Trump's Labor Day gaffe thanking American workers sparks concerns over his mental fitness: Report

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump gave America a history lesson this Labor Day, but maybe not the correct one.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, August 31, the 79-year-old shared a photo of himself shaking hands with workers alongside the caption, “Celebrating 250 years of the American worker.” He topped it off with a simple “Happy Labor Day.”

However, one report pointed out that the US is 249 years old, with the big 250 not hitting until July 4, 2026.

Trump's blunders pile up

According to the Irish Star’s Mataeo Smith and Jack Hobbs, Donald Trump’s latest flub is only the latest in a growing pile of eyebrow-raising slipups that have people questioning his sharpness.

Just this summer, Trump went on an unprompted tirade about windmills during a trip to the UK. Earlier this month, he bizarrely claimed his uncle knew the Unabomber. Back home, he’s been spotted rambling off-topic, like the 15-minute detour into home decor during a cabinet meeting last month.

Reporters note he often forgets basic details about his past and his own administration, which only fuels the speculation about his mental acuity.

Funny enough, Trump himself was among the loudest voices hammering his predecessor Joe Biden’s mental clarity. Biden’s disastrous debate in June last year, where he faltered over and over, sealed his decision not to run for reelection. But despite Trump’s own oddball moments, Smith and Hobbs claim he’s dodged the same level of scrutiny.

Worker champion or billionaire’s best friend?

Of course, Donald Trump built his political brand as the guy who’d fight for “the forgotten worker.” But labor leaders reportedly say that image doesn’t match reality in his second term.

Critics argue his record shows a consistent tilt toward corporate interests, often at the expense of workers’ wallets and safety.

Among the moves they cite are stopping the enforcement of a rule that protects coal miners from a devastating lung disease, tossing out the head of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), leaving the country’s labor watchdog hobbled, as well as gutting union contracts and stripping collective bargaining rights from one million federal employees, per the Irish Star.

Labor groups cry foul

Union leaders are apparently not mincing words about how betrayed they feel.

“It’s a big betrayal,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler told The Guardian. “We knew it would be bad, but we had no idea how rapidly he would be doing these things. He is stripping away regulations that protect workers. His attacks on unions are coming fast and furious. He talks a good game of being for working people, but he’s doing the absolute opposite.”

“This is a government that is by, and for, the CEOs and billionaires,” Shuler added.

Meanwhile, labor unions and community activists held demonstrations against the Trump administration on Labor Day.

“It’s important to show that there is opposition to the Trump-billionaire agenda in every community big and small, it’s not just cities that are united against what’s happening… it’s all towns, it’s small towns that voted overwhelmingly for Trump,” Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Action Center on Race and the Economy, told USA Today. “It’s very important to show the opposition is there in all these places."