Conservative CNBC host Rick Santelli had an on-air meltdown on Friday over a new jobs report that showed devastating job losses in the US.
Reporting from documents in his hands, Santelli gestured wildly while calling the numbers a “big miss” for President Donald Trump.
Santelli, who rose to fame as an early booster of the Tea Party that preceded Trump, was frenzied as he read the numbers.
“Buckle up on this one!” he shouted before continuing, “Minus! Minus 23,000 on non-farm payrolls. That would be the second worst number of the year. I can hear the bond yields falling right now.”
”That would be the second worst number of the year outside of the other negative number from February. Another whopper!” he ranted as he threw a sheet of paper into the air.
Pointing out there were some manufacturing gains, he added, ”Average annual earnings, big miss. Up one-tenth, that is one-third of what we were expecting. Up one-tenth would be the lightest reading of the year.”
“Year over year, a big miss,” he exclaimed.
CNBC on the July jobs report: “Minus — minus! — 23,000 on non-farm payrolls. That would be the second worst number of the year … revisions — another whopper! Minus 103,000 … average hourly earnings — big miss!” [image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 7, 2026 at 6:16 AM