Day 1,233: Trump: Jobs numbers are ‘tremendous tribute to equality’ that would make George Floyd proud

Unexpectedly positive job news should be a slam dunk for a president to celebrate, especially one desperate to shift news away from bungling a pandemic response and tear-gassing protesters for a photo-op. Donald Trump managed to botch it in a horrifically tone-deaf way anyway.

Trump took lower unemployment numbers and tried to tie them to George Floyd, the unarmed black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis less than two weeks ago.

But the president took his promotion of the jobs numbers a step further, describing them as a “tremendous tribute to equality” and declaring it a “great day” for George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer has ignited protests across all 50 states.

“We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully, George is looking down right now, and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country,’” Trump said. “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality.”

After those comments, Trump was asked after about his plan to combat racism in the nation. His answer: the economy.

But the Trump administration has touted great economic numbers for years until the pandemic hit and racism was still a problem. On top of that, while unemployment numbers fell for white workers, they rose for black workers to decades-high levels.

Bookending his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump tweeted and tweeted and tweeted, literally, 200 times.

1,233 days in, 229 to go

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