President Donald Trump boasted about record numbers of women joining the American workforce during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and one of his potential 2020 opponents made a keen observation.
“No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the newly created jobs last year,” Trump said. The line was met with thunderous applause within a group of newly elected Democratic women in Congress, who wore white to honor the women's suffrage movement.
“You weren’t supposed to do that,” Trump joked. “All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before,” he added. “Don’t sit yet, you’re going to like this.”
Trump also acknowledged the centennial anniversary of women winning the right to vote.
“And exactly one century after the Congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before," Trump said. “That’s great. And congratulations."
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who is running for president in 2020, tweeted after the speech that opposition to Trump is what catapulted a record number of women - 117 - to Congress in 2018.
"President Trump seems not to understand that the female jobs he created were Democratic women in Congress," the Senator wrote.
The irony was lost on Trump since 100 of the freshman women are Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also remarked on Trump omitting the fact that the vast majority of women elected in 2018 are Democrats.
"I liked when he acknowledged there was the largest number of women," Pelosi told reporters.
Trump, however, "forgot to acknowledge it's only 15, what is it, 15 Republicans and 91 Democratic women in the Congress of the United States on the House side," the Speaker told said. "So it was like weird you’re bringing this up," she added. "And I loved the way the women just rose to the occasion."
Watch below:
Does Trump realize opposition to his policies are the reason women are taking over? Probably not.
Still, the advancement of women is good for everyone.
Whoosh.
@LeeMerrittesq/X
@bob_moss/X
@jelanijones/Bluesky
@Aurkayne/X
@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky