It's really hard to know sometimes whether Donald Trump purposely lies or he truly just has zero grasp on reality. It’s likely a little of both, but regardless of whether it's intentional lying or accidental delusion, Trump's latest narrative about record-breaking economic growth, job growth, and the "LOWEST" black unemployment figures is pure Trump fantasyland, writes the AP.
While black unemployment did hit an all-time low of 5.9 percent in May, it's now inched steadily back up to 6.6 percent in July. Yet over the weekend, Trump touted the lowest black unemployment rates as "One new and great FACT." Any time Trump uses the word FACT in all caps, you know you're in for a treat. The black unemployment rate, which he declared himself "so honored" by, is also more than twice that of whites, 3.4 percent.
The most dramatic drop in black unemployment came under President Barack Obama, when it fell from a recession high of 16.8 percent in March 2010 to 7.8 percent in January 2017.
Also, about Trump's "record"-setting second-quarter GDP growth rate of 4.1 percent—which Trump says he expects "could be in the fives" next quarter—AP simply says: "No."
Macroeconomic Advisers, a consulting firm in St. Louis, forecasts 3.2 percent growth in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase economists have penciled in 3.5 percent. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta pegs it at 4.3 percent.
Plus, Trump's "record" 4.1 percent rate is simply the highest GDP growth rate since 2014, when Obama was president, and not even close to the highest ever.
Trump has also touted creating 3.9 million jobs since Election Day as "unthinkable," except that in the same 20-month period before Trump took office, the Obama economy generated 4.3 million jobs.
The only thing he had right there was the number of jobs created. Perhaps we should be grateful to find even a scrap of truth sneaking into Trump's fantasyland.
