In a rambling, often repetitive statement on this morning’s jobs report, President Trump celebrated the “record-setting” numbers from the report, stating that the nation is “getting [the coronavirus pandemic] under control,” ignoring record high reports of new cases nationwide.
Trump’s 15 minute morning press briefing featured him following along a written statement with his finger, often jumping off-script repeating the statistics he had just read while punctuating his sentences with claims like these were “historic numbers” and “never before seen.”
At one point, Trump disjointedly stated, “These are not numbers made up by me. These are numbers.”
Trump’s touting of the numbers stands in stark contrast to his statements as a candidate, when he often claimed jobs numbers were falsified to benefit the political aspirations of the White House.
“The numbers are phony. These are all phony numbers. Numbers given to politicians to look good. These are phony numbers,” Trump said on March 12, 2016.
Trump also touted unsubstantiated data, such as 80% of small businesses had reopened and that “the number of new business applications has doubled since March,” a factoid likely true given that states were shutting down due to the spreading coronavirus that month.
Without acknowledging the massive losses incurred due to failing economic policy and the coronavirus pandemic which led to the ability to post such numbers, Trump stated, “This is not just luck that’s happening; it’s a lot of talent.”
Trump also claimed that the United States has followed European leadership in implementing models to control the spread of the coronavirus. “We are likewise getting it under control,” he claimed.
In fact, the United States saw a record high number of daily cases yesterday, topping 50,000 for the first time. In contrast, the entire 27 nation European Union, with a population 30% higher than the United States, had fewer new cases than the state of Arizona.
Trump took no questions from the assembled press pool.