"I don’t believe the number and neither do any of the other people that have intelligence,” Trump said on Fox News’s "Fox and Friends." "Because that number came out of nowhere."

Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich are doing their best to serve the Republican Party's electoral hopes by keeping that whole "the Obama administration manipulated jobs numbers" conspiracy theory alive another day. Trump, as usual, went for absurdity , alleging "a lot of monkey business." His evidence?Got that?of the people that have intelligence believe the number, says Donald Trump, noted expert on intelligence-having. Because it came out of nowhere. Maybe so. If "nowhere" has been redefined to mean massive government surveys of both households and businesses, done independently of the presidential administration, then yes, the unemployment number came out of nowhere.

Gingrich deployed his trademark mix of big words and saying nothing:



"It rings true on a deeper level without getting into the conspiracy," Gingrich said. "Actually, since it’s a survey, is this outside the statistical bounds of their survey? Which is plausible but irrelevant."

This is a tutorial in being what stupid people think a smart person sounds like: Say the conspiracy theory rings true without getting into the conspiracy—huh?—then pose a question then dismiss your own question as "plausible but irrelevant"—huh and also WTF? Gingrich further suggested that the conspiracy theory shows a generalized lack of trust in the president. Because nothing screams widespread rank-and-file distrust like an idea pushed by a few wealthy Republicans as a desperate election-season attempt to dismiss good news for an opponent (and, not incidentally, for the country).