Donald Trump was unusually quiet on Twitter on Saturday, but he did manage to spend enough time on the social media website to put his foot in his mouth.
In a tweet, the president repeated one of his favorite new claims: African American unemployment is the “lowest” it’s ever been and he deserves credit for it.
So true Wayne, and Lowest black unemployment in history! https://t.co/gDxxJdZQUm
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2018
The facts: Trump’s black unemployment boast – that it’s at a record low – was true for about a month, when December saw the rate of jobless African Americans fall to 6.8 percent – indeed, a record low.
What the president forgot – or just doesn’t know – is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a jobs report each month. In January, black unemployment jumped 13 percent to a nine-month high, hitting 7.7 percent. The last time it clocked in higher than 7.7 percent was April 2017, when it was 7.9 percent.
African American unemployment has been falling for years
Regardless of the exact figure, Trump’s claim that he is responsible for low black unemployment is laughable. This is a trend that started eight years ago when Barack Obama was president.
Black unemployment is at record lows thanks to a massive declining trend started in 2010.
Congratulations @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/yr5FmQA6a3— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 28, 2018
Despite having total party control over each branch of government, Trump has been one of the least accomplished presidents in modern history. The one significant piece of legislation he and Republicans did manage to push through Congress – massive tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations and individuals – only came in December.
With very few economic and legislative accomplishments over the past year, Donald Trump deserves no credit for a strong economy with declining unemployment that was in the works well before he even announced his candidacy for president.
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