For those in favor of the US economy, there was a lot to like about the latest jobs report, which was released Friday morning. The data shows that the economy created 272,000 jobs in May – far more than expected – and wage growth continues to outpace inflation.
All of this follows 2023, which may have been the best year for job creation in the United States since the late 1990s.
The closer you look, the better the numbers appear. So far this year, more than 1.2 million jobs have been created, and if this pace continues, the United States will add roughly 3 million new jobs this year, which is extraordinary. Based on the latest data, U.S. job growth in the first five months of 2024 is better than in the first five months of any year of Trump’s presidency.
At a campaign rally in Nevada yesterday, the presumptive Republican nominee emphasized with apparent sincerity: “One hundred percent of the new jobs have gone to illegal aliens.”
Reality, of course, tells a very different story, but at least that’s what Trump said something. What have we heard from GOP leaders on Capitol Hill? In keeping with the recent trend, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson reacted to the jobs numbers by saying literally nothing about the good news. No press releases, no tweets and no public comments.
It seems the US job market is so good that Republicans have literally become speechless – again.
Returning to our earlier reporting, this wasn’t new at all: Republican leadership in both chambers has spent almost the entire Biden era pretending not to notice extraordinarily good job growth.
(For its part, the Republican National Committee issued a statement claiming the latest jobs report is “miserable,” which only applies to those who oppose the U.S. economy.)
The importance of the political implications must be clear. Economic growth is healthy; economic confidence is growing; the stock market is up; wages are up; the job market looks great; and the United States is experiencing the best post-pandemic recovery in the world. If Republicans talked about this, voters could hear about it—and if voters heard about it, Democrats could reap electoral rewards.
The Republicans’ silence is intended to keep the public conversation away from good news that could disrupt Republicans’ election strategies.
But part of the party’s plan included attacking Democrats on the economy, which, as Politico reported in February, is suddenly more difficult than Republican officials had hoped.
Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation, which is closely associated with the Trump campaign, told Politico at the time: “I think that’s the question of the day. You can’t blame the president when policies go wrong and then say he’s not responsible when things go right.”
If recent history is any guide, Republicans will just pretend are not move to the right, ask voters to believe their version of reality and hope for the best, while turning the other way when good news rolls in.
So far, it’s working: Despite the fact that Biden’s economic record far exceeds that of his predecessor, recent polls have shown Trump with a significant advantage over the Democratic powerhouses in managing the economy.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
