President Trump treats facts in the same way that he treats people: He expects them to line up in support of his goals, and if they don’t, he seeks to get rid of them.
Last week Mr. Trump was confronted by the inconvenient truth that job growth has been in a three-month slump. A more grounded president might have considered whether the data raised questions about his agenda. Mr. Trump characteristically insisted that the questions were about the data. He charged that the beige functionaries of the Bureau of Labor Statistics were engaged in a conspiracy to discredit his administration, and he fired the head of the bureau. The firing is so clearly damaging to the credibility of the federal government that it drew objections from some Senate Republicans.
Mr. Trump’s allegations against Erika McEntarfer, the longtime public servant whom he summarily fired, have no foundation in reality. The government’s monthly report on the labor market is produced by the bureau’s nonpartisan staff. Estimates for different parts of the economy are compiled separately and then pulled together into a national report, which is completed before it reaches the desk of whichever political appointee happens to be running the bureau. Experts, including past leaders of the agency nominated by presidents from both parties, said that it was effectively impossible for the bureau’s leader to manipulate those numbers.
One kernel of comfort is that Dr. McEntarfer’s departure won’t necessarily prevent the agency from continuing to produce reliable data. At the very least, we may hope that if the administration seeks to influence future jobs reports, some of the people responsible for producing the data will have the courage to speak out and tell the public.
But there is no doubt that Mr. Trump’s actions will cast a shadow over the rest of the government that he leads. Public servants must now do their work while fearing that they may be fired merely for producing information that displeases the president. Mr. Trump is also making it harder for the government to obtain information, as people and businesses asked to respond to questions now have reason to doubt whether the answers will be accurately reported.
The president says that he fired Dr. McEntarfer because he wanted to preserve the integrity of federal data. The reality is that Mr. Trump’s actions will create the very problem he claims to be fixing. Instead of improving the quality of information gathered and reported by the government, he is sowing doubts about the ability of federal agencies to produce reliable data. And in doing so, he is leaving Americans ever more reliant on whatever he declares to be the truth.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post America Will Suffer From Trump’s Assault on Facts appeared first on New York Times.
