Day 9
The July jobs report showed a surprise drop in U.S. employment amid a summer slowdown.
U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, missing consensus forecasts for roughly 83,000 gains and signaling a sharp slowdown in hiring. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%, largely because labor force participation declined rather than because employment rose. Payroll gains for May and June were revised down by a combined 103,000, while local government education, retail, and leisure and hospitality lost jobs and health care continued hiring. Stocks rose and Treasury yields fell as investors saw less urgency for another Federal Reserve rate increase.
The angles
Trump Economic Underperformance
Left & CenterTrump’s economy is underperforming his boasts: growth is modest, the labor market is weakening, and his policies and Iran conflict have added costs and uncertainty rather than producing a boom.
Partisan Spin
Leans LeftAdministration allies and conservative media are minimizing July’s weak jobs numbers—especially the 53,000 figure—by cherry-picking positives and offering excuses to protect their economic narrative.
Muddled Signals
Mostly CenterThe labor market’s headline numbers are giving a murky read: apparent job losses may overstate weakness, while falling unemployment and long-term joblessness may reflect workers leaving the labor force.
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Day 10
Bill Cassidy became the 50th vote for Todd Blanche, clearing his path to attorney general.
Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, giving President Donald Trump’s nominee the 50th Republican vote he needs, assuming no further defections. Cassidy was the last GOP holdout after Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they would oppose Blanche, while Sen. Mitch McConnell remained absent after hospitalization. Blanche is Trump’s former personal lawyer and currently acting attorney general. Cassidy said Blanche was “not perfect” but argued another acting attorney general might run the Justice Department worse.
The angles
Settlement Standoff
Leans LeftBlanche’s nomination is weak enough to expose real Senate alarm over Trump’s Justice Department, but Cassidy’s support shows GOP holdouts are still more likely to capitulate to Trump than block him.
Protecting Deal
Leans LeftBlanche is portrayed as a Trump loyalist whose confirmation would turn the DOJ into a tool to shield Trump and allies, target opponents, and advance hard-right aims; his assurances are treated as insufficient.
Anti-Murkowski attack
Leans RightMurkowski—and similar GOP holdouts like Collins—are casting votes against Todd Blanche not on principle but as hypocritical, politically expedient betrayals meant to undercut Trump’s nominee.
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Day 2
Trump signed new orders seeking to curb birthright citizenship and birth tourism.
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday that seek to narrow birthright citizenship by excluding certain children born in the United States to foreign parents and by targeting so-called birth tourism. The orders follow the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling that Trump’s earlier attempt to end birthright citizenship was unconstitutional. One order expands the categories of noncitizen parents whose U.S.-born children would not receive automatic citizenship. Legal challenges are expected because the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to people born on U.S. soil and subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
The angles
Unlawful MAGA attack
Leans LeftTrump’s bid to curb birthright citizenship is an unconstitutional MAGA immigration gambit, built on weak legal claims and executive overreach despite Supreme Court precedent protecting the 14th Amendment right.
Correcting citizenship excess
Leans RightBirthright citizenship has been wrongly expanded beyond the 14th Amendment, creating abuses that Trump is justified in curbing through orders that narrow enforcement and protect citizenship’s value.
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