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Happy Friday! Who else wants to have a Honey Deuce with Jessie Pegula?

In today's issue:

• Weak August jobs report
• White House calls for interest rate cut
• Republicans grow weary of RFK Jr.
• Trump’s ‘Department of War’ announcement
• NYT reports on 2019 North Korea mission

📰 NEWS THIS MORNING

Gulp...:

The U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs in August, well below economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate also rose from 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent. This is a clear sign that the economy has lost steam during the first spring and summer of President Trump’s second term.

For context: Economists had expected a job gain of roughly 75,000, similar to July.

🚨 Plus, the economy lost jobs for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic: “Revised data also showed that employment fell by 13,000 jobs in June, the first net loss since December 2020.” (The New York Times)

🗨️ Follow today’s live blog

➤ HOW THE WHITE HOUSE IS HANDLING THIS:

Well, first, Trump tried to manage expectations ahead of time. He told reporters Thursday evening that the “real” jobs numbers will come next year.

^ Specifically: Trump said that when “huge, beautiful places, the palaces of genius” open, job numbers will improve. He didn’t specify what projects that meant.

And after the jobs report came out: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. “Clearly, President Trump is implementing the most aggressive pro-growth agenda in our country’s history, but this agenda continues to be held back by Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell’s foolish refusal to admit that President Trump is right about everything,” Leavitt posted on X.

➤ TIDBIT — TRUMP IS GOING TO FLUSHING MEADOWS:

The Athletic reports Trump will attend the U.S. Open men’s singles final Sunday.

The last time Trump attended was in 2015. He was booed.

🪖 IN THE WHITE HOUSE

The Department of ⚔️WAR ⚔️:

President Trump is expected to sign executive orders this afternoon. The Hill’s Brett Samuels confirmed he will rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

Yes, that would........

© The Hill