When Trump Changes His Mind, Republicans Find a Way to Fall in Line

New York Times

3 days ago

President Trump and his top aides used to be all too happy to praise the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In February, Mr. Trump displayed a chart in the Oval Office showing that the United States had gained an estimated 10,000 manufacturing jobs. When the bureau's March report came out, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, celebrated the 'GREAT NEWS!' on social media.
And as recently as last week, Vice President JD Vance promoted data from the bureau that showed an increase in jobs among U.S.-born residents.
That was then.
After the bureau put out a less-than-impressive jobs report on Friday, Mr. Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the agency's commissioner, and claimed the figures were rigged. (In the way of proof, he said it was 'my opinion.') Now, many Trump allies who walk in lock step with the president are in an awkward position. They have to justify tarnishing the reputation of the very bureau whose work they had cited freely in the past.
Some began arguing that there were too many revisions, long a part of the process in calculating jobs data. Others accused the bureau of lacking transparency. Some simply argued that the president had the right to fire whomever he likes. Still others repeated Mr. Trump's claim of rigged data.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, who voted for Ms. McEntarfer's confirmation last year, accused her on Fox News of generating 'fake reports.'
'I'm glad she's out of a job,' he said.
Senator Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, who also voted for Ms. McEntarfer, accused her of incompetence.
'Legacy media's wrong on why the BLS chief was fired,' Mr. Marshall wrote on social media. 'It's not 'bad numbers' — it's incompetence. She inflated job numbers by 800K pre-election, then missed by 250K last two months. How can the Fed make sound decisions with such flawed data? Trump was right to act.'
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who in March had hailed the bureau's statistics showing strong job growth, backed Mr. Trump's concerns about Ms. McEntarfer in a post on social media.
A spokesman for Mr. Vance — who had promoted the bureau's work the same day that Mr. Trump fired McEntarfer — said he was 'completely aligned with President Trump and was glad to see him dismiss the B.L.S. commissioner.'
Appearing on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, declined on Sunday to furnish detailed evidence that would substantiate the president's claims that data had been manipulated.
Instead, Mr. Hassett, who in the past has cited staff at the bureau as 'professionals,'said, 'The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they're more transparent and more reliable.'
On CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, cited the bureau's use of revisions, even though they are part of a normal process of shoring up statistical data to ensure it is accurate.
'There are always revisions, but sometimes you see these revisions go in really extreme ways,' Mr. Greer said. 'And it's, you know, the president is the president. He can choose who works in the executive branch.'
The White House distributed a document accusing Ms. McEntarfer, a Biden appointee who was confirmed by a vote of 86 to 8 in the Senate, of a 'lengthy history of inaccuracies and incompetence.'
'The fact of the matter is that B.L.S. has had clear problems with the reliability and accuracy of its employment statistics since the start of the Covid pandemic over five years ago,' the White House said in a statement on Monday.
Mr. Trump has a pattern of accepting results that benefit him and denigrating those he dislikes as being rigged or part of a scam.
He has objected to the results of the Emmys, falsely claimed that President Barack Obama did not win the popular vote and asserted that his erstwhile rival Senator Ted Cruz of Texas 'stole' a primary victory from him in Iowa in 2016.
After losing the 2020 election, Mr. Trump spread the lie that the election had been stolen from him. And since returning to office, he has lashed out at the sources of bad news for his administration, including judges who rule against him.
In May, when he received a mix of good and bad economic news, Mr. Trump said the 'good parts' of the economy were his, while the 'bad parts' belonged to the previous administration.
Stephen J. Farnsworth, political science professor at the University of Mary Washington, said even though much of the economic news Ms. McEntarfer delivered to the Trump White House was positive, 'that wasn't enough.'
'The firing is a warning to other government officials that Trump pays very close attention to whether the news makes him look good or not,' he said. 'The larger issue is what this means for markets and for investors. If we're talking about an environment where the impartiality or accuracy of government statistics is called into question, it's much harder for people to make rational and informed choices.'
While it remains to be seen whom Mr. Trump will appoint to the position, the vote will serve as a test for Republican senators.
'The key question for the Congress is: To what extent will they insist on a competent professional to be confirmed for this position going forward?' Mr. Farnsworth said.