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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
Mon Jun 8, 2020, 01:35 PM Jun 2020

Trump's Remarks on the Jobs Numbers Report; June 8, 2020

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump on the Jobs Numbers Report
ECONOMY & JOBS

Issued on: June 8, 2020

Rose Garden

10:30 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This is a very big day for our country. It’s affirmation of all the work we’ve been doing, really, for three and a half years. This isn’t just over the last few months; this is for three and a half years. And it’s a great thing. We were very strong. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. And that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic, largely through. I think we’re doing really well.

{snip}

And you have to remember one other thing very importantly: I think it’s extremely important for you to remember that many of our states are closed or almost closed. Some of the big ones — New York, New Jersey — they’ll start; they’re starting now to get open, I hope. And I hope they also use our National Guard. Call me. We’ll be ready for them so fast their heads will spin.

We did it in Minnesota, in Minneapolis. We were incredible. They were ripping that place apart. I love the — I love it. We had such success there. And they were ripping it apart. And I called the governor, and the National Guard went in, and one night it was over. You don’t see the problem in Minnesota now at all. Not even a little bit.

You take a look at a great city. It just — a great, great city, Minneapolis. And it was — it was under siege, like nobody has ever seen, where people are running from a police department, the great police, and they were told to. They didn’t want to run; they were told to. It’s bad — bad governing. And I’m not blaming the governor, I’m blaming the mayor.

But we want to get all of this finished. This is a great tribute. What we’re announcing today is a tremendous tribute to equality. We’re bringing our jobs back. You know, when we had our tremendous numbers, and when we had — just prior to the China plague that floated in, we had numbers, the best in history, for African American, for Hispanic American, and for Asian American, and for everybody. Best for women. Best for people without a diploma — young people without a diploma. I mean, so many different categories. Our numbers were the best in almost every category.

{snip}

And, by the way, when you do more testing, you have more cases. We have more cases than anybody because we do more testing than anybody. It’s pretty simple.

{snip}

You know, we — we made a great trade deal — great. They’re going to buy 250 billion dollars’ worth of product. And, by the way, they are online. They’re doing okay. But the ink wasn’t dry on that deal when the — when the plague floated in. “What’s going on?” “A plague is floating in from China.” “What’s going on?”

So the ink wasn’t dry, so I guess I view the trade deal a little bit differently than I did three months ago. It’s a great deal. I will say they are buying a lot from us. And, in that way, I respect. And getting along with China would be a good thing. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I’ll let you know. We’ll let you know. I think they want to get along very much with us.

But we built a tremendous thing — a tremendous power platform. So when it got ill, when we had a problem, we were able to cut it off, stop it, just like this. Stop it. Keep everyone inside. Keep them away. Keep them together, away, uninfected. And we saved millions of lives.

{snip}

And I give you this analogy — somebody told me yesterday — it was Larry — Larry Kudlow. He said, “Sir, this is like a hurricane.” And we were worried; we didn’t know: Is this going to be a hurricane or a major, major recession? A major recession that’s not artificially caused because we — artificially — this was artificially closed. We just said, “Boom, closed.” And everything just stopped.

And also, you know what else stopped? Big numbers on death, by doing it. And that’s why I had to do it. We’ve made every decision correctly. But it was like we stopped. So it was an artificial closing.

And then what happened, very incredibly, is the numbers go — and Larry was saying that, with a hurricane, you have a horrible hurricane in Florida or Texas, and it’s devastating. And then the hurricane goes away, and within two hours, everyone is rebuilding and fixing and cleaning and cutting their grass. And I’ve seen it in Texas. I’ve seen it everywhere. I’ve seen it everywhere. Texas had a massive one; Louisiana — hurricanes. Florida — hurricanes.

But what happens is right after the hurricane, boom. And this is what this is. This isn’t a terrible recession. I don’t even mention the “D” word. I don’t talk about the “D” word. I don’t want to talk about it. Because every time somebody even mentions it, I don’t like the “D” word. But if you had a really, really big, bad recession, it would take — it could take 10, 12 — how long did it take in 1929? It took many years to recover from that. How many? Or how long?

MR. KUDLOW: Ten years.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, 10. I heard 10. I think longer than 10, but that’s okay. I heard 14, 15 years. Larry says 10, so let’s go with 10. But it takes a long time to recover. But a hurricane, you’re back in business in one day, two days, three days, and it’s devastating and it’s hard. And this was a hurricane. And it’s going to get better fast because a lot of the numbers that you see, they’re early numbers. They’re not even from this last month.

{snip}

I’m telling you, next year, unless something happens, or the wrong people get in here, this can — this can turn around. Your 401(k)s will go down to numbers. If people didn’t get rid of stocks in their 401(k)s, they’re almost even.

{snip}

Nobody has ever done for the black community what President Trump has done. Think of it: Historically black small colleges and universities, they would come here for money every year — every year for many, many years. After three years, I said, “Why are you doing this? Why do you keep coming here?” They said, “Because we come.” I said, “Don’t you give — get a long-term deal so you don’t have to come?” The head of one of the very respected colleges looked at me and said, “Sir, we’re like beggars. Every year we have to come to Washington and beg for money.” I said, “You should have a long-term deal.” And we signed a long-term deal so they don’t have to come. I’ll miss them. I told them I’ll miss them. I got to know them.

{snip}

The National Guard was barely used. And these people have done an unbelievable job. They helped the Secret Service in Washington. Secret Service, by the way, are unbelievable. The job they did in the White House is unbelievable. There was never any form of, like, “Oh, gee, this sounds dangerous.” All I could see is what I was seeing on television. But they were outside, and the Secret Service was incredible, but we were also helped by the D.C. police and we were helped by — the National Guard was unbelievable. They came in and they — this was like a piece of cake.

And I really am suggesting — because if you look at Minnesota and the great success we had there and other places, I’m suggesting to some of these governors that are too proud in New York — I mean, 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.” You can’t let that happen in New York, where they’re breaking into stores and all of the things. And, by the way, hurting many small businesses. You can’t let it happen.

Equal justice under the law must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement, regardless of race, color, gender, or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. 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.” 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. It’s really what our Constitution requires, and it’s what our country is all about.

{snip}

We understand this disease now. We didn’t understand it. Nobody has ever seen it before. It’s very tough, very contagious, very mean to certain people. We’ve learned a lot. We didn’t know. Nobody knew anything about it. But we learned a lot.

And I have to thank everybody for working so hard: Jared, and Mike, and the task force, and all of the people — the admiral, the general. They were saying, “Oh, you should use admirals.” I said, “I did.” “You should use generals.” I said, “I did.” Used them both. We had some incredible people on the task force. The job they did in getting ventilators built by the thousand — thousands. We’re giving to Nigeria, to France, to Spain, to Italy. We’re — to many, many countries — to UK; they’re having a hard time. We’re giving them ventilators. It’s a great thing. I mean, they’re very hard to make. They’re long-term items.

{snip}

And you see what’s going on. Every governor — there’s not been one patient in this entire massive country — and we didn’t have ventilators when we started. The cupboards were empty. The previous administration left us empty cupboards. There isn’t one patient, not one, that needed a ventilator —

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

THE PRESIDENT: — that didn’t get one. Think of that. And we’re talking about millions of people — big country, millions of people. Not one person needed a ventilator that didn’t get it.

{snip}

When you look at the ridership in the airlines, what they’ve gone — they went from 2 percent to a number that, if it’s correct, I’d be surprised actually, but it’s a very high number. It’s great. People are traveling. And you know what? They’re traveling in the United States. And they’re also driving. And they’re building the trailers. They’re building a lot of things. They’re driving. People are — people are driving.

I may have to buy one of those things, drive around town. Maybe I’ll drive back to New York with our First Lady in a trailer. What do they call that?

MR. KUDLOW: A double-wide.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: An RV.

THE PRESIDENT: An RV. An RV. Well, you should know; Indiana is the capital of RVs. (Laughter.) I think I’m going to buy an RV and travel from now on in an RV with our First Lady. I don’t think anybody would mind that.

{snip}

Hardest decision I ever made was when they all walked in, a big group of people — professionals, very professional people, good people. They said, “Sir, the best thing we can do is close it down.” I said, “What are you talking about? We have this incredible, unbelievable country that’s never done better and you want us to close it down? I can’t do that. What are you talking about?” And after listening for 10 minutes — didn’t take long — I said, “I think we have to close it down,” because of the contagion and because of the power it had with especially certain people.

{snip}

Q Mr. President, why don’t you have a plan for systemic racism?

Q Sir, do you believe —

Q Mr. President, why haven’t you laid out a plan to address systemic racism?

THE PRESIDENT: I’d like to sign this bill. This is a very different thing.

And, by the way, what’s happened to our country and what you now see — it’s been happening — is the greatest thing that can happen for race relations, for the African American community, for the Asian American, for the Hispanic American community, for women, for everything —

Q What’s your plan?

THE PRESIDENT: — because our country is so strong, and that’s what my plan is. We’re going to have the strongest economy in the world. We almost are there now. We had the strongest economy anywhere in the world, and now we’re going to have an economy that’s even stronger.

Q Sir, how would a better economy —

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, I’d like to sign this now.

Q Yeah, just to follow up: How would a better economy have protected George Floyd?

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, do you mind if I sign this?

Q Sure. I’ll ask after.

Q Will you take questions after, sir?

Q Black unemployment went up by 1 — by 0.1 percent. Asian American unemployment went up by 0.5 percent. How is that a victory?

THE PRESIDENT: You are something.

(The bill is signed.)

Q How is that victory?

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.)

I have to say, though: It’s been honor. This is such a great achievement. I feel so good about it. This is just the beginning. The best is yet to come.

Mike, would say a few words, please?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President, and today is a great day for America. The American comeback begins today.

And, Mr. President, it is a tribute to the strong decisions that you made early on to put the health of America first — from suspending all travel from China, to calling on the American people to embrace the kind of mitigation practices to practice social distancing, to endure 45 Days to Slow the Spread.

The way you worked in a bipartisan way — we want to thank members of both parties in the Congress for working with us to provide relief for families, small businesses, and enterprises across the country.

Today’s numbers, historic as they are, are a testament to the — to the leadership that you have provided, Mr. President, on mitigation, on recovery. And, as you directed the White House Coronavirus Task Force, they’re also a tribute to the fact that states across the country — now all 50 states — are reopening our country.

Even before we came to the end of the 45 days, you directed us to give guidance to state governors and all the states and territories to safely and responsibly reopen. And now all of our states are in the process of doing that.

{snip}

Congratulations, America, the comeback begins. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much everybody.

END

11:23 A.M. EDT
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