'Awful': Trump’s latest move sparks fears of 'banana republic' tactics

U.S. President Donald Trump stunned economics experts on Friday when he demanded the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the current commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In justifying his call to fire McEntarfer, Trump baselessly accused her of manipulating economic data to hurt him politically by releasing a report showing that the economy only added 73,000 jobs last month.

"McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months," the president wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative."

Trump also accused a Federal Reserve committee of conspiring to help former Vice President Kamala Harris beat him last November, writing, "The Economy is BOOMING under 'TRUMP' despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting 'Kamala' elected."

Trump's angry rant about the purportedly rigged jobs report set off alarms among many economists who said that the president's actions would badly damage the credibility of any future numbers put out by the BLS and other agencies.

"Trump firing the BLS director for a bad jobs report—days after demanding the Smithsonian remove him from the list of impeached presidents—is banana republic stuff," remarked Jessica Riedl, an economist at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank. "Trump just ensured that we should not trust any government data coming out of his administration. Why should we trust data from agencies in which the director's job depends on altering any bad economic news?"

Harvard University economist Jason Furman warned that Trump could be setting the stage for a major crisis if his administration really starts faking economic data.

"This is awful," he wrote on Bluesky. "Reliable economic data is a key strength of the U.S. economy. When Argentina and Greece faked economic data it contributed to major crises. I don't think Trump will be able to fake the data given the procedures. But there is now a risk plus an awful appearance."

Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, similarly emphasized how important it is that U.S. businesses have access to accurate economic data to make informed decisions.

"By incorrectly asserting that the data are biased, President Trump is undermining the integrity of the information that policymakers, businesses, households, and investors use to make important decisions that affect the welfare of the nation," he warned. "It is imperative that decision-makers understand that government statistics are unbiased and of the highest quality. By casting doubt on that, the president is damaging the United States."

Dean Baker, an economist at the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research, questioned whether Trump's directive to his team to fire was a fresh sign of mental decline.

"I was thinking that someone on Trump's economic team could explain to him how the data are compiled, but I realize that they can't even explain to him that his big beautiful tariffs are taxes on us," he joked. "I guess in his current mental condition, Trump just can't learn anything new."

Baker then mused that the president's economic advisers could make "a picture book" so they can "explain to Trump how the data are collected."

Some Democratic politicians were also quick to hammer Trump for his call to fire McEntarfer simply for reporting disappointing jobs numbers.

"Instead of helping people get good jobs, Donald Trump just fired the statistician who reported bad jobs data that the wannabe king doesn't like," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) accused Trump of "trying to cook the books by firing the non-political career civil servant who oversees the data, because he wants to hide the truth of his failed policies from the American people."

And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that Trump's attack on McEntarfer was a classic sign of failed leadership.

"What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger," he said.