Author name: moderat ereport

I will never stop marveling at President Donald Trump’s uncanny ability to surgically hurt the very people who put him in office. Middle column here is just May and June incorporating the revision, where private education and health services account for 170% of all private sector job growth. Manufacturing jobs are being lost at a comparable clip to Federal jobs, -11/-12 in July and -13/-18 previously. /3 pic.twitter.com/YDZl7voEfr — Mike Konczal (@mtkonczal) August 1, 2025 From the start of his latest term as president, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal workforce. He and onetime “first buddy” Elon Musk took glee in destroying as many government jobs as possible. Agencies were hollowed out. Experienced civil servants pushed out. Entire departments left leaderless. Meanwhile, Trump sold tariffs as a way to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He promised a revival of American industry with factories buzzing again, and “Made in America” stamped on everything from steel to semiconductors. But here we are, half a year into his term, and manufacturing jobs are being lost at the same rate as the government jobs that Trump has been intentionally eliminating. It’s a breathtaking and deliberate policy failure. The very communities that bet their futures on Trump’s economic nationalism are the ones now getting steamrolled by it. States like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania—they’re bleeding the jobs Trump vowed to protect. The wheels are now falling off of Trump’s economic train. Friday’s jobs report was an absolute, unmitigated disaster. The stock market tanked on the news and Trump responded in the worst possible way—by firing the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Related | New jobs numbers hint at Great Recession 2.0 When has shooting the messenger ever worked out? Meanwhile, he keeps doubling down on the tariffs that are screeching the American economy to a halt. Imports are more expensive, exports are retaliated against, and key industries—including autos, agriculture, and tech—are taking a hit. Even his supposed successes, like the trade framework with the European Union that raises baseline tariffs to 15%, are an effective tax increase on American businesses and consumers. And even that “agreement” provides little relief from the Sword of Damocles hanging over the U.S. economy, as it isn’t so much an agreement as a political statement that’s subject to Trump’s irrational and ever-changing whims.  So what’s left? Fewer jobs, higher prices, less stability. And no plan to fix anything—just blame, bluster, and firing anyone who dares to tell him the truth.