President Donald Trump on Monday took aim at former President Barack Obama for his claim in 2016 that Trump would need a “magic wand” to deliver on his promises to boost U.S. manufacturing employment.
The Hill reported that Trump in a tweet misquoted Obama’s remarks on his economic agenda that came shortly after Trump officially won the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump quoted Obama as saying “President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4 percent GDP” at a PBS Newshour town hall event in 2016.
“’President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4% GDP,’ stated President Obama,” Trump tweeted. “I guess I have a magic wand, 4.2%, and we will do MUCH better than this! We have just begun.”
According to The Hill, Trump was thinking of the comments Obama made about manufacturing employment, not economic growth, during the 2016 town hall.
During the town hall event, Obama talked about Trump’s promise to boost American companies into manufacturing goods in the U.S. without saying the then candidate’s name.
“Well, how exactly are you going to do that? What exactly are you going to do? There’s no answer to it,” Obama said, referring to Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
“He just says, ‘Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.’ Well, what, how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And, usually, the answer is he doesn’t have an answer.”
Obama criticized Trump and the GOP on Friday in a zealous speech as part of the campaign trail ahead of the 2018 midterms.
Obama targeted Trump for taking credit for the strong economy.
“When you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started,” Obama said in remarks at the University of Illinois.
“When the monthly job numbers come out suddenly Republicans are saying it’s a miracle,” Obama said, seeming to note that the same Republicans lashed out at similar numbers during his presidency.
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