MSNBC host Joe Scarborough torched President Donald Trump for firing his top economic statistician in what the host called a fact-free tirade.
“Less is more on this issue,” Scarborough said on Morning Joe Monday. “Because the more he talks about it, the more he just proves how wrong it was to fire this woman.”
Trump dismissed the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, on Friday after the agency’s July jobs report fell short of the White House’s forecast, saying the numbers were “rigged” to make “the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” BLS also revised its estimate of the May and June jobs numbers down by 253,000.
“He just said all the numbers leading up to this report were positive. He always praised her numbers,” he pointed out. “If he’s going to blame this on her instead of actually data, it wasn’t her.”
The host then tackled Trump’s complaints about jobs data revisions, noting that BLS regularly revises its numbers as more data stream in.
“That always happens. That has always happened. It always will happen,” he said. “The numbers are revised not because of any political bias … but because of employers not participating as much and taking another month to get more details … and then they revise it a month later.”
“So again, on all of these points, they just don’t hold any water,” he added.
Scarborough expressed dismay that members of the administration who are usually forthcoming when speaking off the record had been tight-lipped about the firing.
“Everybody put on their Baghdad Bob hat this weekend,” he said, referring to the former Iraqi information minister known for making absurd and false claims. “There was no justification for it. I was surprised that I didn’t even get the sort of quiet eye-rolling from inside the White House.”
In a statement responding to Scarborough’s remarks, the White House said it was restoring integrity to the agency and criticized its previous commissioners.
“BLS data has been historically inaccurate and led by a totally incompetent individual,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast. “President Trump believes businesses, households, and policymakers deserve accurate data when making major policy decisions, and he will restore America’s trust in this key data.”
Another anonymous White House official told the Daily Beast that McEntarfer was a “Biden appointee who previously served as a Biden economic adviser. Presidents have routinely nominated partisan allies who are competent to the job.”
Trump dug in his heels on the dismissal Monday, criticizing BLS’s positive pre-election jobs report.
“Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAGA!”
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