They interpreted "people, on the whole, are doing better than they were 4 years ago" as a personal attack on everyone who isn't. Telling them they're doing worse than the average person is an affront to their sense of self.
Like it’s absolutely surreal for me, listening to these bozos construct elaborate fantasies where people personally mocked them for feeling squeezed. This did not happen. No one did this. No one ever said that aggregate national economic data proved that every single person was doing great.
