XPost: or.politics, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: x@y.com   
      
   August 1, 2025   
   Trump 'soft, weak and afraid' in firing labor statistics chief   
   McEntarfer: Wyden   
      
   Peter Mallouk on Trump firing top labor official: 'This is not healthy'   
      
   The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee called President Donald   
   Trump's firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika   
   McEntarfer on Friday "the act of somebody who is soft, weak and afraid   
   to own up to the reality of the damage his chaos is inflicting on our   
   economy."   
      
   "Bottom line, Trump wants to cook the books," said Sen. Ron Wyden of   
   Oregon in a statement shortly after Trump fired McEntarfer on the heels   
   of a weaker-than-expected jobs report by the BLS.   
      
   "Trump can't get through a single day without making some catastrophic   
   decision that undermines confidence in the U.S. economy, and although   
   the Bureau of Labor Statistics might sound obscure to people outside   
   Washington, Trump's interference with jobs data is a nightmare scenario   
   that will do long-lasting harm," Wyden said.   
      
   "It's long past time for Senate Republicans to find the courage to stand   
   up to this dictatorial behavior, and there is no way the Senate can   
   accept some Trump lackey as the head of BLS," the senator said.   
      
   Wyden's criticism was echoed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-   
   N.Y., who said Trump was acting like a dictator and a "bad leader" who   
   "shoots the messenger" after hearing bad news about the economy.   
      
   "Well, Donald Trump, firing her isn't going to relieve the chaos that   
   you created with your ramshackle tariff regime," Schumer said on the   
   Senate floor.   
      
   Trump on Friday told reporters that he fired McEntarfer because "I think   
   her numbers are wrong."   
      
   "I've had issues with the numbers for a long time," Trump said. "I've   
   always had problems with these numbers."   
      
   Trump said BLS had issued positive job number reports shortly before the   
   2024 presidential election, when he faced incumbent Vice President   
   Kamala Harris, and then sharply revised the numbers downward after he   
   won the election.   
   Dr. Erika McEntarfer, Commissioner of Labor Statistics   
      
   The White House separately said that since the Covid-19 pandemic there   
   have been a series of sharp revisions in BLS jobs data after individual   
   reports were released, and pointed to that as a reason for McEntarfer's   
   termination. The White House called Entarfer incompetent, and said she   
   was being fired for the same reason a business would terminate someone   
   for incompetency.   
      
   William Beach, who preceded McEntarfer as BLS commissioner, in a tweet   
   called her termination "totally groundless" and said it "sets a   
   dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the   
   Bureau."   
      
   Trump in a Truth Social post Friday said, "In my opinion, today's Jobs   
   Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad —   
   Just like when they had three great days around the 2024 Presidential   
   Election, and then, those numbers were "taken away" on November 15,   
   2024, right after the Election, when the Jobs Numbers were massively   
   revised DOWNWARD, making a correction of over 818,000 Jobs — A TOTAL   
   SCAM."   
      
   Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X that BLS Deputy   
   Commissioner William Wiatrowski will serve as Acting Commissioner" of   
   the BLS until a permanent replacement is installed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)