Trump promised to put American workers first. He lied | Michael Paarlberg

Proposed cuts to federal agency budgets and changes to employment law benefit only the US president and his cronies

• Michael Paarlberg is an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University

As Donald Trump celebrates Labor Day by proposing to slash taxes for CEOs such as himself, it may come as a shock that a president who was previously best known for firing people on TV might not have been completely sincere in his promise to put "American workers first".

And like most things he says, it's hard to tell what that's supposed to mean. This is the same man who, as a candidate, said US workers' salaries were "too high", something even the most reactionary politician knows not to say out loud.

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