美国国家公共电台 NPR FACT CHECK: White House Apologizes For False Claim About African-American Jobs

 

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This week the White House did something it rarely does - issue an apology. Press secretary Sarah Sanders apologized after she wildly understated job gains by African-Americans under former President Obama. President Trump¹ often boasts that unemployment among African-Americans has fallen to a record low on his watch. NPR's Scott Horsley reports that's merely continuing a trend that began under Trump's predecessor².

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE³: Cable television has been filled this week with news of Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former reality TV star and presidential assistant who's in the midst of a publicity⁴ tour for her new tell-all book. Manigault Newman, who first gained notoriety on "The Apprentice⁵" with Donald Trump, has accused the president of being a racist⁶. Press secretary Sarah Sanders tried to rebut⁷ that charge on Tuesday by pointing to economic gains that blacks have enjoyed on Trump's watch.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: This president, since he took office, in the year and a half that he's been here has created 700,000 new jobs for African-Americans. That's 700,000 African-Americans that are working now that weren't working when this president took place.

HORSLEY: Let's set aside the fact that Trump himself has not actually created all those jobs. So far, at least Sanders' numbers are on the money. The Labor⁸ Department says just over 700,000 African-Americans have found work since Trump took office. The trouble began with what Sanders said next when she tried to benchmark Trump's jobs record against that of his predecessor, Barack Obama.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

SANDERS: When President Obama left after eight years in office - eight years in office - he had only created 195,000 jobs for African-Americans. President Trump in his first year and a half has already tripled what President Obama did in eight years.

HORSLEY: In fact, there were 2.9 million more African-Americans working when Obama left office last year than when he was sworn in. Sanders' figure, 195,000, was off by a factor of 15. After reporters pointed⁹ out her error, the press secretary issued a rare correction on Twitter last night, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers¹⁰ apologized for what it called a miscommunication. It's a pattern that's familiar, though, to anyone who remembers the presidential campaign when Trump often exaggerated the ills facing black Americans.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed¹¹. What the hell do you have to lose?

HORSLEY: The fact is job gains among African-Americans in the 18 months since Trump took office look very much like the gains in the 18 months before he was sworn in, albeit¹² a little slower. And the same is true for job growth overall. U.S. employers have added 3.4 million jobs since Trump became president, just shy of the 3.7 million added in the last year and a half of the Obama administration. Janelle Jones, who's with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, says there has been no sharp uptick nor downturn on Trump's watch, just a smooth and steady line.

JANELLE JONES: He has inherited an economy that was on its way. During Obama's presidency¹³, we were going through a recovery. It was really starting to reach communities that are usually left behind. I'm thinking of workers of color. And so what we've seen since Trump has been in office is exactly that - a continuation of this trend.

HORSLEY: And no matter how much this president tries to reverse and discredit¹⁴ the legacy¹⁵ of his predecessor, the numbers are plain to see in black and white. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

5 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

6 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

7 rebut   

v.辩驳，驳回

参考例句：

• He attempted to rebut the assertions made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳控方证人所作的断言。
• This open letter is to rebut the argument of abstractionism.这封公开信是反驳抽象派论点的。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

10 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

11 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

12 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

13 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

14 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

15 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。