WASHINGTON—Explaining that the president was minimizing the contributions of his predecessor while making hyperbolic claims about his administration’s own input, experts reportedly criticized President Trump Tuesday for unfairly claiming credit for the rise in economic inequality that occurred under President Obama’s watch. “While Trump is right that economic inequality is increasing under him, he cannot ignore the Obama administration’s significant contributions to the current wealth gap,” said Brookings Institution senior analyst Gregory Chen, adding that any overview of rising economic inequality must also consider other factors deserving credit, such as banks, technology companies, and other corporations that routinely broke laws and engaged in predatory practices, over which any president has little control. “President Trump needs to face the fact that he is simply not solely responsible for the further enrichment of corporate executives and for making millions of Americans’ lives more financially precarious—President Obama made great strides in those areas over his eight years as president. Credit where credit is due. However, if Trump’s massive tax reforms continue transferring money to the ultra-wealthy, we could certainly see a time in the future where Trump’s contributions to economic inequality override Obama’s legacy and truly help American households in the top 1 percent.” At press time, critics also slammed Trump for taking credit for many of the part-time jobs with no benefits and zero job security added to the U.S. economy for which Obama is actually responsible.

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