Which he’s basing on the continuing strength of labor markets. Not politics.

I’m sort of down with sticking with an objective measure, like consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. The first several years of a very robust recovery after ‘08 were “jobless” - the labor market didn’t heat up at first. Right now you might say we’re in a “jobful” recession. Seems inevitable that the weakness will catch up to the job market at some point, which is part of the Fed’s goal in tackling inflation.

Anyway, whether we’re actually using the “r” word to describe the current strange environment is much more politically than economically relevant. It is what it is economically, whatever you call it.