WASHINGTON (AP) – When coronavirus surges during the president Donald Trump’s In the first terminology, he sought a simple fix: Limit the amount of tests Therefore, the fatal outbreak did not appear to be very serious. When he lost the 2020 election, he had a ready-made reason: The number of votes was fraudulent.
And on Friday, when the July employment report revision showed a tormented economy, Trump had the answer: he The official responsible for the data was fired. They also called for reports of a sudden slowdown in hiring “fakes.”
If numbers reveal an unpleasant reality, Trump has a go-to playbook. It’s about trusting or hiding numbers, or attacking messengers.
“The strength of our democratic system and private economy depends on the honest flow of information about our economy, government and society,” said Douglas Elmendorf, a Harvard professor who previously director of the Congressional Budget Office. “The Trump administration is trying to curb honest analysis.”
The president’s strategy poses greater risks to his own administration and the broader economy that relies on politically-free data. His accusations have threatened to diminish trust in the government and erode public accountability, and manipulation of federal data can result in policy choices across false numbers, causing major problems for both the president and the country.
The White House challenges the claim that Trump wants to hide numbers that undermine his preferred narrative. Goldman Sachs emphasized that the two-month revision of the employment report is the biggest outside of the recession since 1968, and that it should be the source of concern over the integrity of the data. Trump’s aides say their fundamental focus is to ensure that data gives an accurate view of reality.
It’s not the first time I’ve played with numbers
Trump has a long history of dismissing data when it reflects poorly and praises more favorable numbers, or even producing even more favorable numbers. Includes his net worth, family business, election results and government figures
– Judge Arthur Ngoron was ruled by Litigation By the state of New York, Trump and his company allegedly deceived banks, insurance companies and others by overvaluing his assets, making transactions and exaggerating his net worth on documents used to secure loans.
– Trump claims that the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections are respectively equipped. Trump won the 2016 presidential election by winning the voting college, but he lost the popularity vote to Hillary Clinton. He led him to incorrectly claim Millions of migrants living in the country voted illegally. He lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, but incorrectly claimed that he won it despite multiple lawsuits. He did not prove his case.
– In 2019, Trump warned that a storm was coming to Alabama as Hurricane Dorian approached the East Coast. Forecasters pushed back saying Alabama wasn’t in danger. Trump later displayed a map in an oval office Changed with black sharpie – His signature pen – Include Alabama on the potential path of the storm.
– Trump’s administration has stopped Submitting a report on climate change, Cancelled studies on vaccine access It has been deleted Gender identity data From the government website.
– When pandemic deaths were loaded, Trump suggested that there should be fewer tests. “If you test to that extent, you’ll find more people,” Trump said. June 2020 Rally in Oklahoma. “You’ll find more cases, so I told my people, ‘Slow the test, come on’. ”
While Trump’s actions have been protested by economists, scientists and public interest groups, Elmendorf noted that Trump’s actions on economic data could be mitigated by Congress.
“Outside observers can only do that much,” Elmendorf said. “The power to oppose the president depends on Congress. They have not used that power, but they have been able to do so.”
The White House says that when their people are in place, data will become “more reliable”
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, aimed to scale the downward revision of the employment report (reduced by 258,000 in May and June) to suggest that the report had credibility issues. He said the focus is on getting credible numbers despite the president linking the issue to politics by claiming that he intends to make Republicans look bad.
“The president wants his people, so looking at the numbers, they’re more transparent and reliable,” Hassett told NBC News on Sunday.
Jed Corco, a senior fellow at the Institute of International Economics who oversaw the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis during the Biden administration, emphasized that revisions to employment data is the norm. This is because while numbers are published monthly, not all investigations used are returned as quickly as the first publication of a job report.
“The revision resolves the tension between timeliness and accuracy,” Corco said. “Policymakers, businesses and investors need timely data, as they need to make decisions using the best available data, but also accuracy.”
Corco highlighted the importance of ensuring federal statistics are reliable not only for government policymakers but also for businesses seeking to measure the overall direction of the economy when making employment and investment choices.
“If you can’t trust data on how the economy is going, companies are less likely to invest,” he said.
Not every part of the employment report was deemed suspicious by the Trump administration.
Before Trump ordered the director of Labor Statistics to be fired, Erika McEntarferthe White House’s rapid response social media account reposted a statement from Vice President JD Vance, noting that native-born citizens are getting jobs and immigrants have not been drawn from data on the Jobs Report’s home table.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer trumpeted the findings of native-born citizens, pointing out in “Varney & Co.” on the Fox Business Network. They said, “For the growth of all jobs, and that’s important.”
During his first run for the presidency, Trump criticized economic data as fake on its own Accepts positive numbers perfectly Shortly after he first entered the White House in 2017.
The White House says transparency is a value
The challenges of reliable data go beyond economic figures to reach basic information on climate change and scientific research.
In July, taxpayer-funded reports on issues that climate change is creating for America and their population disappeared from government websites. The White House initially said NASA would post the report in accordance with the 1990 law, but the agency said it was not because its legal obligations were already met after reports submitted to Congress.
The White House posted a photo of Trump on social media on Monday with the caption “The Most Transparent President in History,” claiming it is operating in total openness.
In the photo, Trump had his back on the camera, covered in shadows, visibly blocking most of the light in front of him.
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Associated Press Writer Michelle Price from Washington contributed to this report.
