Trump claims Ivanka created 15M jobs in US as the country faces soaring unemployment amid coronavirus crisis
The Donald Trump administration has come under increasing pressure over the US’ economic downturn in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people have lost their jobs because of the shutdown and the number is only heading north. What looked like a massive advantage (low unemployment) for President Trump ahead of his re-election in November now has turned into a huge challenge and his administration is firefighting the consequences of this outbreak.
Trump on Tuesday, April 7 came up with another answer to the economic challenges he has. He credited his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump saying she has created 15 million jobs, shocking many.
Attending a small business event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House where Ivanka was also present, Trump said: “My daughter Ivanka Trump, who just wants to have people working … I gave her lots of options. What do you like? She created over 15 million jobs working with some of you, but working with the biggest companies in the world.”
The occasion saw the president holding a conference call with various chief executive officers where he said his administration needs $250 billion in additional loans to shore up businesses and prevent people from losing jobs in large numbers. There was also a moment when a malfunctioning equipment caught the president amused.
Adding to the eulogy for the first daughter, Trump said Ivanka started off with a goal of 500,000 jobs but now has over 15 million. “They were training and training like nobody's ever seen,” the president said while referring to the job-training commitments that his daughter, also an entrepreneur, helped coordinate but as a report in Daily Mail reported, no real jobs that were created by either her or the business leaders.
'Foundation of our economy was incredibly strong till coronavirus hit us'
Ivanka, 38, also spoke at the event that also saw the presence of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other business leaders who participated via video conferencing.
“The foundation of our economy was so incredibly strong until this virus hit,” she said and very sympathizing with small businesses while adding there was no fault for which they suffered.
The economic scenario in the US is only worsening with each passing day and with over 10 million Americans seeking unemployment benefits and with the continuing lockdown set to bleed the economy more, Trump has sought more money to support the people. The government recently passed an economic relief package amounting $2.2 trillion after a whole lot of political debate.
“We just asked Congress to pass legislation to fund an additional $250 billion dollars for Paycheck Protection Program,” the president said, adding: “'The way it’s going, we’re going to need that, because it’s really going. People are loving it. They’re really loving it.”
Trump had also suggested at lifting the lockdown by the Easter, saying a prolonged paralysis could push people into depression and suicide, but close aides advised him not to go for the risky option. The US has nearly 400,000 people affected by the virus while almost 13,000 lives have been lost.
Ivanka also said on the occasion that it is a fight the nation is waging together and advised her countrymen to stay safe and healthy.
“Thank you honey, very much,” the president told her after she was done.
Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, also an advisor to Trump, recently courted controversy by pretending to be a specialist on the pandemic and took on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over his state’s requirement of 30,000 ventilators. According to a report in Vanity Fair, Kushner made his own projections and opined that NY did not need so many ventilators.
He also faced criticism for his remark on the national medical stockpile: “The notion of the federal stockpile is that it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use.”