An MSNBC news anchor insisted on Friday that Hillary Clinton has a record of job creation that’s at least more than “zero,” but then struggled to point to any evidence of her claim.
The anchor, Stephanie Ruhle, interviewed Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Donald Trump supporter, who said Trump created “thousands and thousands” of jobs as a businessman.
“How many jobs has Hillary Clinton created?” asked Rutledge. “Zero is the answer. Zero jobs for any woman. Zero jobs for any man, for that matter. So, she has zero credibility when it comes to job creation.”
Ruhle said it wasn’t “fair to say she’s never created a single job for a woman, right? We’re not going to walk away, ‘The answer is zero.'”
Rutledge said again that Clinton had not created any jobs, particularly in the private sector, and Ruhle challenged that assertion again.
“I just want to be sure,” replied Ruhle. “We’re not going to walk away saying, ‘Hillary Clinton, the number is zero,’ because it’s not zero.”
But there is scant evidence that Clinton created any jobs during her decades of experience in the federal government as first lady, senator or secretary of state. The Washington Post reported in August that as a U.S. senator representing New York, Clinton promised to create 200,000 jobs in her state but that her efforts “fell flat.”
“But nearly eight years after Clinton’s Senate exit, there is little evidence that her economic development programs had a substantial impact on upstate employment,” reported the Post. “Despite Clinton’s efforts, upstate job growth stagnated overall during her tenure, with manufacturing jobs plunging nearly 25 percent, according to jobs data.”
