Maggie Haberman Says Trump Believes His Own Falsehoods on Jobs Numbers: ‘He Has Convinced Himself’

CNN’s Maggie Haberman said she believes President Donald Trump has managed to convince himself that the underwhelming jobs numbers released last week were “faked,” despite zero evidence supporting the claim.

Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week after the agency reported the economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, and revised downward the number of jobs added in May and June. The job gains from those two months were 258,000 less than previously reported. Although the BLS regularly revises previous data, Trump claimed the agency had “faked” the numbers.

On Tuesday’s installment of The Lead on CNN, Jake Tapper pointed to Trump’s interview on CNBC earlier in the day, where the president baselessly claimed that the BLS fudged the jobs numbers, inaccurately stated that his approval rating is in the 70s, and said his 2024 win in Texas entitles Republicans to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts, which they are currently trying to do.

“Does he believe these lies when he says them like he’s George Costanza?” Tapper asked Haberman. “‘It’s not a lie if you believe it.’ Or is he just selling and snowing?”

“I think these are three different issues. On the BLS issue, I think he has convinced himself that that is what happened,” Haberman replied. “In terms of Texas, that’s not how congressional seats are apportioned, is based on whether someone thinks they deserve them. So, look, they’re making a very aggressive play to try because they can because they’ve made very clear they’re gonna use all the tools at their disposal. But that’s very different than whether one is owed them.”

She went on to say that regarding Trump’s claims about a 70% approval rating, the president may genuinely be confused after seeing his numbers among a particular subset of voters.

“But it’s just not true,” Haberman said.

Watch above via CNN.