Regular viewers of the Fox News network were shocked after the network aired a sharp on-air critique of Donald Trump’s economic record. The episode received mixed reactions from both critics and MAGA supporters.
The issue unfolded during a segment featuring Fox News host Jessica Tarlov, who presented data about the current employment scenario in America that was different from what Trump bragged about even during his prime-time address on December 17, 2025.
Jessica Tarlov said that people are impatient and frustrated about their jobs since the scarcity began during Liberation Day. Currently, over 700,000 more Americans are unemployed compared to this time in 2024, and youth unemployment exceeds 10%. Excluding the healthcare sector, job growth would actually be negative.
Another round of weak economic data Almost a year into Trump’s policies, Americans are worse off. You can’t tell families to be patient while bills keep rising. Since “Liberation Day,” job growth is just 17,000 a month, over 700,000 Americans are unemployed than last year, and… pic.twitter.com/xpdItaV86t
— Jessica Tarlov (@JessicaTarlov) December 17, 2025
This followed after Trump announced new tariffs in April 2025, after he resumed his term in January. These were imposed on all U.S. trading partners, including a 34 percent tax on imports from China and 20 percent on goods from the European Union.
POTUS said the tariffs target nations running significant trade surpluses with the United States. At the same time, a 10 percent baseline tax would apply to imports from all countries in response to what he described as an “economic emergency.”
Trump believes that other nations have destroyed America as they “looted ” the superpower, and the Biden administration could not handle it.
The president also claimed the policy would generate hundreds of billions in revenue and restore fairness to global trade, declaring that taxpayers “have been ripped off for more than 50 years.”
According to The Irish Star, Jessica Tarlov’s comments went viral since Fox News is usually known to be a right-wing channel supporting conservative causes. Some viewers slammed Jessica for representing a liberal perspective often included on Fox News to provide counterpoints.
One commented, “She isn’t Fox News—she’s a progressive Democrat.”Another added, “Fox features left-leaning voices alongside conservative commentators; that’s not representative of the network itself.”
Furthermore, MAGA supporters also defended his record, arguing that the statistics ignored intentional reductions in government jobs during his administration. One wrote, “Those government positions were intentionally cut—they were bloated jobs that served no real purpose and only drained taxpayer money.”
According to the BBC, unemployment across America rose to 4.6% in November, marking a four-year high, according to Labour Department data released on December 14. The increase comes despite employers adding 64,000 jobs—more than what most economists had anticipated.
In addition, the increase followed the October decline of 105,000 jobs as a result of the job cuts that followed the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The brand new department was established in January 2025 to remove government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.’
It aimed to reduce federal spending by slashing jobs and canceling leases. However, it quickly collapsed after Musk allegedly burned through an estimated $21.7 billion in taxpayer funds with few results.
Furthermore, the 43-day government shutdown, which occurred on October 1 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), disrupted essential national security and public safety services faced disruptions after Congress failed to pass a new funding bill as well as impacted the declining market.
US employment market is falling with DOGE firing starting to flow through. Unemployment rate hits 4 year high. I guess we need a war with Venezuela as distraction while vested interest groups steal assets. Are you not entertained? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/kY0NVhYlwL
— Mathan Soma (@Mathan_Soma) December 16, 2025
Moreover, growth in the job market continued to remain uneven even after the shutdown in mid-November. For instance, the health care added 46,000 jobs, including 11,000 in nursing and residential care facilities, and construction employment rose by 28,000. Conversely, the transportation and warehousing sector lost 18,000 jobs, and the manufacturing sector lost 5,000 jobs.
In addition, long-term unemployment, which includes those citizens who have been jobless for more than six months, also increased to 1.9 million in November, up from 1.8 million in September and 1.7 million compared to 2024.
Despite the changes, President Trump’s controversial prime-time address yesterday continued to praise the GOP agenda and opted for an optimistic and hopeful approach, like an ideal leader.
Over 8% of black people in America are unemployed. The DOGE attack on the federal government absolutely played a large part in that. https://t.co/enSHpmYFFY
— Geechi 🇵🇦 (@Geechi_Luciano) December 16, 2025
He highlighted what he described as significant economic gains over his first 11 months back in office and promised even greater progress in 2026. “I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said in the year-end speech, which was broadcast nationwide. He claimed that the U.S. had suffered from poor trade deals and declining global standing before his return to office, thereby signalling that those days were over.
