Lashing out over Russia and jobs data, Trump displays his volatile side

His actions are part of a pattern of growing intolerance towards those who won't bend to his will

- Zolan Kanno-Youngs

WASHINGTON - Despite slowing over the first half of the year, the US economy has remained reasonably healthy. Yet when the jobs report for July was released on Aug 1, showing a substantial slowdown in hiring, US President Donald Trump lashed out, claiming the figures were rigged and firing the head of the government agency that produces them.

Mr Dmitry Medvedev was once president of Russia, but now is little more than the Kremlin's favourite online troll.

Yet when he got under Mr Trump's skin with provocative posts about nuclear war, Mr Trump, already increasingly infuriated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's unwillingness to work with him to end the war in Ukraine, responded on Aug 1 as if a real superpower conflict could be brewing, ordering submarines into position to guard against any threat.

Just days earlier, Mr Trump had returned to the US from a golf trip, happily flexing his political and diplomatic power.

A capitulating Congress had passed his signature domestic policy legislation, despite concerns over its deep cuts to the social safety net. The European Union caved to Mr Trump and his threat of tariffs by announcing a trade deal during the President's trip to Scotland.

Emboldened, Mr Trump moved ahead with sweeping tariffs that could reshape the world economy.

But on Aug 1, Mr Trump, confronted with foes and facts that he could not easily control, displayed another side of himself, responding with disproportionate intensity and a distinct impatience.

His actions were part of a pattern in which he has shown growing intolerance towards those who will not bend to his will.