WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump effectively claimed victory over the economic crisis and COVID-19 on Friday and major progress against racial inequity, heartily embracing an unexpectedly good jobs report in hopes of convincing a discouraged nation he deserves another four years in office.
In lengthy White House remarks amid sweeping social unrest, a rising virus death toll and Depression-level unemployment, the Republican president suggested that even George Floyd, the black man who died last week when a white police officer knelt for minutes on his neck, would be pleased with the latest economic news.
Trump was quick to seize the positive jobs report at a time when his political standing is at one of the weakest points of his presidency less than five months before the general election.
“Let’s be clear about something: The depth of this jobs crisis is not attributable to an act of God but to a failure of a president,” Biden declared in a Delaware speech shortly after Trump spoke.
Former South Carolina Gov. and Rep. Mark Sanford, a Republican who briefly mounted a primary challenge to Trump last year, dismissed any employment gain due to federal deficit spending.
