Would you rather have a president who is “frank and open” or “hides behind your back and doesn’t speak to you for weeks.” That was the choice White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt laid out at Thursday’s press briefing when she defended President Trump’s latest clash with the press where he allegedly said “Quiet, piggy” to Bloomberg Reporter Catherine Lucey.

“I think the president being frank, open and honest to your faces rather than hiding behind your backs is frankly a lot more respectful than what you saw from the past administration,” stated Leavitt. “You had a president who lied to your face and didn’t speak to you for weeks. He hid upstairs and didn’t take your questions. I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near daily basis.”

Trump’s sharp tongue is well-known and Leavitt didn’t deny it. The president’s insults have extended even to his closest allies: he’s called current Defense Secretary Marco Rubio “Little Marco,” his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany “Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany,” and former Vice President Mike Pence “Liddle Mike Pence,” and most recently, he called longtime supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene “Wacky Marjorie” and “Marjorie Traitor Greene.”

Reporters haven’t been spared either. He has dismissed journalists as “fake news,” called Megyn Kelly a “lightweight reporter,” and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman “Maggot Haberman.”

Leavitt believes the president’s bluntness may be why he holds the nation’s highest office today.

“I think the president’s frankness is one of the reasons the American people reelected him,” said Leavitt.

“He calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him and spread fake news about his administration, but he is also the most transparent president in history. He gives all of you unprecedented access. You are in the Oval Office almost every day asking the president questions.”

Trump’s “piggy” comment occurred when he was taking questions from reporters aboard Air Force One when Lucey asked, “Mr. President, what did Jeffrey Epstein mean in his email when you said you knew about ‘the girls?’”

Trump responded, “I know nothing about that. They would have announced that a long time ago. It’s really what did he mean when he spent all that time with Bill Clinton, with the President of Harvard Larry Summers, and all the other people he spent time with. Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years, but he also saw [inaudible] that I was president who he dictated a couple of memos to himself, give me a break. You’re going to find out what did he know with respect to Bill Clinton, with respect to the head of Harvard, with respect to all of those people who he knew, including JP Morgan Chase.”

On Wednesday, President Trump signed the bill to release the Epstein files. After he finished answering Lucey’s question, he said, “Yeah, Jennifer, go ahead” signaling to another reporter that it was her turn to ask a question.

Lucey interrupted the president by asking another question that started with, “If there’s nothing incriminating in the files…” Trump cut her off and said, “Quiet, quiet piggy” before turning back to the other reporter and telling her again to “go ahead.”

A year apart, President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden both touted September job growth — but the source of that growth couldn’t be more different. Under Trump, the federal workforce shrank, while under Biden, it expanded.

Thursday’s jobs report showed an overall increase of 119,000 jobs, with the bulk coming from the private sector.

“The job growth was driven almost entirely by private-sector job gains,” stated the White House in a press release. Health care and construction industries led the way — adding 43,000 and 19,000 jobs, respectively. And while the private sector grew, the public sector shrank.

“Federal government employment continued to decline in September and is down 97,000 since reaching a peak in January,” the report showed. That figure may even understate the true contraction, as workers on severance are still counted as employed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On the other hand, Biden’s September 2024 report told a different story. “Employment in government continued its upward trend in September,” the report stated. Under Biden, government jobs averaged a monthly gain of 45,000.

When Trump took office, federal jobs were at a peak. He implemented a federal hiring freeze initially scheduled to end October 15, which was later extended indefinitely. Once the freeze expires, federal agencies can hire no more than one employee for every four employees who depart from federal service. The freeze makes exceptions for jobs related to immigration, law enforcement, and public safety. Trump framed the reduction as a correction of the previous administration’s growth. The hiring freeze fact sheet explains, “In the last two years of the Biden administration, the government was directly responsible for the creation of more than 1 in every 4 jobs.”

Campaigning on eliminating waste, the Trump administration says the freeze is necessary to address the “billions of dollars wasted each year on duplicative programs and frivolous expenditures that fail to align with American values or address the needs of the American people.”

Not stopping at limiting new hires, the Office of Personnel Management estimates that by the end of the year, more than 300,000 federal employees will have left or lost their jobs. The Trump administration says it hopes many of those workers transition to private-sector positions.

The strength of private-sector job growth complicates the Federal Reserve’s path. CNBC’s Steve Liesman said the report “bolsters the case of the hawks on the FOMC who have said they do not see serious deterioration in the labor market … a robust report.”

According to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, without a weakening labor market, the case for a December rate cut becomes much harder.

At November’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell described a difficult balance: a tight labor market alongside higher-than-desired inflation. Ultimately, the Fed decided on a rate cut to avoid further disruption to employment.

“We’re in a difficult situation,” Powell said at the National Association for Business Economics. “If we move too quickly, then we may leave the inflation job unfinished. If we move too slowly, there may be painful losses in the employment market.”

Trump Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett says he expects the government shutdown to knock 1.5% off of fourth quarter GDP, making now “a very bad time” to pause rate cuts despite a strengthening labor market.