Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, on Saturday.Chris Carlson/AP

At a gathering on Saturday In Gastonia, North Carolina, Donald Trump thanked God for an October jobs report that showed slowing job growth due in part to the recent hurricane that decimated the western part of the state .

“Was it really good?” Trump asked the crowd. “Getting these numbers four days before the vote was…” Trump saidstopping. Then he stopped and looked upward, probably at God, to whom he said, “Thank you very much, sir. THANKS.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported As of Friday, the U.S. economy created only 12,000 jobs in October. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su attributed the slow growth to “significant impacts from hurricanes and strikes.” This is a reference to hurricanes Helene and Milton and to a strike by Boeing machinists. Noting that the unemployment rate remains at 4.1% and inflation is falling, Su said the jobs report “reflects an atypical month rather than a change in the broader economic outlook.”

Trump’s remarks on jobs weren’t the worst thing he said this weekend. He labeled reporters covering his “freak” rally, mocked trans people, and called his opponent a product of political correctness and “stupid,” with a racist and sexist subtext that was hard to ignore. He defended his racist rally at Madison Square Garden. Friday night in Milwaukee, he inexplicably expressed his frustration with audio problems by pretend performing fellatio on a microphone stand.

But the reaction to the jobs report was indicative of the enthusiasm with which Trump embraced bad news for Americans as good news for him. To be fair, he called these numbers “bad news” during his speech on Friday. But on Saturday in North Carolina, he celebrated the political benefit he claimed to gain from the new report – without mentioning the hurricanes that economists say helped slow hiring by causing catastrophic flooding and hundreds of deaths, including more than 100 in the state in which he spoke.

“I mean, how good is it if you run against the people who did this?” Trump, referring to the jobs report.

It wasn’t the only time he seemed to rejoice in misfortune. Elsewhere in the speech, Trump celebrated, as he typically does at his rallies, an increase in border crossings that followed his exit from office. He has never hidden his belief that the problems at the border are good for him. Earlier this year, Trump successfully lobbied give up a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening security at the Mexican border. Trump’s action was widely understood as an attempt to prevent Congress from trying to resolve an issue he wanted to use to attack Democrats. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who was a lead author of the bill, said said that critics of the measures said: “We don’t want President Trump to lose this issue. »

Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s opposition to the measure, call this proves that “he would rather tackle a problem than solve it.”

Nothing in Trump’s remarks Saturday refuted that criticism.