Recommendations of the Editorial team
Republicans are angry that Donald Trump has released the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, After the disappointing labor market report of the authority showed a weak economic situation on Friday.
Conservative counter reaction to Trump’s decision
Trump accused the commissioner Erika Mcentarfer, appointed by Joe Biden, to fake statistics. Both now and before the 2024 election. The labor market report on Friday showed that the US economy had only created 73,000 new jobs in July.
“In my opinion, today’s labor market numbers were manipulated to make the Republicans – and me – bad,” wrote Trump on Friday. “But the good news is that our country is great!” He indicated that the numbers were “manipulated for political reasons”. And announced that he had ordered Mcentarfers release.
Several Republican senators and conservative experts criticized Trump’s decision.
“If the president releases the statistics because he does not like the numbers, but they are correct, then that’s a problem,” said Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY.) The “Guardian”. “It is not the fault of the statistics if the numbers are correct and do not correspond to what the president hoped for.”
Call for objectivity and factual orientation
“If Trump has just fired Mcentarfer because the president or whoever decided to get rid of the director, only … because he didn’t like the numbers, then they should pull together,” said Senator Thom Tillis (marginal no.).
“We have to get objective statistics somewhere,” Senator Randrand Paul (R-Ky.) Told “NBC News”. “If the people who deliver the statistics are fired, it will be much more difficult to ensure that these statistics are not politicized.”
“I will pursue it. But my first impression is: You can’t just change or improve the numbers by firing the people who count them,” he added.
Criticism also from previous allies Trumps
Economist William Beach, whom Trump had appointed During his first term as a BLS commissioner, wrote to X: “The completely unfounded dismissal of Dr. Erika Mcentarfer by Trump, my successor as a commissioner for work statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent case. And undermines the statistical mandate of the office.”
Douglas Holtz-Eakin-President of the Conservative Think Tank American Action Forum-also said. “There were countless BLS corrections and many BLS commissioners. But only an incumbent president has released a BLS director,” he wrote. “Pull your own conclusions.”
Statements on the integrity of the statistics authority
Mcentarfer explained on social media that it was “the honor of her life” to serve as a commissioner. And that the BLS does “important and significant work”.
In a statement, the organization of Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Trump’s allegations against Mcentarfer described as “baseless” and “harmful”. She added, the President attacked “the independence and integrity of the federal statistics system”.
Trump also wrote on Friday that Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, should also be “sent to the old part”. A goal that he has been pursuing for a long time.