Following the May and June jobs reports, which featured topline numbers that exceeded expectations but were fairly pedestrian, the White House and Republicans everywhere celebrated the “Trump economy” that was entering a new “golden age.”

Well, as it turns out, those employment figures are now looking more like fool’s gold.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Friday that, instead of having added 291,000 jobs combined in May and June, the economy actually only added a total of 33,000 jobs in those two months.

In other words, all of the positive headlines those reports generated were based on wildly inaccurate numbers (which weren’t even all that great to begin with).

It is really important, however, to note that this was not some intentional subterfuge on the part of the Trump administration. The initial jobs numbers, which are released on the first Friday of every month, are educated guesses based on surveys. The revised figures, on the other hand, are calculated from data supplied by state unemployment offices. They are more accurate but take longer to compile.

Therefore, only a complete fool would suggest that a downward revision would be the result of a conspiracy. Which brings us to Trump.

Last year, when BLS announced in August that the economy had added 818,000 fewer jobs than initially estimated during the 12-month period ending in March 2024, he immediately claimed foul play.

“MASSIVE SCANDAL! The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating Job Statistics to hide the true extent of the Economic Ruin they have inflicted upon America,” he wrote back then in a social media rant.

As we pointed out at the time, this was patently ridiculous.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

In fact, while the revisions during the Biden administration were already quite significant (averaging nearly 70,000 per month), they are even more pronounced now (averaging 129,000 per month). And while no reasonable person should assert that the administration fudged the numbers to (temporarily) look good, Republicans will have to answer some questions about this anemic job growth.

Like we said earlier, the May and June numbers weren’t that good to begin with. The revised figures, however, show real signs of trouble. It doesn’t help the administration that the July employment report wasn’t much better.

In total, the economy only added 73,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent. In addition, most of those gains came from a single sector (health care) while hiring in manufacturing remains flat.

That’s not good. And it’s especially bad for Trump because he, and the GOP, have now taken full ownership of the economy, which means he only has himself to blame.

Of course, that’s not how the president views it.

Shortly after the disappointing jobs numbers were released, he went on social media to point the finger at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and call him a “disaster.”