JB Pritzker Trolls Trump Hard By Hilariously Redacting White House Memo Urging Republicans Not To Panic

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker trolled President Donald Trump after the White House sent a memo to Republicans urging them not to panic ahead of the release of official economic data, which critics have accused officials of delaying to obscure the scope of the country''s economic downturn.

Layoffs surged in January, climbing to 108,435—the highest monthly total since 2009 and an increase of roughly 118 percent compared with the same time last year.

Hiring, meanwhile, showed signs of a sharp slowdown, with only 5,306 jobs reportedly added. Job openings also fell steeply, leaving fewer than one available position—about 0.87—for every unemployed worker. Analysts said the figures echoed labor market conditions last seen during the Great Recession.

Compounding concerns, the Trump administration delayed the release of official January employment data, citing the ongoing government shutdown. The Bureau of Labor Statistics was therefore unable to publish its monthly jobs report on schedule, forcing economists to rely on private-sector estimates and deepening uncertainty about the true health of the labor market.

February is now expected to be a pivotal month for economic updates, with both delayed January data and any new figures anticipated. As fears about the job market mount, a recent White House press statement urging the GOP not to panic carried the headline, “Don’t Be a Panican — We’re Winning and We’re Not Slowing Down.”

The administration claims in its release that under Trump's leadership, "smashing through the chaos and destruction left by Democrats and unleashing the most aggressive pursuit of the America First agenda in history."

Before claiming that the economy "is roaring back stronger than ever," the administration blamed "the Fake News and Radical Left" who, they claim, have colluded "to distract, depress, and divide ... lying to mask the undeniable truth: America is safer, stronger, richer, and more secure than at any point in decades."

The White House

Pritzker quickly weighed in with a digitally altered version of the release that redacts everything except just a few words to form the following sentence:

"Donald J. Trump's Administration is lying to America."

You can see his post and the image below.

@JBPritzker/X

Many concurred.

The circus at the White House over the country's economic outlook comes as more revelations about Trump's involvement with the disgraced financier, pedophile, and sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein make headlines.

Just days ago, the Justice Department released about 3 million new documents collected as part of its years' long investigation into Epstein.

The DOJ said this release would be the final tranche of Epstein-related files required under the law, but the disclosures have instead sparked renewed outrage over the government’s failure to deliver transparency or accountability for Epstein’s many survivors.

The records include an FBI interview in which a former Florida police chief recalled receiving a phone call from Trump in 2006, shortly after local authorities opened an investigation into Epstein. According to the document—a written summary of a 2019 FBI interview—Trump allegedly told the officer that Epstein’s behavior was widely known, saying, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him. Everyone has known he’s been doing this."

While the officer’s name is redacted in the file, the interview subject is identified as the Palm Beach police chief during the Epstein investigation, a role held at the time by Michael Reiter.

Reiter later confirmed to the Miami Herald that Trump had called him. The account is likely to intensify scrutiny over what Trump knew—and when.