office. According to CBP data, border encounters had dropped to approximately 30,000 in January 2025, with February potentially reaching 8,500 - the lowest since record-keeping began in 2000. Importantly, this downward trend began under the Biden administration, with December 2024 figures already showing a reduction of approximately 25,000 crossings per month compared to early 2021 numbers.

The Trump administration has indeed taken aggressive action on immigration, including deploying military forces to the border and ending legal pathways like the CBP One app and humanitarian parole programs. These actions may have accelerated the pre-existing downward trend, but claiming the entire reduction as a Trump achievement ignores the multi-year pattern established before his inauguration.

The White House press release employs a rhetorical strategy of claiming credit for positive economic and immigration trends that were already well underway before President Trump took office in January 2025. While specific data points mentioned may be factually accurate in isolation, the overall narrative omits crucial context about pre-existing trends.

Economic indicators including inflation, employment, and border statistics were already moving in favorable directions during 2024. The press release’s framing suggests these improvements emerged suddenly under Trump’s leadership, when in reality they represent continuations of longer-term patterns. This type of selective presentation of facts without proper context serves political messaging objectives rather than providing Americans with a complete understanding of complex economic and immigration realities.