What did Donald Trump do today?
He found the real victims of a terrible jobs report: himself and his children.
June's employment numbers were released today. They are grim: the entire US economy added only 57,000 jobs, far fewer than the number expected. It's also well below the number of jobs that the country needs to keep up with population growth, meaning the number of jobs per capita fell too. April and May's numbers were also revised downward.
The report had other bad news, too. The unemployment rate dropped from 4.3% to 4.2%, but only because the number of people seeking work declined. (In times of economic distress, potential workers sometimes abandon the above-board job market altogether, especially if they've been unsuccessful in finding work for a prolonged period of time.)
Worst of all, the report confirmed that wage growth is lagging well behind inflation. That means real wages—the buying power of a day's work—is down for the third month in a row.
Trump didn't comment on the jobs report, but he did talk about jobs: specifically, the ones his children have. He complained to CNBC's Joe Kernan that his sons (who are notionally running his business) were being unfairly accused of benefiting from his office and the insider information, even as he admitted that they do get insider information. Even the ultraconservative Wall Street Journal editorial page called this "graft," adding that "Americans, and especially his supporters, deserve better from this or any President."
Neither of Trump's sons have ever had jobs that were not given to them in the Trump Organization, or as the result of their influence over their father since he first became President. For example, Donald Trump Jr. is currently employed as an "advisor" to both major prediction market companies, Kalshi and Polymarket, in spite of having no relevant experience. Both companies, essentially gambling sites, are fighting state regulation with the help of Trump Sr.—which directly profits Trump Jr., who owns an investment stake in both companies.
Trump's defense of his adult children's monetization of his presidency came as analyses of his most recent financial disclosures show that he and his family made huge investments in specific areas immediately before major policy decisions that would affect the value of those investments—which Trump had previously kept secret.
Why does this matter?
- Virtually everyone in Trump's family is the heir to multiple different billion-dollar fortunes, so the idea that they're being treated unfairly is a bit much.