@TBPInvictus here:
The following GOP tweet and accompanying video demonstrate quite clearly the lengths to which the GOP will simply lie to muddy the waters in defense of Trump’s unacceptable behavior.
As has been well-reported, Donald Trump teased the monthly jobs report some 70 minutes before its release (7:21AM on nonfarms Friday, before the 8:30am Employment Situation report release), breaking with policies and protocols that prohibit such potentially market-moving behavior. “Dared” to find other presidents who have done the same, the GOP found some convenient sound bites.
There are some problems.
Today the media hyperventilated when @realDonaldTrump teased the monthly Jobs Report.
They dared us to find a president who had done this before.
We did. ⬇ pic.twitter.com/lHro5miD04— GOP (@GOP) June 1, 2018
Taken one at a time:
THE CNBC QUOTE:
The first clip comes from a CNBC interview on Wednesday, January 7, 2009. So, coupla things about that one:
- Obama had not yet been sworn in as president; he was quite literally still president-elect.
- Even if he had been sworn in, the interview was on a Wednesday and he’d not yet have been briefed.
THE SPEECH TO ENERGY STAFF
Moving along, let’s look at incident #2: “Tomorrow we’re expecting another dismal jobs report…”
Note the time of the official release of the text of that speech: 12:12 PM on Thursday, February 5, 2009. At that hour, the president would not yet have been briefed on the following day’s number.
Clip #3 is simply a repeat of what had already been said earlier. Nothing new added there. The initial comment, as previously noted, came shortly after noon. The fact that it was subsequently repeated changes nothing.
THE GIBBS PRESSER
We’re left with the Gibbs press conference on Thursday, March 5, 2009:
MR. GIBBS: Is the President concerned about the economy? Yes. Do we have meetings and discussions on the economy? Yes. Are we focused on getting it turned around, putting people back to work? Yes.
Q: On that point, do you expect any more bad numbers with the jobs report tomorrow?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t expect good news.
Noteworthy here is that the presser ended at 3:30PM Eastern. Again, neither the president nor staff would yet have been briefed on the number.
Here is the key:
Market participants knew that when Obama and Gibbs made those comments neither had foreknowledge of the numbers. Just as market participants knew that Trump did have foreknowledge of the numbers when he sent out his reckless tweet.
No lie told by the GOP or Trump really surprises me anymore. In fact, I expect nothing less at this point. That said, they still do need to be called out.
The GOP lies like it’s their job Narrator: It is.
