I guess you don’t want to look at the numbers. 2.9 equals Obamas best. So Obama never exceeded, he had 8 years, only one of them was 2.9, that is not ‘exceeding’ anything. If you count 2017 as Trumps first year that is a 2.2 growth, that far exceeds Obama’s minus, I say minus 2.5 in 2009. Trump better by 4.7 in the first year. If you say it is all Bushs fault in 2009, and it doesn’t really count for Obama, then that 2017 figure is an Obama figure of 2.2. Then the first year of Trump either way exceeds Obama. If you say Bush is the cause of the fall in 2009, and it only starts for Obama in 2010, then Trump only starts in 2018, which is 2.9 exceeds Obama in 7 of those 8 years and equals his best. If you say Trump started in 2017 or 2018, he jumped it. .6 going from 2016 to 2017, and if not, it is an additional jump from 2017 of 2.2 to 2.9. He was handed a 1.6 GDP growth if you see Obama ending in 2016, Trump jumpted it from 1.6 to 2.2 If you see Obama ending in 2017 with 2.2, it jumped an additional .7. Either way, if it is seen as two years, Trump jumped it from 1.6 to 2.9. If it is seen as one year, he jumped it from 2.2 to 2.9.

2009 $14.449 $15.209 -2.5% Stimulus Act.
2010 $14.992 $15.599 2.6% ACA. Dodd-Frank.
2011 $15.543 $15.841 1.6% Japan earthquake.
2012 $16.197 $16.197 2.2% Fiscal cliff.
2013 $16.785 $16.495 1.8% Sequestration.
2014 $17.522 $16.900 2.5% QE ends.
2015 $18.219 $17.387 2.9% TPP. Iran deal.
2016 $18.707 $17.659 1.6% Presidential race.
2017 $19.485 $18.051 2.2% Trump Tax Act.
2018 $20.494 $18.566 2.9% Deficit spending.