Trump is running on the American economy, but his critics say he's selling a mirage

Donald Trump, it turns out, is running on the economy after all. But his critics say what the president is selling voters is more mirage than reality.

He returns to the campaign trail in earnest this week, with stops in at least three battleground states: Florida, North Carolina and Michigan. (On Friday, he and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will be in another, Pennsylvania, but to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 in Shanksville, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after being hijacked by al-Qaeda operatives.)

Mr Trump ran in 2016 as a self-described business savant who told voters he was – despite no formal training as an economist – uniquely qualified to supercharge what was a slow-but-steady economic recovery under the Obama administration following the 2007-2008 global recession. Economic growth did take off in the early quarters of his term, but it eventually slowed to an Obama-like pace.