Trump on Friday proved that fears about the president manipulating official data in his favor are founded, as he fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, due to a disappointing July jobs report.
The bureau’s report, released earlier in the day, showed a marked slowdown in job growth. It also revised previous months’ gains downward, shaving nearly 260,000 jobs off May’s and June’s report. Reacting to the news, Trump adviser Steve Bannon suggested appointing “a MAGA Republican that President Trump knows and trusts” to head the BLS.
Shortly thereafter, Trump announced his plan to do just that.
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon. He baselessly accused McEntarfer of having fabricated job numbers, both in July and in the lead-up to the 2024 election—when, he claims, McEntarfer attempted to help rig the election for Kamala Harris.
“I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.” The president dubiously insisted that “the Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP.’”
The move is a remarkable one, as Trump has all but confessed to a plan to ensure that official data (whose integrity has already been imperiled by his cuts to federal statistical agencies) suits MAGA’s narrative.
Steve Benen of MSNBC last month observed that some were worried Trump would cook the books by, for example, telling “the Labor Department to manipulate the data and deceive the public.” However, Benen noted, “there’s been no evidence of statistics being altered to fit a political narrative” to date.
If Trump appoints a MAGA lackey to head the BLS, he wouldn’t have to tell anyone to do anything; the new commissioner would know that the bureau’s numbers are to reflect favorably on the administration no matter what.
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