What did Donald Trump do today?

He reported on a very different economy than the one he tweets about.

Trump routinely talks about the post-2007 economy he inherited as though he had much to do with it.  

Under normal circumstances, presidents don't have much direct impact on the economy. But Trump spent last year radically altering both trade and tax policies—often against the advice of his own economic advisors. At the same time, he was promising economic growth at rates not seen since the post-WWII boom.

Today, at the same time that he was tweeting yet more praise for himself on that score, his administration released a new economic forecast essentially admitting that not only will the U.S. economy fall short of even 3% growth in, but that the supposed stimulus of his massive 2017 tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-rich never materialized.

Why is this a problem?

• The president of the United States has to either have a basic grasp of economics, or listen to those who do.

• Past a certain point, confidence in your own abilities becomes pathological.