Trump misquoted Fox host Stuart Varney -- and Varney thanked him for it

Varney made an inaccurate prediction about the monthly jobs report

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

President Donald Trump tweeted an inaccurate jobs report prediction by Fox’s Stuart Varney, which led Varney to thank the president in the opening of his Fox Business show -- even though the tweet misquoted what Varney actually said. The later release of the actual employment report, which came out shortly before Trump posted his tweet, also showed that Varney’s optimistic prediction was wildly off-base.

Over two hours before the jobs report came out, Varney predicted on Fox & Friends that it would reflect well on the economy under Trump, especially compared to slower economic growth in Europe and some Asian countries:

STUART VARNEY (FOX BUSINESS HOST): This is as good a time as I can remember to be an American worker. There are plenty of jobs out there. And the report that we're going to get in a couple of hours' time, I think it will show that America has the strongest economy of all the industrial democracies. Europe, slowing down. Japan, slowing down. China, slowing down. America growing with 7 million unfilled jobs. Now, that's quite a position to be in.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report at 8:30 a.m. showed that employment growth “changed little in February” with a net gain of only 20,000 -- far below economic analysts’ expectations of at least 180,000 jobs.

But, minutes later, Trump misquoted what Varney said, turning his rosy prediction of the February employment report into a declaration that America’s economy is the strongest:

Even though Trump misquoted him, Varney still opened his show by thanking the president for his tweet: