'Trump slowdown': Critics hammer President for lackluster jobs report

Numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed that the United States economy added just 143,000 jobs in January, which missed Wall Street expectations of 169,000 jobs.

Although most of the jobs data for the month came while Joe Biden was still the president, that didn't stop President Donald Trump's critics from pouncing on the disappointing number and predicting even worse numbers in the months ahead as Trump and X owner Elon Musk attempt to enact mass layoffs of the federal workforce.

"The Trump slowdown," commented Democratic strategist Matt McDermott on X.

"Trump was president for less than half of January," wrote designer Christopher Webb. "He’s brought economic uncertainty since day one."

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Sirius XM radio host Dean Obeidallah echoed a similar theme on BlueSky and predicted that "with layoffs in federal government we can expect a spike in unemployment in coming months."

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, meanwhile, put the disappointing jobs report into the broader context of what he said would be destructive Trump economic policies.

"New jobs report one of the worst since COVID - 143,000 jobs created," he wrote on BlueSky Friday. "So far under Trump: - GDP growth has slowed - Job growth has slowed - Inflation has risen - Destructive tariffs loom - Fed did not cut interest rates - GOP econ plans will explode the deficit."