The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics building in Washington, D.C., is seen March 10, 2025.

The U.S. economy is losing steam.

That's the reasonable takeaway from Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which said that the country added just 73,000 jobs in July, significantly fewer than expected, and that the agency had overstated previously reported gains in May and June.

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A rational president would have assessed the numbers and considered how tariffs and crackdowns on migrant workers might be affecting the willingness to hire. A thoughtful president might wonder whether his administration had made the wrong calls and weigh a different path.

Donald Trump is not that president.

Instead, Mr. Trump fired the bureau's commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, a well-respected public official who has worked in Democratic and........

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