President Donald Trump seized on a new report showing a startling drop in unemployment Friday, then said George Floyd, who was killed during his arrest by police in Minneapolis, was ‘looking down’ at the country and it was a ‘great day’ for him.
Trump made the odd comment during a rambling 53-minute appearance celebrating the good economic news – which he said defied expectations of top analysts and proved the U.S. economy was back on track.
‘Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying “this is a great thing that is happening for our country.” It’s a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of quality,’ Trump said.
‘It’s really what our Constitution requires and what our country is all about. It really is what our Constitution requires,’ he added.
‘I think it was incredible in a couple of ways,’ Trump said during 45 minutes of remarks in the sun in the White House Rose Garden. ‘Number One the numbers are great and this leads us onto a long period of growth,’ he said. ‘We’ll go back to having the greatest economy in the world.’
Trump upped his predictions for the nation’s recovery. ‘I think you’re going to have a very good August, very good July,’ he said, and a ‘maybe spectacular September.
Trump veered into a number of topics besides the good economic report – trashing the Green New Deal, repeating his claim that ‘you have to dominate the streets,’ and calling out ‘the greatest miscalculation in the history of business shows.’
The president also repeated his call to ‘dominate the streets’
Trump made the statements while praising the monthly employment gains, powered by people coming off unemployment rolls they joined as the coronavirus hit. He also called it, ‘To me, if you think about it, the greatest comeback in American history.’
‘We’re going to work together. It will all work out. It will all work out,’ he said, after days of images of major protests and angry, sometimes violent clashes with police.
He congratulated the National Guard and the Secret Service, who rushed him to a bunker beneath the White House Friday night amid protests and street violence. ‘There was never any form of, ‘Oh gee, this sounds dangerous,” he said.
Trump called the guard ‘fantastic’ and said ‘National Guard was barely used’ – after the mayor of Washington D.C. requested he remove all military units from the city and questioned why some federal forces on D.C. streets wore no insignia.
‘They came in, and this was like a piece of cake,’ Trump said.
The president appeared unaffected by the heat, even as small business administrator Jovita Carranza could be seen repeatedly dabbing her face. ‘I’ll be brief as I can I know it’s pretty darn hot,’ economic advisor Larry Kudlow said when Trump had finally relinquished the podium. An official then brought paper cups of water to top officials who were stranded behind Trump for a 45-minute monologue at the start of the event.
Trump’s extended remarks ran past the 11 am start time of an online interview where former Trump chief of staff John Kelly sided with former Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who provided a blistering critique of the president and accused him of politicizing the military.
‘The idea you would unleash American active duty folks unless it’s an extreme situation… the troops hate it,’ Kelly said. ‘The separation of powers is very very important,’ he added. ‘No president ever is a dictator or a king.’
Trump said at his White House statement governors should not be ‘too proud.’
‘In New York, you see what’s going on there. Don’t be proud, get the job done. You’ll end up looking much better in the end. Call in the National Guard. Call me. We’ll have so many people. More people than – you have to dominate the streets. You can’t let what’s happening, happen. It’s called dominate the streets,’ Trump said.
When he was done speaking, a reporter shouted out a question of how a better economy would have protected George Floyd. Trump didn’t respond.
Democratic rival former Vice President Joe Biden hit back with a speech in Dover, Delaware.
‘We are still facing devastating unemployment,’ Biden said.
‘And Donald Trump is patting himself on the back,’ Biden said. He just has no idea in my view of what is going on in this country,’ Biden said. ‘He remains completely oblivious to the human toll of his indifference.’
Earlier Friday, Trump congratulated himself on a new jobs report that showed an unexpected reduction in U.S. unemployment even at at time when the nation is reeling from the impacts of the coronavirus.
Trump sent out a series of exclamatory tweets after getting the good news, and promptly announced a press conference – which turned out to be an extended statement – to talk about it.
‘Really Big Jobs Report. Great going President Trump (kidding but true)!’ Trump wrote.
‘Market up Big!!!’ Trump wrote in another tweet, as the Dow jumped more than 700 points immediately following the news.
He also blasted out stunned reactions from market-watchers. ‘THESE NUMBERS ARE INCREDIBLE! @MariaBartiromo,’ Trump wrote, tagging the Fox Business Network host who recently interviewed him.
‘This is an AMAZING JOBS REPORT! Edward Lawrence @FoxNews,’ Trump wrote, tagging a Fox Business journalist.
Employment figures unexpectedly rose by 2.5 million in May and the jobless rate declined to 13.3 percent, according to a stunning jobs report that showed the country’s unemployment rate dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Great going President Trump’ President Trump tweeted, adding parenthetically ‘kidding but true’
He tagged Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in one tweet
The president congratulated Fox News commentator Charles Payne
Trump immediately took a partisan look at the numbers, claiming Democrats are ‘worried’ about the improved employment picture
Trump also tagged CNBC host Jim Cramer
Economists had been predicting that the Labor Department report on Friday would reveal the unemployment rate had increased to a record 20 percent and about eight million jobs had been lost.
Instead, the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report showed the jobless rate dropped to 13.3 percent last month from 14.7 percent in April.
That figure is still on par with what the US witnessed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.5 million jobs in May after a record plunge of 20.6 million in April, according to the report.
The number of unemployed Americans is now at 21 million.
Trump didn’t save all his tweets for Fox Business. ‘It is a stunner by any stretch of the imagination! @CNBC,’ he wrote, tagging another financial network.
‘It’s a stupendous number. It’s joyous, let’s call it like it is. The Market was right. It’s stunning! @jimcramer @CNBC,’ Trump wrote.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said the multi-trillion stimulus passed by Congress ‘helped get the economy going, but we need a lot more.’
‘We need to double down,’ he told MSNBC, saying a 13 per cent unemployment rate ‘is not a time to get joyous.’
Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale came out with a statement on the news even before the president was to face the cameras.
‘The great American comeback is underway after the economy was artificially interrupted by the global pandemic. Doomsday economists had predicted a loss of 8.5 million jobs in May, but the economy roared back and added 2.5 million jobs instead, thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the solid foundation his policies have laid,’ Parscale said in a statement sent out by the campaign.
The report attributed the unexpected gains to ‘a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it.’
Instead of the bad news being forecast, the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report showed the jobless rate dropped to 13.3 percent last month from 14.7 percent in April.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.5 million jobs after a record plunge of 20.6 million in April.
Trump immediately took credit for the rise in jobs just moments after the report was released, tweeting: ‘Really Big Jobs Report. Great going President Trump (kidding but true)!’
The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday showed the jobless rate dropped to 13.3 percent last month from 14.7 percent in April. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.5 million jobs after a record plunge of 20.6 million in April
The overall job cuts have widened economic disparities that have disproportionately hurt minorities and lower-educated workers.
Though the unemployment rate for white Americans was 12.4 percent in May, it was 17.6 percent for Hispanics and 16.8 percent for African-Americans.
The latest figures are a surprisingly positive reading in the midst of a recession that has paralyzed the economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The May job gain suggests that businesses have quickly been recalling workers as states have reopened their economies following weeks long lockdowns.
The industries to see the sharpest increases in employment in May were in leisure and hospitality, construction, education and heath services, and retail trade.
‘These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it,’ the Labor Department said in a statement.
The report gave another shot of adrenaline to Wall Street’s recent rally with stocks climbing early Friday. The Dow Jones opened nearly 700 points higher.
It came on the heels of surveys showing consumer confidence, manufacturing and services industries stabilizing.
Other evidence has also shown that the job market meltdown triggered by the coronavirus has bottomed out.