Sean Hannity, host Fox News Network’s Hannity , was not appearing on television during the afternoon hours of Friday, July 27. Instead he was hosting his radio program, The Sean Hannity show, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Hannity had originally wanted the president to make an approximate half-hour appeareance on the show, so Trump could discuss the U.S. economic performance numbers during the second fiscal quarter. Trump wasn’t able to oblige Hannity on his original request of a 30-minute interview. Instead, Trump reportedly countered with an offer of 10 minutes.
Hannity stated that virtually every request of the president is some kind of negotiation, regardless of what is being asked.
During the appearance, Donald Trump touted a growth of 4.1 percent for the U.S. economy during the second fiscal quarter. Sean Hannity was quick to point out that while that was great news for Americans in general, it potentially spelled bad news for Democrats in the upcoming midterm election.
Indeed, the gross domestic product (GDP) experienced a higher rate of growth during the second quarter of 2018 than it has since growth under the Obama administration in 2014. The estimated 4.1 percent, however, does fall short of consecutive Obama-era GDP growths of 4.6 and 5.2 percent, as reported for 2014’s second and third quarters, according to Statistica .
The New York Times reported today that economists are expecting economic growth to begin slowing in the second half of 2018.
Trump, however, has been dismissive of such economic projections, as quoted in the New York Times . Trump maintains that the growth is on track to remain consistent throughout the remainder of 2018 and for the foreseeable future, despite the warnings from economist outlets asserting that the second quarter figures are pumped up by a surge in exports
“This isn’t a one-time shot, I happen to think we’re going to do extraordinarily well in our next report, next quarter.”
Ellen Zentner, the chief U.S. economist for Morgan Stanley, was weary on soybean exports for the latter half of 2018, and surmised that recent exports were more about timeliness than they were indicative of an actual need for more soy beans than usual.
“We’re getting explosive growth in the second quarter because of trade. You’ve got a big hole on the other side of that.”
Zentner predicts a major slump is imminent for the third and fourth quarters of 2018 and will have a major effect on the GDP.
Sean Hannity is a right-wing political pundit and is best known as a personality on Fox News. He regularly boasts great support for Donald Trump on his television show.
