Biden Mocks Trump While Bragging on Himself: 'Imagine If the Other Guy Was Here'
President Joe Biden bragged about himself while taking a shot at former President Donald Trump during comments on Friday’s stagnant jobs report.
CNBC, citing information from the Labor Department, reported the August jobs report missed the mark big-time. An estimated 235,000 jobs were added to the economy, which fell short of projections that 720,000 jobs should be added.
Speaking from the White House about the shortfall on Friday morning, Biden attempted to paint a rosy picture.
“The Biden plan is working. We’re getting results. America is on the move again,” he claimed, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the White House. “And today’s revision of previous month job gains, with the revision of the July numbers — this report means that we have been adding an average of 750,000 jobs per month, on average, during the past three months.”
Ignoring the context of the economic calamity brought on by the response to the coronavirus pandemic last spring, Biden took a victory lap while also surrendering the obvious: The report was not good news.
“While I know some wanted to see a larger number today, and so did I, what we’ve seen this year is a continued growth, month after month, in job creation,” he said. “It’s not just that I’ve added more jobs than any first-year president — in the first year of any president — it’s that we’ve added jobs in every single one of my first seven job reports. And wages are going up.”
While the president notably said last month that the buck stops with him amid criticism of his disastrous exit strategy from Afghanistan, he has continued to either blame former President Donald Trump for his administration’s economic, domestic and foreign policy shortfalls or has taken shots at him during bad news.
Friday was no different.
Biden was calling on wealthy Americans to pay more taxes when he took a shot at Trump while making a victory lap.
Vowing to focus on creating green jobs to combat climate change, Biden said it is time for wealthy people to pay more in taxes to fund his initiatives.
“Here’s the thing you need to know: We’re going to deliver these investments without raising taxes one cent on anyone making less than $400,000 a year,” Biden said. “How are we going to do that? We’re going to do it by leveling the playing field; by just having a fair system where we ask the largest corporations and the wealthiest Americans to begin to pay their fair share, not more.”
“[The wealthy] can still make millions of dollars. The super-wealthy are still going to be able to have three homes. It’s not going to affect anything,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, though, it’s about time they begin to pay their fair share.”
The shot at Trump came as Biden commented on a healthy trading market inherited from Trump that continues to shatter records in spite of anti-business rhetoric in Washington.
.@POTUS: “There have been so many records the stock market has hit under my presidency. Imagine if the other guy was here. ‘We’re doing great… The stock market is surging. It’s gone up higher under me than anybody.’ But that doesn’t mean that it’s the best for the economy.” pic.twitter.com/EYTaLhPu9l
— The Hill (@thehill) September 3, 2021
“Now, I want to hold here for just a second. If — you know, there have been so many records the stock market has hit under my presidency,” he said. “Imagine if the other guy was here: ‘We’re doing great. It’s wonderful. The stock market is surging. It’s gone up higher under me than anybody.”
Biden concluded his mockery of the record-setting Trump economy by concluding that participation in trading by Americans during the pre-COVID economy “doesn’t mean that it’s the best for the economy.”
Trump, beginning early in his presidency, made job creation and tax cuts a priority for all Americans. As a result, people were working while also enjoying the highs of investment trading.
While millions of jobs were lost during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, trading markets have continued setting records despite current low participation in the labor market.
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