Donald Trump tried to turn Independence Day into a celebration of himself. It was—thanks to poor planning, bad weather, and his hubris—a catastrophe. But a day later, Trump found another, less expensive way to throw a victory parade: the release of the unexpectedly good jobs numbers from June.

“Record 157,005,000 Employed; 19th Record of Trump Era” https://t.co/syROOk1UOb — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2019

Quieting worries that a long-expected economic slowdown was imminent, the economy added over 200,000 jobs in June. (The unemployment rate ticked up, but only because more people without jobs were looking for them than in the previous month.) At the same time, the stock market has continued to shoot upward, perhaps thanks in large part to the widespread belief that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates—though that may have just become less likely, thanks to the new, robust jobs numbers. (That did not, of course, stop the president from continuing to push the Fed to cut interest rates. “If we had a Fed that would lower interest rates we would be like a rocket ship, but we’re paying a lot of interest and it’s unnecessary,” Trump said. “We don’t have a Fed that knows what they’re doing, so it’s one of those little things.”)



But regardless of what the stock market does Monday, the numbers are a boon for Trump, and bolster one of the reelection arguments he has made (and, honestly, should make, from a pure politics point of view) again and again: The economy is booming because of his leadership.



Democrats have made the case that Trump’s economic success mostly comes down to a mix of luck, the strong economy he inherited from Barack Obama, and a massive corporate tax cut that may have artificially extended the economic expansion. Still, political handicappers will tell you the headlines spell trouble for the party trying unseat Trump in 2020—but it shouldn’t. Democrats have a strong argument to make that this current economy benefits a tiny fraction of the population at the expense of everyone else. And, despite the president’s myriad weaknesses, they shouldn’t fear attacking his apparent strengths.



The political strategy of “attacking the strength” is age-old. The most famous recent example was Karl Rove’s “swiftboating” of John Kerry in the 2004 election, in which Kerry’s military service record was challenged with unsubstantiated accusations that he did not deserve the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for his service in the Vietnam War. Kerry’s record as a war hero was considered to be a strength, given the importance in that election of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

