Monday, President Donald Trump claimed God is testing him about the economic impact of COVID-19. He made the remarks at a rally in Mankato, Minnesota.
“What we’re doing is nothing short of an economic miracle and now we’re doing it again,” while speaking at the airport. “We built the greatest economy in the history of the world and now I have to do it again.”
“You know what that is?” Trump asked according to Raw Story. [1] “That’s right. That’s God testing me. He said, ‘You know, you did it once.’ And I said ‘Did I do a great job, God? I’m the only one that could do it.’ He said, ‘That, you shouldn’t say. Now we’re going to have you do it again.'”
I don’t know if God exists, but if he’s talking to Trump, he’s giving him the wrong information. Trump has oft made that “greatest economy in the world” claim and in September 2018, it earned him three Pinocchio’s from The Washington Post’s [2] famous fact-checker. While Trump can be allowed some bragging room here, the economy today isn’t doing nearly as well as it did under several presidents — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
In a report earlier this year, the Post [3] noted after interviewing several economists, the consensus is that, while the economy is doing okay, it’s not doing anything that’s particularly unprecedented. And while the unemployment rate painted a rosy picture [4] (a strong 3.5 percent) when the report came out, with the advent of COVID-19, it’s now in pretty poor shape, falling slightly from a high of 11.1 percent in June to 10.2 percent in July, according to the statistics from the U.S. Labor Department. That’s a little bit better news than economists had expected, The Financial Times [5] reports. However, employers only added 1.8 million jobs in July, down from 4.8 million in June.
The unemployment situation has resulted in a tussle between the Democrats and the Republicans as they try to meet on common grounds to implement what would be the fifth rescue package since the start of the pandemic, and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that both parties remained “far apart” after talks. This is really bad news for all of us who are struggling to stay afloat, and the Senate won’t reconvene [6] until Sept. 8, while the House of Representatives won’t reconvene until September 14.
And it’s worth noting that none of this would likely have happened if Trump had handled the coronavirus pandemic properly. But Trump recommended drinking bleach [7] and was against wearing masks, so here we are.
I’ve provided a clip of Trump bragging about his “challenge from God,” who seems to be giving him the wrong opinion and apparently has no opinion about our stimulus checks. Or the fact that this pandemic has now killed nearly [8] 800,000 people.
I’m sure you’re aware that this isn’t a comprehensive overview of the U.S. economy as it stands right now. For that, I suggest you read the Financial Times [5] report.
President Trump: "We built the greatest economy in the history of the world and now I have to do it again! You know what that is? That's God testing me." pic.twitter.com/dO4kcCX2nw [9]
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 17, 2020 [10]