Did Donald Trump just thank God for the hurricane that cost Americans jobs? – Mother Jones

Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, on Saturday.Chris Carlson/AP

At the rally on Saturday In Gastonia, North Carolina, Donald Trump thanked God for the October jobs report, which showed a slowdown in job growth, due in part to the recent hurricane that devastated the western part of the state.

“How good was it?” Trump asked the crowd. “Getting these numbers four days before the vote was…” Trump saidcalming down. He then stopped and looked up, presumably at God, to whom he said, “Thank you very much, sir. Thank you.”

Bureau of Labor Statistics reported On Friday it was reported that the US economy added just 12,000 jobs in October. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su attributed the slow growth to “significant impacts from hurricanes and strike activity.” This is a reference to Hurricanes Helen and Milton and the ongoing hit Boeing machinists. Noting that the unemployment rate remains at 4.1 percent and inflation is falling, Su said the jobs report “reflects an atypical month rather than a shift in the broader economic outlook.”

Trump’s job announcement was easily the worst thing he said this weekend. He marked journalists covering his “monster” rally ridiculed transgender people and called his opponent a product of political correctness and “stupidity,” with racist and sexist undertones that are hard to miss. He protected his racist rally at Madison Square Garden. On Friday night in Milwaukee, he inexplicably expressed disappointment with sound problems To pretending perform a blowjob on a microphone stand.

But the reaction to the jobs report was indicative of the enthusiasm with which Trump interpreted bad news for Americans as good news for him. To be fair, he called the numbers “bad news” during his speech on Friday. But on Saturday in North Carolina he celebrated the political benefit he claimed to have received from the new report, without mentioning that the hurricane, economists say, helped slow hiring while causing catastrophic flooding and hundreds of deaths, including more than 100 in the state in which he spoke.

“I mean, how good is it if you happen to run against the people who did this?” Trump, citing the jobs report.

This was not the only time he seemed to rejoice in death. Elsewhere in the speech, Trump noted, as he routinely does at his rallies, the increase in border crossings since he left office. He constantly hides his belief that the problems at the border are good for him. Earlier this year, Trump successfully lobbied throw overboard bipartisan bill aimed at tightening security at the Mexican border. Trump’s insistence was widely seen as an attempt to block Congress from addressing an issue he wanted to use to attack Democrats. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), who was a key sponsor of the bill, said critics of the measures argued, “We don’t want President Trump to lose this issue.”

Vice President Kamala Harris accused Trump of opposing the measure. I’m calling this indicates that “he would rather solve the problem than solve it.”

Nothing in Trump’s speech on Saturday refuted that criticism.