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MaddowBlog-Trump describes his embarrassing failure to create jobs as 'amazing'
Confronted with dreadful news, the Republican did what he tends to do on economic matters: He played make-believe.
After failing spectacularly to deliver on his promises about job creation, Trump tried to rebrand failure as “amazing.â€
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-01-12T19:36:18.363Z
That’s demonstrably ridiculous. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-describes-his-embarrassing-failure-to-create-jobs-as-amazing
But the president did none of these things. At a White House event, the Republican instead did what he tends to do on economic matters: Trump played make-believe.
I’m mindful of the fact that Trump doesn’t appear to know very much about economic policy or recent history, but White House officials have described him as a “visual learner,” so I’ve updated a chart showing job growth by year since the Great Recession, with red columns representing Republican administrations and blue columns representing Democratic administrations.
?resize=560,294
That small red column on the right side of the image? That’s 2025, when the U.S. job market added 584,000 jobs for the whole year. That might sound like a decent number until you compare it to recent history: In 2024, when Trump said the economy was terrible, job growth topped two million. A year earlier, the total was almost 2.6 million jobs......
For American workers, this is awful, but for the president’s political standing, it’s a disaster: Trump spent the 2024 election season assuring voters that he’d deliver an economic “boom,” starting on “Day One” of his second term.
Trump, after having failed spectacularly to deliver on those promises, has tried to rebrand failure as “amazing.” No one should be fooled by such nonsense.
COLLINS: Can you respond to today's economic report?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-09T21:13:20.419Z
TRUMP: It's an amazing report. The most amazing thing is govt jobs are way down and yet the employment numbers are very good.
I’m mindful of the fact that Trump doesn’t appear to know very much about economic policy or recent history, but White House officials have described him as a “visual learner,” so I’ve updated a chart showing job growth by year since the Great Recession, with red columns representing Republican administrations and blue columns representing Democratic administrations.
?resize=560,294
That small red column on the right side of the image? That’s 2025, when the U.S. job market added 584,000 jobs for the whole year. That might sound like a decent number until you compare it to recent history: In 2024, when Trump said the economy was terrible, job growth topped two million. A year earlier, the total was almost 2.6 million jobs......
For American workers, this is awful, but for the president’s political standing, it’s a disaster: Trump spent the 2024 election season assuring voters that he’d deliver an economic “boom,” starting on “Day One” of his second term.
Trump, after having failed spectacularly to deliver on those promises, has tried to rebrand failure as “amazing.” No one should be fooled by such nonsense.