Criticism is mounting after President Trump moved to oust the top of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday following a dismal jobs report.
Trump accused BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer, an appointee of former President Biden, of skewing job numbers within the economy report, which confirmed the U.S. including solely 73,000 jobs final month and the unemployment price growing barely.
Revisions in the report additionally confirmed that the U.S. added 258,000 fewer jobs in Might and June than the Labor Division first reported, based on BLS information.
“For my part, at this time’s Jobs Numbers had been RIGGED in an effort to make the Republicans, and ME, look dangerous,” he wrote on Reality Social. Later, he known as for McEntarfer’s ouster, which sparked some backlash on Capitol Hill.
“As an alternative of serving to folks get good jobs, Donald Trump simply fired the statistician who reported dangerous jobs information that the wanna-be king does not like,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted on social platform X.
The gloomy jobs report raised severe questions concerning the strength of the U.S. economy, particularly in gentle of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have brought about anxieties within the world market.
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) known as the president’s response “deeply irresponsible.”
“Firing the top of the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a result of they precisely report in your struggling financial system is not simply corrupt, it is deeply irresponsible,” she wrote online. “Undermining our financial information is just going to create additional chaos and uncertainty for our companies huge and small.”
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) additionally turned the tables again on Trump in a semi-mocking submit on X.
“BREAKING: I did some analysis into Trump’s Deep State and located this photograph of the actual authorities worker accountable for the job loss numbers,” Schumer wrote Friday, sharing a photograph of the president himself. “Trump should hearth him instantly.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) reacted with an equally biting submit, providing her model of the timeline.
She wrote on X, “The 1st step: Trump tanks the financial system. Step two: Information reveals that Trump is tanking the financial system. Step three: Trump fires the one who places out financial information in order that sooner or later, nobody will know he’s nonetheless tanking the financial system.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin also weighed in, writing on social media that “Donald Trump has thrown our financial system into chaos and is firing the messenger for telling us.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) additionally took a swing on the president for his response, calling it “yet another step towards authoritarianism.”
“Reality being changed by propaganda. That is what the Soviets did. It is a huge deal, and we have to act prefer it,” Murphy wrote on X, alongside a video message. “Time for a battle.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pressed her GOP colleagues to denounce Trump’s firing of the highest statistician.
“It’s severely harmful territory when Trump fires anybody who does not prepare dinner the books for him. Your entire financial system hinges on the correct, nonpartisan information we get from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” she wrote online. “Republicans want to hitch us in combating to guard the integrity of BLS.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ailing.), who is retiring on the finish of his time period, positioned blame for the dismal report on Trump’s commerce agenda. The remark got here because the latest iteration of “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of nations was set to enter impact Friday.
“President Trump fired the top of the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a result of he didn’t like that the roles report was weak—a direct results of his chaotic commerce wars,” he wrote. “Completely reckless, and a chilling reminder of his autocratic tendencies.”
Regardless of the criticism, Trump’s allies have largely stood behind his choice to sack McEntarfer, who has served within the submit since 2023. The president additionally accused the BLS chief of fabricating jobs numbers forward of the 2024 presidential election to “enhance” former Vice President Harris’s probabilities of profitable.
A BLS spokesperson, talking on situation of anonymity, confirmed to The Hill that McEntarfer was let go. Deputy commissioner William Wiatrowski is about to function performing head till the administration finds a substitute.