The title of this blog post was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the latest terrible jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The US economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far lower than expected, amid ongoing concerns with Donald Trump’s escalating trade war.
Forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the July jobs report would show a drop in added jobs to around 109,000. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in June.
The Bureau of Labor also slashed the number of jobs added in recent months. May’s jobs figure was revised down by 125,000, from 144,000 to 19,000, and June was revised down by 133,000, from 147,000 to 14,000 – a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
Guardian graphicSource: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Note: Seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs.
This is very bad news. I had been surprised that the jobs had been so high in May and June and the revised figures for those months show how bad things really are. This month’s jobs report may also be reduced next month.
We know that the way that the Trump gang likes to deal with bad news is to eliminate the messengers. I started writing this post with the title earlier today but had to go out and did not get to post it before I left. I had been planning to end the post by suggesting that Trump would fire the people behind the report but when I got home I found that he had already done so.
Donald Trump fired the federal government official in charge of labor statistics, hours after data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer, prompting accusations that he is “firing the messenger”.
The US president claimed that Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of labor statistics, had “faked” employment figures in the run-up to last year’s election, in an effort to boost Kamala Harris’s chances of victory.
Trump later claimed: “Today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.
He produced no evidence for these allegations, and insisted that the US economy was, in fact, “BOOMING” on his watch.
But Friday’s employment figures told a very different story, and raised questions about the state of the labor market since Trump’s return to office.
“We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”
It is always sunny in Trumpland, even if there is a hurricane raging outside. And any meteorologist who says otherwise will be fired immediately.
Of course, he had no complaints when the preliminary data for the earlier months showed good jobs growth. No aspersions about rigging then. But this is par for the course for the lunatic that Trump has become.
This puts all the career professionals in government agencies in a quandary. Their professionalism and ethics would make them want to produce and analyze data as impartially as they can but Trump only wants good news and will fire them if they say otherwise
What could possibly go wrong with this way of running a government?
Is there a competition in Trump’s kakistocracy who can make the worst decisions?
You know what would be awesomely funny?
If Canada started doing whatever the US Bureau of Labor Statistics used to do. Just hire a few of them, like Wehrner Von Braun of standard distributions.
unless my reading comprehension is mush today, it doesn’t seem anybody else mentioned it, so i must.
problem: unemployment increased. solution: increase unemployment.
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The Sovietization of the US Government proceeds apace.
The Guardian:
‘Self-termination is most likely’: The history and future of societal collapse
.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse
A quote from the post: “Today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”. Neither needs any help looking bad. They are doing a fine job of that all on their own.
It is always sunny in Trumpland, even if there is a hurricane raging outside.
Or vice-versa: Trump once claimed $17m for hurricane damage to his Mar-a-Lago resort those there never saw
Jörg @1: Yes, I’m sure there is such a competition, at least insofar as there are people in Trump’s “team” who feel (rightly or not) that they have to compete with each other for Dear Leader’s attention, and try to win by offering the most extreme response to any issue, which Dear Leader, “going with his gut,” will then seize upon, because he’s neither willing nor able to think his way through anything more complicated than “Who do I feel like beating up on today?”