In the latest cover-up orchestrated by the Trump administration, the White House is reportedly refusing to release a yearly economic forecast – a standard practice carried out every summer.
According to The New York Times, “The White House will not release its official midyear economic update this summer, declining to put its stamp on data documenting the plunge into recession during the coronavirus pandemic and avoiding going on record with a prediction about the economy’s future.”
As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pointed out Thursday, this is just the latest example of the Trump administration refusing to talk about a subject that could hurt the president politically.
“We are learning from this federal government with each passing day of the epidemic that not talking about something terrible is at least to their mind the easiest way to pretend that that terrible thing just isn’t happening,” she said.
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Video:
Rachel Maddow blasts the White House for refusing to release its economic forecast because they know the numbers will make Donald Trump look bad. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/Wf3K03z9wp
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 29, 2020
Maddow said:
For eight straight weeks, as of today, we are over two million Americans filing for unemployment. Simultaneously, and perhaps in a related development, the White House announced today that they’re just not going to give their annual national forecast for the economy this summer. The White House does that every year. They do a budget in February and then they do an economic forecast in the summer for how things are going to go for the rest of the year. Except this year, for the first time in decades, they’ve just said they’re not going to do that. Better not to say, right? Imagine what that report would say about the forecast for the economy, if they did have to put it out. Better just to keep mum maybe. We are learning from this federal government with each passing day of the epidemic that not talking about something terrible is at least to their mind the easiest way to pretend that that terrible thing just isn’t happening. Smiles, everyone, smiles. Fantasy island.
Trump will have to face the numbers in November
Throughout this pandemic, Donald Trump has either ignored or downplayed data that he saw as politically damaging to his reelection campaign, whether it’s how many people have been infected with the coronavirus or the number of folks filing for jobless benefits.
Back in March, in fact, the Trump administration even tried to pressure states into not releasing unemployment figures.
Unfortunately for the president, ignoring the mess he made doesn’t mean it will go away – not when over 100,000 Americans have died from a virus he still doesn’t take seriously enough, or when more than 40 million Americans have lost their jobs.
Donald Trump might not want to confront the public health and economic carnage he has created, but he will be forced to in November.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
