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Did Trump Say He Hoped George Floyd, Looking Down From Heaven, Is Happy About Job Numbers?
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Did Trump Say He Hoped George Floyd, Looking Down From Heaven, Is Happy About Job Numbers?

No.

Alec Dent
Jun 5, 2020
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Did Trump Say He Hoped George Floyd, Looking Down From Heaven, Is Happy About Job Numbers?
thedispatch.com

Reporting on President Trump’s press conference Friday, several journalists and news outlets claimed the president said he hoped George Floyd is looking down from heaven and is happy about improving job numbers. A number of news outlets including ABC News, Business Insider, the  Independent, and the  New York Daily News also made the claim in news stories they published about the press conference.

Twitter avatar for @adamcancrynAdam Cancryn @adamcancryn
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.”
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June 5th 2020

1,060 Retweets1,848 Likes
Twitter avatar for @kaitlancollinsKaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins
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."

June 5th 2020

1,039 Retweets3,239 Likes
Twitter avatar for @APThe Associated Press @AP
“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.”
Trump hails jobs report, but unemployment rate still highWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took a victory lap Friday morning after the government reported surprising job gains for last month, seizing on the data to predict that the worst of the...apne.ws

June 5th 2020

116 Retweets306 Likes

A conservative media critic who tweets under the handle @AGHamilton29 quickly flagged the claims and pointed out further examples of journalists and news outlets making this claim. 

Twitter avatar for @AGHamilton29(((AG))) @AGHamilton29
And now you have countless news sites spreading this falsehood... Do members of the press really not realize how much this stuff kills their credibility?
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June 5th 2020

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It is true that Trump made the comments at a press conference in which he touted better-than-expected job numbers. But Trump was not referring to those jobs numbers when he mentioned George Floyd. The comments in question came immediately after Trump discussed the role of the National Guard in limiting the damage caused by riots and looting, contrasting places like Minnesota, where the National Guard was active, with New York. Trump said: 

“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.” This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our Constitution requires and it’s what our country is all about.”

There are reasonable arguments to be made that Trump’s comments were tone deaf. But given that he mentioned “George” immediately after talking about “equal justice under the law” and “fair treatment from law enforcement,” and then followed by calling it a “great day in terms of equality,” it’s clear that Trump was referring to equal justice under the law when he mentioned Floyd. He was not “imagining George Floyd’s reaction to the jobs numbers.”

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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Jason Ramin
Jun 5, 2020

I dunno. Why was it a "great day" ? What was great about the day that George was smiling about? There doesn't seem to be anything in the context that would lead you to believe its anything OTHER than the economy

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Jackie
Jun 5, 2020

Trump believes the “greatest thing that can happen for race relations is a strong US economy.” As he was signing the bill he explained that a strong economy was going to help African Americans and listed others groups as well...so sort of the jobs numbers.

Trump equates money with power so if the US has the strongest economy then everyone has the ability to be more equal. I do not think he buys into any systemic racism arguments. He still was saying to “dominate the streets” and just yesterday shared Dowd’s letter calling the protesters terrorists.

So I’m not sure you can make the argument that Trump believes something happened today that would make George Floyd happy in the sphere of “equality under the law” except the unemployment rate fell from 14.7 to 13.3.

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