Racist Trump blames China, declares victory (again) on jobs, ignores surging COVID-19 infections

by Joan McCarter

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday, Jul. 02, 2020 Thursday, Jul. 02, 2020 at 7:01:15am PDT

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 25: Flanked by Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (R), U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House on March 25, 2020 in Washington, DC. The United States Senate continues to work on a $2 trillion aide package to combat the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

"These are not numbers made up by me. These are numbers." That's Donald Trump on national television touting a jobs report showing a gain of 4.8 million jobs in June. "Spectacular," "a record," "roaring back," and lots of "tremendous," everyone "setting records." We're coming back from the "terrible China virus," he said, completely ignoring the renewed surge of coronavirus cases and states that had opened shutting down again.

A few notes. These are not new jobs. Those were people going back to jobs that they had recently lost, and could be lost again with states shutting back down. Also, there is a time lag in these reports. Here's Betsey Stevenson, former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and Chief Economist at Labor. We’re not out of this. Not by a long shot.

You cannot interpret this jobs report without thinking about the virus situation on June 12, the reference week of the survey. Cases were coming down, people were beginning to feel optimistic. That's not where we are now, we now face new closures and increasing fear. pic.twitter.com/Nz2cnAsgd6
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) July 2, 2020