This

But it did report on the things he said, which were and are all objectively repugnant, regardless of context or spin.

That's the thing that got to me. Trump came in on an economy that was largely recovered from 08 and was approaching the time to raise interest rates so they could be cut again next recession and to prevent inflation. Then Trump came in, picked a bunch of trade wars without thinking about downstream consequences, didn't raise interest, and more or less fucked the economy like he thought it was a child. But the economy is a big ship that steers slow so it took until 2019 for large numbers of people to really feel it. Then pandemic in 2020. People weren't happy and voted the idiot out. Before that happened inflation had already started in 2019 and he passed the stimulus checks which increased economic activity at the risk of inflation.

Then comes Biden, a man very few people asked for, who won on a "not trump" promise. In 21 the economy was well and truly fucked. Biden comes in and has to manage balancing that fact against an active pandemic (fun reminder that Trump cut the pandemic response team fairly early in his first presidency and just cut huge swathes of the cdc in a move that's absolutely baffling considering he's been president during a pandemic). But regardless Biden ran a very consultant and expert driven white house. Very centrist. And so as he's trying to recessitate the economy he keeps the checks flowing and the rates low, thats what governments are supposed to do. Things recover alongside high inflation. And so he slowly starts raising the interest rates. Inflation continues but the economy is all but certainly headed to recession this year, that's the state for 2-3 years but inflation does slow. He also appoints the trustbuster Lena Kahn to head of the FTC in response to reports that inflation is being driven by corporate greed. It's not enough people are still struggling and Trump is reelected

Anyways here we are again, interest rates are being slashed, corporations are given free rein if they kiss the ring, and stupid trade wars abound