In the Rose Garden on Friday morning, Donald Trump simply couldn’t resist taking a victory lap and patting himself on the back when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 2.5 million jobs had been added in May, lowering the unemployment rate, he crowed, to 13.3 percent as the U.S. economy began to emerge from the coronavirus. He bragged:
“Today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in America history. It’s not going to stop here. It’s going to keep going.”
But, as with nearly everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth, it turns out the figures he spouted were little more than blatant lies, according to The Washington Post:
“When the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major ‘error’ indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate.
“The special note said that if this ‘misclassification error’ had not occurred, the ‘overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,’ meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May.”
But hey, what’s three measly percentage points when you’re a pathological liar like Trump? Oh, only the difference between reliable government statistics and utter bullshit.
Remember when Trump used to accuse the Obama administration of cooking the books when it came to job creation and the unemployment rate? Here’s three examples:
- “Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don’t believe the 5.6. Don’t believe it.” (June 16, 2015)
- “They say 5.3 percent employment. The number is probably 32 percent.” (October 19, 2015)
- “Don’t believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. As high as 35 — as in fact, I heard recently, 42 percent.” (February 9, 2016)
As with everything Trump accuses others of, it turns out he’s actually the guilty party. Such is the case with the incredible job numbers he was busy claiming credit for on Friday.
The U.S economy and job market are both in a deep hole. The current jobless numbers are at levels not seen since the Great Depression. Oh, and nearly 112,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19, thanks in large part to Trump’s early inaction and dithering when the virus hit our shores. Cases are also rising in states (Arizona, Florida) that were slow to shut down and first out of the gate to reopen.
Donald Trump is a complete failure as president. His signature issue, the economy, is now one of his main weaknesses, and he’s having to resort to manipulating the numbers so he can pretend things are going swimmingly.
November 3 cannot possibly get here quickly enough. Let’s vote this lying sack of crap out and get an adult to run the country.