Robert Reich Shatters Trump’s Economic Recovery Delusions

Robert Reich shatters Trump's delusions of economic recovery

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Robert Reich shattered Trump’s propagandistic delusions that the economy is roaring back just in time for the presidential election.

Reich said on MSNBC:

The reality is it is impossible to talk about this so-called recovery unless you talk at the same time about the coronavirus. Because the reason we got into economic trouble in the first place is because of the pandemic. And the pandemic is really running the show here. The reason we’ve got more jobs coming back in June is because, at the end of May, a lot of governors started to reopen the economy. Particularly in retail, restaurant, hotel, hospitality and that accounts for most of the growth in jobs.

And as Stephanie said, we also had a lot of unemployment, extra unemployment assistance in June. Now, remember, that jobs report, that survey by the labor department, happened before the surge in new cases. Yesterday’s case number of new cases for the pandemic, for the virus, was about 52,000. That’s a record. That has caused governors and some mayors to pull back and start shutting the economy down again. And that is going to mean fewer jobs.

In fact, that does mean fewer jobs. To say that we’ve got more jobs in June because the economy is coming back is a little bit like saying the sun rose because the rooster crowed. No, it’s all about the pandemic.

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Former Sec. Reich is correct. Trump is powerless. The coronavirus is in charge. There is nothing that Trump can do to stop the pandemic that he has enabled to be the worst in the world.

A good president would have federalized the virus response, and shut the country down. A president would have been too late to act, but eventually would have done the right thing. Trump is a historically incompetent president who has done the wrong thing and made the pandemic worse with awful decisionmaking at each step.

Trump is delusional. The economy isn’t surging. The coronavirus is, and at the end of the day, the coronavirus is going to determine the economic state of the nation.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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