Wow. Bush admin NEC director takes apart Trump's tweet on national debt

[highplainsdem]

Found this via a tweet from Time's Zeke Miller:

Link to tweet

Former Bush NEC director @KeithHennessey publishes memo responding to @POTUS debt tweet http://keithhennessey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/reponse-to-debt-tweet-2.pdf …

Trump's tweet:

Link to tweet

That memo, on Keith Hennessey's website:

http://keithhennessey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/reponse-to-debt-tweet-2.pdf

MEMORANDUM FOR A MEMBER OF CONGRESS
FROM: KEITH HENNESSEY
SUBJECT: THE PRESIDENT’S DEBT TWEET

You asked whether you should echo or retweet President Trump’s tweet about declining debt.

In a word, no.

It appears the president was repeating something Herman Cain said this morning on Fox & Friends Weekend. We know the president watches this show and his tweet appeared shortly after Mr. Cain was on-air.

The numbers are technically correct.

-snip-

But government cash flows are lumpy, leading to big daily fluctuations in government debt.

-snip-

Neither president affected government borrowing in his first month.

-snip-

The big difference between early 2009 and now is the health of the economy.

-snip-

Recommendation

Because of his unique communications advantages, President Trump may be able to get away with making an argument with such a weak foundation. You cannot, and you should not place yourself in the position of having to address the intellectual weaknesses described above.

More concerning, this tweet shows the president continues to rely on TV rather than his advisors for numbers and policy substance. Until his staff figure out a way to ensure he doesn’t make such easily rebutted claims, you should not echo the president’s economic arguments or claims without first verifying both their accuracy and substantive merit. This is particularly true of his early morning and late night tweets, when he’s probably in the residence and away from his staff. This unfortunate situation will persist as long as President Trump continues to take his numbers and policy arguments from TV pundits rather than from Mr. Cohn, Director Mulvaney, and Secretary Mnuchin.