A top Trump official is under fire after attempting to downplay the increase in the unemployment rate by declaring all 7 million people as “statistically nonexistent.”

U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer shared with Fox News several inaccurate claims, stating that consumer confidence is up — it’s down — and claiming that real wages are up year over year, almost 4% — when in reality they rose just 1.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not only is consumer confidence down,  it is “far lower than it was for much of 2023 and 2024,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

She also claimed there is a “blue collar boom,” but Friday’s jobs report reveals blue collar jobs are stagnating, according to economics writer Joey Politano:

“US blue-collar job growth has completely stagnated, hitting the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic—manufacturing is currently losing jobs at a rapid pace, and growth in construction/transportation has slowed to a crawl.”

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The Labor Secretary acknowledged her words may seem like rhetoric, but maintained “it’s not, because that’s what we’re seeing on the ground” — a claim contradicted by facts.

She also insisted that unemployment is “holding steady.”

“Statistically, it’s nonexistent,” she said, a remark that received tremendous blowback.

“This is a bananas quote,” declared Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “I get that they are going with ‘nothing to see here please disperse’ but saying 4.3% of the U.S. working population being unemployed is ‘statistically nonexistent’ is a pretty incredible slap in the face from the Secretary of Labor to 7 million people.”

Congressman Beyer also weighed in, writing: “The Trump Administration’s message to 7.4 million unemployed Americans is that ‘statistically’ they are ‘nonexistent.’ A stunningly awful and dishonest thing to say.”

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“You heard that right,” declared U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). “Struggling Americans looking for a job don’t exist according to the Trump Administration. Most anti-worker admin of my lifetime. Despicable.”

“There are over 7 million people looking for a job right now,” noted U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “They matter. They don’t cease to exist because of the Trump Administration’s failed policies.”

U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) added, “Unemployment is rising and the country is losing thousands of jobs. Hard working Americans are feeling the effects of Trump’s reckless economic policies and job-killing tariffs. These are numbers we haven’t seen since the pandemic — this is entirely Trump’s doing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

VARNEY: Do tariffs have anything to do with the slowing jobs market?

LORI CHAVEZ-DeREMER: Tariffs are working … unemployment is still holding steady. Statistically, it’s nonexistent. pic.twitter.com/ObPkFQBylu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report

Image via Reuters 

Texas has just moved to make it easier for parents to exempt their children from school vaccination requirements—just weeks after the worst measles outbreak in a generation ended.

762 people contracted measles over the summer. Two unvaccinated children died, and 100 people had to be hospitalized, according to PBS News.

“West Texas was the nation’s measles epicenter for months. The virus started spreading there in close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite communities in Gaines County,” PBS reported. The outbreak was declared over in mid-August.

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This week, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) began allowing parents to download a form to request their children be exempt from any or all required vaccines. Previously, parents had to request the form, which was then mailed to them, according to The Texas Tribune.

Calling this new system “empowering,” Rebecca Hardy, executive director of Texans for Vaccine Choice, said: “The previous mailed, hard-copy process for requesting vaccine exemption affidavits was outdated, costly to taxpayers, raised privacy and tracking concerns, and created unnecessary barriers for families seeking to exercise their rights.”

DSHS also published a form telling parents the benefits and risks of immunization, but the form is not attached to the exemption request form.

Requests for exemption forms have risen dramatically.

“Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for a vaccine exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024,” the Tribue reported. “Even before the new form became easier to access, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form in July, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.”

READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report

Texas has more kindergarteners unvaccinated for measles than any other state in the nation, and falls below the 95% immunization rate required to achieve herd immunity.

In what is being called a “public health disaster,” Florida is now in the process of banning all vaccine mandates for children.

It’s not just Texas and Florida.

On Thursday, CNN reported that support for childhood vaccines being mandatory has plunged from 81% in 1991 to just 51% in 2024.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Support for government requiring childhood vaccines against infectious diseases has dropped to just 51%.pic.twitter.com/XIrvj3BwWj

— David Badash (@davidbadash) September 5, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say

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A strong majority of Americans say the Trump economy is getting worse not better, and a near-majority say jobs and the economy are on the wrong track. The just-released jobs report supports Americans’ perception, with unemployment rising and economic experts issuing dire warnings.

“Donald Trump was hired, or rehired, to fix the economy, and Americans don’t like what’s cooking with the economy,” explained CNN forecaster Harry Enten on Friday (video below). “They think the economy is weak, weak, weak.”

According to Enten, in November of last year when Democrats lost the White House, 42% of Americans said the economy was getting worse. Now, ten months later, a “clear majority,” 56% of Americans, say the economy is getting worse. Little more than one-quarter say it is getting better.

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“This is no bueno,” Enten exclaimed.

The CNN analyst also noted that the jobs outlook is “becoming a weak point in the minds of the American public.”

“On jobs and unemployment, we are on the wrong track,” he noted. “Back in January, the plurality said right track, 40%. Wrong track was 32%.”

But the situation now is “a very worrisome trend, not only for the U.S. economy, but for the White House as well.”

“The wrong track leaps up to 48%. The right track down, down, down, down, from 40% to 33%.”

“Now the clear plurality of Americans think that we are on the wrong track when it comes to jobs and unemployment. The right track, look at that. Going from 40% to 33%, that is very, very, very bad.”

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On presidential approval on jobs and employment, Enten noted that President Joe Biden last year was “underwater at minus eight points.”

“Donald Trump gets in, he goes up plus nine points,” he continued. “But look at where Donald Trump is now: minus 13 points.”

“That’s a 24 point drop since January of 2025, and get this. Donald Trump was hired to fix the economy, but when it comes to jobs and employment, look at that, minus 13, that is worse than Joe Biden was doing in December of 2024.”

“Joe Biden, of course, was in the basement, and yet Donald Trump is even lower down than him. You can barely get an elevator that goes that low.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Re jobs report: voters say Trump’s lower than the basement on jobs.

His net approval on jobs, -13 pt, is worse than Biden’s -8 pt in Dec 2024. Wrong track % is up 16 pts since Jan.

Voters say the economy overall is weak, weak, weak: 56% say it’s getting worse (was 42% in Nov). pic.twitter.com/kFwD0RrdUt

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 5, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report

Image via Reuters