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Media Reports Trump Comments Wildly Out Of Context, Claims He Said George Floyd Is Happy About Jobs Report
Ellen Reynolds
:
The Federalist
After President Donald Trump’s news conference on a positive jobs report Friday morning, the mainstream media contorted a quote from the president to falsely convey he thinks George Floyd is happy about the jobs numbers.
Newsweek issued the utterly false claim that “Donald Trump says economic growth is a solution to systemic racism.”
Donald Trump says economic growth is a solution to systemic racism, calls surprising jobs news a “great day” for George Floyd https://t.co/K1GnKVO0ZK
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 5, 2020
Full footage of Trump’s remarks makes it clear that he was actually referring to equal treatment by law enforcement, not the jobs report. But that hasn’t stopped the media from spreading the blatantly false story.
Erik Wasson, reporter for Bloomberg News, tweeted that “Trump says that he hopes George Floyd is looking down from heaven and happy about the strong jobs numbers.”
Wasson changed his story in his own replies to his tweet, which he has since deleted. After a Twitter user challenged his claim, Wasson doubled down, claiming Trump “absolutely did say it. Said today is a great day for equality.” The original tweet has since been deleted.
he absolutely did say it. said today is a great day for equality
— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) June 5, 2020
Peter Baker of the New York Times picked up the lie, tweeting that “Trump suggests that George Floyd would be happy about the jobs numbers.”
Baker has since deleted his tweet, explaining that “There’s some question about what Trump was referring to when he said George Floyd would think this is a ‘great day for him.’”
There’s some question about what Trump was referring to when he said George Floyd would think this is a “great day for him,” so I’ve deleted the original tweet.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) June 5, 2020
Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs also ran with it, tweeting “George Floyd would be pleased with strong jobs data, Trump says.”
George Floyd would be pleased with strong jobs data, Trump says. “Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying there’s a great thing happening for our country.”
>>>Unemployment rate for African Americans now up to 16.8%, highest in a decade.https://t.co/m6lyRaPSsU
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 5, 2020
Politico’s Gabby Orr, in a tweet that has since been taken down, said “Wow. Trump suggests George Floyd is marveling at today’s jobs numbers from Heaven.”
Adam Cancryn, also of Politico, quoted Trump out of context with the false caption: “Trump imagining George Floyd’s reaction to the jobs numbers.”
Trump imagining George Floyd’s reaction to the jobs numbers: “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody.” pic.twitter.com/YLBSkk9Wk7
— Adam Cancryn (@adamcancryn) June 5, 2020
Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, reacted: “This is vile. The President is co-opting the memory of George Floyd and exploiting the Black Lives Matter movement to praise the economy.” Her tweet appears to have been since deleted.
News outlets like Business Insider and the New York Daily News jumped on the false headline, proclaiming “Trump suggests George Floyd is ‘looking down’ from heaven and appreciating the US’ strong May jobs report” and “Trump says George Floyd is ‘looking down’ from heaven because of the marginal unemployment drop.”
Trump suggests George Floyd is ‘looking down’ from heaven and appreciating the US’ strong May jobs report: ‘It’s a great day for him’ https://t.co/NeN9HX0dfG
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) June 5, 2020
Trump says George Floyd is ‘looking down’ from heaven because of the marginal unemployment drop.
“It’s a great day for him”
Trump said the new jobs report “hopefully” brings comfort to Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis cop dug a knee in his neck.https://t.co/g5TRaQiDTG
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 5, 2020
The Independent did the same, claiming “Trump says he hopes George Floyd ‘looking down’ and seeing today’s jobs numbers as ‘a great day for him.’”
Trump says he hopes George Floyd ‘looking down’ and seeing today’s jobs numbers as ‘a great day for him’ https://t.co/UL2ypUTEs1
— The Independent (@Independent) June 5, 2020
Sky News echoed with the claim: “Trump suggests George Floyd is happy about US jobs numbers: ‘Hopefully he’s looking down’.”
Trump suggests George Floyd is happy about US jobs numbers: ‘Hopefully he’s looking down’ https://t.co/GAWF01zluF
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) June 5, 2020
Even the Associated Press jumped on the false narrative, with the misleading line that Trump mentioned Floyd “while touting the jobs report.”
“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country,” President Trump said, mentioning George Floyd while touting the jobs report. “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody.” https://t.co/5sRG8W8Qr6
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 5, 2020
Politico also ran the false headline, “President Trump touted the improved unemployment numbers in the Rose Garden this morning and said they marked a ‘great day’ for George Floyd.”
President Trump touted the improved unemployment numbers in the Rose Garden this morning and said they marked a “great day” for George Floyd https://t.co/HGd2aN1GUk pic.twitter.com/GA2Qi2ydlj
— POLITICO (@politico) June 5, 2020
Other reporters simply clipped the quote where Trump referenced George Floyd, presenting it as if in reference to the jobs report and failing to include the context in which the president made it clear he was talking about justice and equal treatment by law enforcement. A longer clip reveals Trump’s actual meaning:
Equal justice under the law must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement, regardless of race color gender or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. We all saw what happened last week; we can’t let that happen. Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, ‘this is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’ It’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody.
Watch the video here:
‘Race, color, gender, or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. You all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen.’
100% agree President @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/l0uZYvwtIv
— Alex Bruesewitz (@alexbruesewitz) June 5, 2020
Still, that didn’t stop reporters including the Associated Press’ Jill Colvin, CNN’s Manu Raju and Jake Tapper, and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins from falsely presenting the quote out of context.
Trump just now: “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody.”
— Jill Colvin (@colvinj) June 5, 2020
“Hopefully George is looking down right now and is saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality,” Trump says, referring to George Floyd at WH event
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 5, 2020
A “great day” for George Floyd, the president says. https://t.co/O6jIwdPk2M
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 5, 2020
During his press conference on the jobs numbers, Trump says, “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying there’s a great thing happening for our country. It’s a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 5, 2020
The DNC War Room followed suit.
TRUMP on the jobs report: “Hopefully George [Floyd] is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that happening for our country. This is a great day for him.”
Donald Trump is a stain on our country. This is just the latest example. pic.twitter.com/evqll4o3WC
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) June 5, 2020
CBS News’ Vladimir Duthiers clipped the quote from Trump, claiming that “I had to clip this because it is unbelievable.” In reality, his edit job excluded further statements from the president making it clear the statements were about racial justice, not about the jobs report.
I had to clip this because it is unbelievable. President @realDonaldTrump just said this: “Hopefully, George is looking down right and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. It’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody.” #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/6CbGoLJrRg
— Vladimir Duthiers (@vladduthiersCBS) June 5, 2020
Most of the above journalists and outlets have yet to issue corrections.
Elle Reynolds is an intern at the Federalist, and a senior at Patrick Henry College studying government and journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.
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