Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a giant picture of Adolf Hitler’s favorite battleship in his office—and he isn’t afraid to see it.
E.J. Antoni has come under fire for his comments about data collection and social security after Trump tapped him to lead the bureau tasked with gathering and disseminating crucial economic data, but his taste in art has turned heads.
Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, has given multiple on-camera interviews in front of an image of the World War II battleship Bismarck.
The Bismarck was launched by the Nazis in 1939. Adolf Hitler gave a speech at the ceremony. At the time, it was widely considered the most powerful, largest and fastest ship in the world before being sunk in May 1941 in the northern Atlantic by British, before the U.S. had entered the war.
Antoni gave both podcast and television interviews that show him sitting at a desk in front of a five piece canvas image of the Bismarck. A listing on eBay for what appears to be the exact artwork lists it as the German battleship.
When asked about Antoni’s choice of backdrops, the White House claimed that Antoni is simply a “history buff” and has an office full of “artifacts,” in a statement which misspelled one of Wold War II’s most famous U.S. Navy ships.
“EJ is a history buff, as many Americans are, and has an appreciation for the significance of maritime history – his office is full of a variety of artifacts and artwork featuring US battleships and other famous vessels, including the USS New Jersey and the USS Misouri, that have been used throughout major wars,” she added.
She also said, “The Daily Beast is a joke – they will write up Democrats (sic) press releases no matter how low they have to reach to fabricate a false narrative.” There was in fact no press release about Antoni’s Nazi art.
Antoni’s desk also features a Pieta, a statue of a representation of the Virgin Mary cradling the body of the crucified Christ, and what may be a rosary. Antoni was educated at a Catholic seminary, which suggests he intended to be a priest, but was not ordained. When at the seminary he was known as Erwin Antoni but then became E.J.
Antoni’s choice of Nazi battleship art as an interview backdrop is the latest in a series of revelations about the BLS nominee. He has faced pushback for what he has also said during interviews.
In a December interview with a Houston radio station, Antoni blasted Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” despite Trump’s vows that his administration would protect the program.
“Eventually you need to sunset the program,” Antoni said. He said it did not mean touching benefits for people who already retired but argued the program won’t be viable in the future.
Trump nominated Antoni to fill the position of BLS commissioner after firing Erika McEntarfer. The president has been attacking the bureau ever since the July jobs report showed the economy added just 73,000 jobs last month and dramatically revised down the jobs added in May and June, indicating weakening in the economy. The president accused BLS of rigging the data but failed to provide evidence.
In an interview on Monday before the president announced his nomination, Antoni suggested BLS should suspend the monthly jobs reports and release quarterly data. It drew strong condemnation from economists across the political spectrum.
“Despite its problems, the monthly jobs report provides accurate and the most timely information about the economy’s performance that is critical to business and policy decisions,” Moody’s economist Mark Zandi told Daily Beast. “Given the increased uncertainty this would create, businesses will be less likely to hire and invest, and the Federal Reserve will be less likely to change interest rates.”
The 37-year-old economist, who shortened his name from Erwin John to E.J., has been a vocal supporter of the president as well as conservative policies and is among the contributors to Project 2025.
His nomination has intensified fears that Trump wants a partisan supporter at the helm of a bureau in an effort to manipulate data to support his policies. It has drawn harsh criticism including from conservative economists.
“There are a lot of competent conservative economists that could do this job. E.J. is not one of them,” wrote Kyle Pomeleau from the right-leaning Tax Foundation on X.
Daniel di Martino from the right-leaning Manhattan Institute wrote he was “unqualified for the labor market data collection and analysis role he was nominated to.”
“I’ve been on several programs with him at this point and have been impressed by two things: his inability to understand basic economics and the speed with which he’s gone MAGA,” wrote Dave Hebert from the conservative American Institute for Economic Research.
Before joining the Heritage Foundation in 2022, Antoni worked for the right leaning Committee to Unleash Prosperity as well as the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He received his master’s and PhD from Northern Illinois University.
Antoni’s nomination will need to be confirmed by the Senate. While the Senate has not always held hearings for BLS commissioner nominees, Democrats are calling for him to appear before the HELP Committee when lawmakers return to Washington, DC in September.
Senator Patty Murray, the former chair of the HELP committee, shredded Antoni as an “unqualified right-wing extremist who won’t think twice about manipulating BLS data and degrading the credibility of the agency to make Trump happy” following his nomination.
“Any Senator who votes to confirm this partisan hack is voting to shred the integrity of our nation’s best economic and jobs data, which underpin our entire economy,” she said.
It is not clear whether he would have enough support to be confirmed. Republicans who sit on the committee who have rejected other Trump nominees in the past include Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Rand Paul.
If he is confirmed to the position, Antoni would be set to lead the more than 2,000 employees at the 141-year-old agency.
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