Happy Friday! On this date in 1765, the Stamp Act imposed by the British went into effect in the American colonies, requiring colonists to pay taxes on legal documents, newspapers, playing cards and other types of printed paper. Colonists protested the unpopular tax using the slogan “No taxation without representation,” and they boycotted British goods, leading the act to be repealed in 1766 — but the conflict over British rule would only grow, ultimately leading to the American Revolution.
Now let’s get you caught up on today’s top stories.
Harris Says Trump’s Violent Language ‘Must Be Disqualifying’
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump continue to hold dueling swing-state rallies — both are in Milwaukee tonight — and to spar over a series of controversies involving escalating campaign rhetoric and questionable, disturbing or downright dangerous language. The latest: Another example of startling comments by Trump about his political opponents.
In an appearance Thursday night with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump used violent language in criticizing former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who has been campaigning for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. “She’s a radical war hawk,” Trump said. “Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh gee, well let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.”
Harris told reporters those comments show Trump is unfit for office. “This must be disqualifying,” she told reporters. “Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president. Representative Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party. Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge and is increasingly unstable and unhinged. His enemies list has grown longer, his rhetoric has grown more extreme and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people.”
Cheney also responded Friday in a social media post: “This is how dictators destroy free nations,” she wrote. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Trump defended his comments and insisted that he simply meant that Cheney was all too ready to send Americans to war but would feel differently if she had to be in combat herself.
“All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, ‘No thanks!’ Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought. That’s not what we want running our Country!”
Why it matters: The menacing imagery Trump used may not have actually been calling for Cheney to face a firing squad, as some Democrats claimed, but it again raised alarm among his critics, reinforcing the idea that he is fixated on opponents who he has called “enemies from within.” The language gave the Harris campaign an opening to control another late-stage news cycle and hammer Trump as being obsessed with vengeance.
With just four days to go before voting ends, the campaigns have been lurching from one controversy over campaign comments to another. Trump’s dark language may — or may not — sway voters who have yet to decide who they will support, but the Harris camp reportedly feels that late deciders have been breaking their way by a double-digit margin. But they are reportedly also preparing for Trump to challenge the results of the election and claim the voting was rigged, particularly in Pennsylvania.
Job Growth Falls Flat as Hurricanes Take Their Toll
In the wake of two massive hurricanes and a strike at a major manufacturer, new job creation stalled in October as employers added just 12,000 new positions overall, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%.
The growth in nonfarm payrolls was well below expectations of about 100,000, though the pre-report projections were all over the map as analysts tried to guess just how distorted the October numbers would be by weather and labor strife.
A strike by workers at Boeing appears to have weighed on manufacturing employment, which fell by 46,000. The government did not provide an estimate of the jobs lost due to the hurricanes, saying their survey “is not designed to isolate effects from extreme weather events.” But some analysts estimated that the net effect of the storms was a job loss of roughly 100,000.
Still, although most analysts are viewing the report as an outlier that does not signal the beginning of a sharp slowdown, there are signs that the labor market is cooling off. Job growth in July and Augst was revised lower by a combined 112,000, suggesting that the labor market wasn’t quite as hot this summer as previously believed.
“The big one-off shocks that struck the economy in October make it impossible to know whether the job market was changing direction in the month,’’ Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, said in a note, per the Associated Press. “But the downward revisions to job growth through September show it was cooling before these shocks struck.’’
Saying the report should be taken “seriously but not literally,” Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, offered a similar though somewhat more upbeat assessment. “The October jobs report was full of noise and hurricane-induced distortions that do not reflect the fundamental strength of the American labor market,” he wrote. “We think that hiring has slowed to a monthly pace of near 120,000, which is sustainable for an economy at full employment and growing at a 2.7% rate over the past 12 months.”
Trump welcomes 'worst job report in history': The Trump campaign jumped on the news as it sought to gain political advantage from the disappointing numbers. “This jobs report is a catastrophe and definitively reveals how badly Kamala Harris broke our economy,” the campaign said in a statement.
On the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump blamed Harris for what he called the “worst jobs report in the history of our country.” But he also welcomed the news, saying it was good for him in some ways. “Our economy is a total disaster and is expected to get very substantially worse,” he said. “It’s a wonderful time for me coming in, you know — this is what I want. Now, I would rather come in when things are going in the right direction, but we’re going to get it straightened out fast.”
President Joe Biden highlighted that fact that the weather-related job losses were expected to be temporary and would likely be reversed during the extensive rebuilding effort. He also noted that striking workers at Boeing will soon vote on a new contract, and called on Americans to look at the big picture. “America’s economy remains strong, with 16 million jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year—more than the year before the pandemic,” he said. “We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up $4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its 2% target.”
The bottom line: The presidential candidates and their surrogates will battle over the meaning of the weak October jobs report, but most analysts say it should be taken with a large grain of salt, if not dismissed entirely due to one-time distortions. Although it seems clear that the labor market is cooling, the long-term trend suggests that the economy is still chugging along as we head into Election Day.
Chart of the Day
While the October job growth numbers were certainly a disappointment, economist Ernie Tedeschi of the Yale Budget Lab, who formerly served on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Biden administration, highlighted an ongoing bright spot in the labor market in an interview with CNN.
“A little more than 81% of native-born residents between the ages of 25 and 54 were employed in October, near the record share seen in June 2023,” said CNN’s Tami Luhby, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by Tedeschi.
The data suggest that claims that foreign-born workers are taking all the new jobs while native-born workers are losing ground has little basis in realty. Both groups have employment levels near record highs, at least among prime-age workers, the most useful group to consider when the workforce includes millions of native-born baby boomers heading into retirement.
Overall, the conditions in the labor market over the last few years have benefited most workers, including those born in the country. “Native-born workers are among the first workers that are going to be lifted up by a strong labor market,” Tedeschi told CNN.
Quote of the Day
“It is not like herding cats. It is like exotic animals — and half of them have rabies in Washington. It’s a very dangerous job.”
– House Speaker Mike Johnson, campaigning in Pennsylvania recently for a Republican House candidate, in comments about his narrow House GOP majority quoted Friday by The Hill’s Emily Brooks. Johnson reportedly added: “I spent half my day as the Speaker of the House, the other half as a mental health counselor. The solution is to grow that majority and to have people who can come in on day one and perform for the people who govern.”
Fiscal News Roundup
- Trump Embraces Violent Rhetoric, Suggests Liz Cheney Should Have Guns ‘Trained on Her Face’ – Washington Post
- Harris Calls Trump’s Violent Language About Liz Cheney ‘Disqualifying’ – New York Times
- US Employers Added Just 12,000 Jobs Last Month as Hurricanes and Strikes Sharply Reduce Payrolls – Associated Press
- Weak Jobs Data Provides Political Fodder as Campaign’s Final Weekend Nears – New York Times
- Harris Team Warns CEOs That Trump Is a Threat to Economy, While Trump Says Tariffs Can Drive Growth – Associated Press
- Harris Campaign: Late-Deciding Voters Are ‘Breaking by Double Digits’ for the VP – Politico
- Harris Promises to Eliminate College Degree Requirements for Federal Jobs on Day 1 – Politico
- Trump Is Laying the Groundwork to Challenge an Election He Might Lose. Pennsylvania Is Ground Zero – Politico
- White House Works to Trump-Proof Biden’s Legacy Ahead of Tight Election – CNN
- Trump on RFK, Jr.: ‘He's Going to Have a Big Role in Health Care’ – Politico
- Johnson, Facing Uncertain Future, Seeks to Save House GOP – The Hill
- Johnson Leans on Trump in Frantic Push to Save House Majority – CNN
- AP Sources: White House Altered Record of Biden’s ‘Garbage’ Remarks Despite Stenographer Concerns – Associated Press
- Trump Loses $2.4 Billion in Net Worth After His Social Media Stock Implodes Right Before the Election – CNN
Views and Analysis
- The 7 Most Likely Scenarios for Election Day – Aaron Blake, Washington Post
- Why Trump Has a More Plausible Path to the Presidency, in 19 Maps – Doug Sonnik, New York Times
- Why the Polls Might Be Wrong — in Kamala Harris’ Favor – Justin Brown, Politico
- Voters Face the Worst Presidential Choice in U.S. History – George F. Will, Washington Post
- What I Truly Expect if an Unconstrained Trump Retakes Power – Michelle Goldberg, New York Times
- The Economy Is Strong Heading Into Election Day. Will It Matter? – Heather Long, Washington Post
- Yes, Bidenomics Is Working Here in Pennsylvania. But Maybe Not Enough to Win the White House – JoJo Burgess, Guardian
- The Best Combo to Restrain Spending? A Democratic President and GOP Congress – Brian Riedl, The Dispatch
- Trump and Harris Both Support a Bigger Child Tax Credit. But Which Families Should Get It? – Moriah Balingit, Associated Press
- On Health Care, the Choice Is Progress or Indescribable Nightmare – Ryan Cooper, American Prospect
- Why There’s Hope for U.S. Factory Towns Laid Low by the ‘China Shock’ – Peter S. Goodman, New York Times