As President Donald Trump defends himself against the House impeachment inquiry, he's fallen back on a familiar line of attack against Democrats: The economy is the best it's ever been, so impeach that.

The Trump economy so far has indeed continued on a steady upward trajectory on many fronts, including on wage gains and for reaching the lowest unemployment rate in nearly a half-century.

But to call it "the greatest in history" is far off the mark, according to economists.

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Old habits die hard for President Donald Trump.

As he defends himself against the House impeachment inquiry over his effort to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political rival, Trump has fallen back on a familiar line of attack against Democrats: The economy is the best it's ever been, so impeach that.

Late Wednesday evening, Trump went to Twitter to express disgust at the Democrats spearheading the impeachment inquiry — and touted his economic record with his characteristic hyperbole.

"Impeached for what, having created the greatest Economy in the history of our Country, building our strongest ever Military, Cutting taxes too much?" Trump tweeted.

He's repeated the same defense over the past year:

"Do you think it was luck that got us to the best Stock Market and Economy in our history. It wasn't!" Trump tweeted on September 26.

"How do you impeach a President who has helped create perhaps the greatest economy in the history of our Country?" Trump tweeted on September 13.

"We have the greatest economy that we've ever had," Trump said in a Fox News interview in October 2018.

The Trump economy so far has steadily strengthened on many fronts, including wage gains and unemployment, which is at its lowest rate in nearly a half-century. But Trump, like presidents before him, hardly exercises full power over steering the economy. "At best," the Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell wrote, "they can usually affect things on the margins, in the short run."

Read more: Trump boasts the economy is the best it's ever been. Here are 9 charts showing how it's fared compared with the Obama and Bush presidencies.

But to call this economy "the greatest in history" is far off the mark, economists say.

The economy just isn't as good as Trump says

Martin Baily, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who was a top economic adviser to the Clinton administration, disagreed with Trump's bold claim.

"The economy in the late 1990s was in better shape," Baily told Business Insider. "Growth was faster, productivity growth was much faster. There was similarly low inflation and there was a broader improvement in living standards at the time."

Indeed, President Bill Clinton's economic policies helped usher in a decade of prosperity through the 1990s, with unemployment nearly halved to 4% when he left office, and he presided over a historic rate of job creation. He also left his successor George W. Bush a budget surplus, the last time the federal government had one.

Baily, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under Clinton, gave Trump's handling of the economy a C+.

"The story on the economy right now is a mixed one," Baily said. "There's no question unemployment is lower now than even in the late 1990s and inflation is low." He also added he didn't "want to downplay" that more people were entering the workforce and getting jobs after a difficult economic stretch.

Baily, however, said he's "very worried" about the budget deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office has projected will reach $984 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. "Nobody seems to care anymore," he said, adding that spending on entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security was soaring.

Another economist also disagreed with Trump's view of the economy, though he had a slightly more optimistic view on it. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the president of the American Action Forum who was a top economic adviser to the Bush administration, said he believed it could be better.

"There's nothing that says this economy is a disaster," Holtz-Eakin told Business Insider. "But I would be measured in my assessment of it."

Read more: Ray Dalio warns the White House's latest plan to clamp down on Chinese investment could soon become a reality. Here's why he thinks 'all market participants need to worry.'

Holtz-Eakin, who was also the CBO director from 2003 to 2005, said there were indeed positive factors swinging in Trump's favor.

"I would point to the low unemployment rate and productivity growth which has rebounded," he said, pointing out both as "fundamental to long-term success" in his view. He gave Trump a B- so far on the economy.

Holtz-Eakin criticized Trump's trade wars, calling it "a self-inflicted wound." The burden of the trade war has fallen on American consumers — who power 70% of the economy with their spending — as families pay over $460 on average each year, a figure that could still double if all of the tariffs proposed for 2019 take effect.

Still, Holtz-Eakin says Trump has "convinced" himself he can sell a message of a strong economy even if the numbers paint a different picture.

"I think he's quite convinced he can successfully sell this is the greatest economy even if the numbers don't match that," Holtz-Eakin said, "The economy that matters is the one that's six to nine months out of the election, so next spring is the key."

Depending on the direction the economy goes, it could also be a factor in Trump's impeachment battle, according to Baily. He says the robust economy in the late 1990s helped Clinton "a great deal," but he doesn't believe it'll provide a similar level of protection for Trump.