The Trump administration continues to say the economy is in good shape and will quickly recover, but the data paints a much bleaker picture. More Americans are losing their jobs and more businesses are closing for good. The economic recovery Trump touted was short-lived because of his failed pandemic response.

Yesterday, Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow said the economy is “much, much, much better” and all signs point to a rapid recovery.

KUDLOW: “The answer is much, much, much better.”

KUDLOW: “I don’t see any evidence of economic harm” from rising cases.

Unemployment claims rose to 1.4 million last week. Overall, Americans have filed 52.7 million unemployment claims over the past four months.

Politico: “Unemployment claims rose to 1.4 million last week, the Labor Department reported, ending 15 weeks of consecutive declines in new applications. The increase in the number of workers seeking new aid follows several states delaying their reopening plans and closing some businesses down again as coronavirus cases spike.”

USA Today: “That most recent stream of claims means that in little more than four months, a staggering 52.7 million have sought unemployment aid for the first time.”

New data suggests all of the job gains since mid-May have been wiped out after Trump’s failed response led to a resurgence in new cases.

New York Times: “Data from the Census Bureau on Wednesday showed that the number of employed people fell by more than four million last week, the fourth-straight weekly decline. Taken literally, the results indicate that the economy has given up all the job gains since mid-May, before the recent surge in coronavirus cases.”

Many business closures have now become permanent and millions of jobs are not coming back at all.

Washington Post: “The economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic has entered a new phase, with permanent business closures now outnumbering temporary ones, new data shows.”

New York Times’s Peter Baker: “More than 15,000 restaurants in America have closed permanently during the pandemic and as many as 10% of independent operators could shut by year’s end.”

CNN: “The ugly truth about millions of American jobs: They are not coming back”

Manufacturing flatlined last year and fell sharply with the pandemic. As of June, there were nearly 300,000 factory jobs lost under Trump’s watch.

New York Times: “After increasing in the first two years of Mr. Trump’s presidency, the number of manufacturing jobs flatlined last year and fell sharply with the pandemic. As of June, there were nearly 300,000 fewer factory jobs in the United States than there were when Mr. Trump was inaugurated.”