Thank you so much for letting us into your homes for another week of shows.

We're so grateful.

The beat with Ari Melbury starts right now.

Hi, Ari, happy Friday.

Happy Friday, Nicole.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks so much.

Welcome to the beat, everyone.

I'm Ari Melbert.

And we are watching what are clearly flashing red warning signs in this economy as managed by President

Trump, who famously ran on the economy, on jobs and prices and people's well-being. He's been doing a lot of

other things with his agenda, with his

priorities, but that, of course, was a big part of the campaign last year. And now the fears are that

there could be a downturn, that Republicans don't want to ride bad jobs numbers and high prices

into what are going to be midterms now just over a year away.

And the issue here is facts. We have all watched our politics and propaganda turn more and more

on what we might terribly call something other than reality. And yet certain realities,

especially when it comes to people's livelihoods, their jobs, whether they have money in the bank and money coming in from an employer, that can't just be propagandized or podcasted away.

And that brings us to the top story right now, the brutal new jobs report that shows hiring, stalling out in America.

Only about 20,000 jobs added. That is basically a small number and is

also, and this is important in how this economic stuff tends to work, a lot lower than what was

expected. So you can see universal headlines there, warning signs, slowdown. It's the first

...