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Donald Trump has claimed that the economic fallout following the coronavirus pandemic is “God testing” him to rebuild what he called “the largest economy in the history of the world”.
“What we have achieved together and what we are doing together is nothing short of an economic miracle and now we are doing it again,” the president told supporters in Mankato, Minnesota. “We built the largest economy in the history of the world and now I have to do it again.”
He said, “You know what that is? That’s good. God tested me to do that. He said, ‘You know, you did it once.’ And I said, ‘Have I done a great job, God? who could do it. “He said you should not say. Now we will do it to you again. I said, ‘OK. I agree. You have me.’ “But I did it once. And now I do it again. And you see the kind of numbers we throw up. They’re unbelievable. Best job numbers ever. Three months, more jobs in the last three months than ever before.”
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More than 22 people lost their jobs after widespread closures and layoffs, effectively wiping out a decade of job growth in April.
The president has often pointed to job gains in recent months as evidence of a booming economy following the collapse of the early Covid-19 crisis, but those gains likely marked a temporary return to work for many Americans, t states began lifting quarantine restrictions before infections began to climb, causing additional closures.
While unemployment fell from what analysts believe was a 16 per cent high in May to 10.2 per cent in July, that is still as high as unemployment figures from the time of the Great Recession, when unemployment peaked 10.6 percent.
The president – speaking at a series of events on Monday as Democrats prepared for this week’s nominating convention to select Joe Biden to testify in November – also called for religion during an event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he appeared to suggest that he move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to encourage his Evangelical Christian support.
“The Evangelicals are more excited about it than Jewish people,” he told supporters.
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