The New York Times and Washington Post praised the Trump economy this week. They both reported on the remarkable increase in blue-collar jobs under Trump.

Former President Barack Obama is green with envy at Donald Trump’s economic success.

I’ll tell you a personal story in a minute that explains everything. But first, a look at the remarkable success of President Trump.

I’ve previously written that President Trump had produced the rare feat of higher GDP (4.2 percent) than unemployment (3.9 percent).

Compare that to Obama, who is the only president in the history of the United States to never produce a single year of 3 percent or higher GDP.

I also reported in this column that Trump had the second-highest rating in the history of the Small Business Optimism Index. I predicted on my national radio and TV shows that Trump was second by only a smidge to Reagan, but he wouldn’t be second for long.

I was right. The August numbers are out. Trump has surpassed Reagan, 109 to 108. No president in history has ever made America’s small-business owners happier.

Why do small-business owners love Trump so much?

Here’s a personal story. I was honored to be chosen recently to debate one-on-one against The New York Times’ “Never Trumper” columnist Ross Douthat at the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas. We debated in front of several thousand attendees.

I made the case that Trump is the best president ever for small business, the economy and jobs. And Obama was the worst ever. I used my real-life story as Exhibit A. I bared my soul.

I told the audience when Obama became president, I was worth just under $10 million. By the time Obama left office, I was worth close to zero.

And it must be pure coincidence that the same thing happened to almost every small-business owner I know. I guess we all forgot how to make money under Obama. We all got dumb.

And now that Trump is president, we’re suddenly all smart again. Things are rolling for me again. The same goes for every small-business owner I know. I guess it’s a coincidence we all suddenly remembered how to make money again?

The answer is simple. Obama was a socialist. He believed government was the answer to every problem. He believed in income redistribution (i.e., theft). He attacked us with massive taxes, massive regulations, massive health care cost increases with Obamacare, nonstop IRS attacks, open borders and, of course, “You didn’t build that.”

He made business owners feel greedy, insignificant, unwanted, unloved. He threw so many roadblocks in front of us, we couldn’t succeed, no matter how hard we tried. We were running in quicksand. That’s how I went from almost $10 million to zero.

Then along came President Trump. A businessman. A fan of capitalism. A man who celebrated small-business owners. He treated us like heroes. He dramatically cut taxes, cut regulations, killed the Obamacare mandate, made us feel valuable and wanted again. Trump took away the roadblocks. He greased the wheels. Suddenly, we were making money again. We weren’t running in quicksand anymore.

It’s not just “America First.” With President Trump, it’s entrepreneurs and small businesses first. Trump made us great again. And we’re making America great again.

What a change. Even The New York Times and Washington Post praised the Trump economy this week. They both reported on the remarkable increase in blue-collar jobs under Trump.

Back at FreedomFest, Douthat of The New York Times listened to my opening speech. He walked to the podium and told the audience, “I concede.” The audience roared. They all got it. I’m one of them. We’ve all lived Obama vs. Trump. We know what’s happening. We never want to go back to Obama.

The audience voted at the end of the debate. I won.