This past Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders- in trying to defend her boss, Donald (“I-Really-Love-the-’N’-Word”) Trump- tried to pull another fast one.
And this time, Sanders was forced to walk it all back.
On 8-14-2018, Sanders told reporters that Trump “in his first year and a half has already tripled what President Obama did in eight years.”
She claimed that Barack Obama’s work in the White House meant 195,000 new jobs for African-American people...while, under Trump, African Americans have- thus far- found 700,000 new gigs.
Tell that one to the folks at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bureau’s statistics show that, from January 2009 to January 2017, African Americans gained 2.8 million new jobs.
What’s more, Obama’s work cut Black unemployment in more than half. During March 2010, joblessness in the African-American community was at 16.8%; by the time the man who integrated the Oval Office said farewell to the most talked-about political job there is, the jobless rate among African Americans was just 7.8%.
Yes, as of May 2018, Black unemployment stood at 5.9%.
But that figure was still about twice the White joblessness rate: 3.4%.
Well, after media outlets pounced on Sanders’ claims, she got on Twitter that night to apologize for her sleight-of-mouth act.
“I’m sorry for the mistake,” Sanders tweeted, “but no apologies for the 700,000 jobs for African Americans created under President Trump.”
To top it all off, Sanders nailed the White House Council of Economic Advisers as the culprit for the “miscommunication.”
Sanders and so many other defenders of the former host of TV’s The Apprentice will tell you (and tell you and tell you) that America’s economy is booming under his watch. (Actually, it’s only booming if you’re one of Trump’s fellow one-percenters.)
But any economic growth taking place in America these last eighteen months is meaningless as long as racism, sexism, homophobia, religiophobia, class warfare, and corruption are the building blocks of Basic Republican Philosophy.