New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman argued Tuesday that Donald Trump has somehow “convinced himself,” without evidence, that the July jobs report was manipulated for political reasons.
Haberman responded to CNN’s Jake Tapper after he brought up several faulty Trump claims, including his attempt to justify firing Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the weaker-than-expected jobs numbers.
“Does he believe these lies when he says them — like George Costanza, ‘it’s not a lie if you believe it’ — or is he just selling and snowing?” Tapper asked.
Haberman noted that Trump’s claims that job report revisions served to boost Kamala Harris’s chances to win the 2024 election were fact-checked in real time during his interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Tuesday morning.
She went on to swat down more talk from Trump, who has claimed that Texas Republicans should be “entitled” to five more congressional seats in the state since he “got the highest vote in the history” in Texas.
She also hit back at Trump inflating his polling numbers on CNBC, noting that he’s instead seen a “slow descent” since he returned to the Oval Office in January.
“It is such a polarized era that it’s going to be very, very hard to find a president who is going to win with the numbers that, say, President Obama did in 2008. It was a very specific moment,” Haberman added.
Later in the segment, Tapper pointed out that Trump had a series of people who checked him in his first term and questioned if there’s anyone who “ever” pushes back at him today.
Haberman emphasized that it’s a “very different” White House this time around.
“There is a clear desire to help him get to a yes on all things and not really object to him, and he can vent quite angrily when he is upset with staff, and I think that’s one thing people try to avoid,” she said.
H/T: Mediaite