Echoes of Nixon as Trump wages war against reality

The National

06-08-2025

It came after the agency revised employment numbers down significantly, reflecting the increasingly weak employment situation in the US.
Trump alleged the data was being 'rigged', and said that he wanted a more 'compliant' commissioner.
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Was the data rigged? No. This is absolute rubbish. The BLS's 2000 professional economists swear an oath to the constitution. The agency publishes data on the US economy without political slant or bias.
Their work is essential to business planning and investment. For without clarity and credible economic data, CEOs and firms cannot easily plan, grow their businesses and invest for the future.
The employment revisions, although large, were not surprising. After all, the massive, globe-spanning, chaotic tariff increases that the White House announced replaced economic strength and calm with widespread worry and indecision.
Trump has long had an aversion to facts when they embarrass him.
This attack is straight out of the authoritarian's playbook. We have seen this elsewhere before.
Do not like the youth unemployment numbers? Stop reporting them (as in China).
Do not want people to know the real deaths in a war? Do not report it and deny external reports (as in Russia).
Unfortunately, the US also has its own direct alarming antecedent when president Richard Nixon attacked the BLS in 1971, after the staff downplayed a drop in unemployment, ascribing it – correctly – to a statistical quirk.
Nixon was infuriated. We can hear his angry reaction on the Nixon tapes. Targeting a particular economist, he raged: 'He's got to be fired ... I gave the order ... it was clear. Didn't I?'
Nixon alleged there was a Jewish conspiracy, tasking his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, and special assistant Fred Malek to identify the offending Jews in the BLS. Nixon targeted the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner, the chief statistician and the chief economist. The White House fired and reassigned them.
Today, Trump is Nixonian in his raging against experts, facts and reality. He wants to bend data to his will, where necessary, change them, or hide them.
The president cannot easily silence an entire core statistical agency in its duty to report how the US economy is performing.
But this attack shows what to expect as prices rise, the economy slows and tariff-constrained businesses and consumers react. Soon, further upsetting – but real – negative economic data may result in more firings and attacks on experts, agencies and the truth.
Sadly, Trump spokespeople, such as Kevin Hassett, chair of the president's National Economic Council, are doing what lackeys and toadies do. Betraying their professional credibility and profession by backing the president's attacks on those simply reporting the data. For shame.
Other, more principled American economists are demanding a congressional investigation of this unjust firing. They are right to do so. But a supine Congress will not deliver, despite having confirmed the BLS commissioner overwhelmingly in 2024.
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America is staggering further into authoritarianism. George Orwell would recognise what is happening.
Friends and colleagues in Britain should be warned. What happens here can happen to you too.
Would prime minister Nigel Farage attack the Office for Budget Responsibility in similar circumstances? Would he fire the leadership? I suspect he would try.
Given this danger, the Starmer government should preemptively review and strengthen the independence of key data agencies.
Doing so could help buttress the UK's civic state against upcoming onslaughts when they occur.
Stuart PM Mackintosh is an economist and writer based in Washington DC