Donald Trump has sparked intense backlash, including from members of his own party, after his sudden decision to fire Erika McEntarfer. McEntarfer was the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This move came right after the release of a July jobs report that revealed a much weaker economy than expected, with only 73,000 jobs added.
Trump, clearly unhappy with the numbers, publicly accused McEntarfer, who was appointed by the previous administration, of distorting the data for political reasons, both now and ahead of the 2024 election. According to Rolling Stone, he believed the numbers had been intentionally changed for political gain, a serious accusation against a nonpartisan agency.
The President 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. Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell is no better! But, the good news is, our Country is doing GREAT!”
President Trump fired the messenger
The rapid firing upset many people, including well-known Republicans. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming shared her concerns, saying, “If the President is firing the statistician because he doesn’t like the numbers but they are accurate, then that’s a problem. It’s not the statistician’s fault if the numbers are accurate and that they’re not what the President had hoped for.”
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was even more direct. He said, “If she was just fired because the president or whoever decided to fire the director just … because they didn’t like the numbers, they ought to grow up.”
The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau. For a full statement opposing this move, read: https://t.co/cbQSs51iIW
— William Beach (@BeachWW453) August 1, 2025
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky also spoke up, emphasizing, “We have to look somewhere for objective statistics. When the people providing the statistics are fired, it makes it much harder to make judgments that you know, the statistics won’t be politicized.”
Trump is no stranger to firing people in office. He even demanded the removal of the federal chair, but this is pretty far. Outside of Congress, William Beach, who led the BLS during Trump’s first term, shared his disappointment online. He called McEntarfer’s firing “completely unjustified” and warned that it set a “dangerous precedent,” harming the Bureau’s mission of providing reliable statistics. Beach’s opinion carried extra weight since he had worked under the same administration, now making this controversial move.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, head of the American Action Forum, a well-known center-right think tank, also spoke out against the decision. He noted that while the BLS has adjusted its data many times and had different leaders over the years, only one sitting President had ever fired a BLS commissioner. His comment, “You do the math,” strongly hinted that Trump’s action was unusual and troubling, breaking from the tradition of keeping federal statistics free from political interference.
After being fired, Erika McEntarfer used social media to reflect on her time as commissioner, calling it the honor of her life. She praised the essential and meaningful work done by the BLS, indirectly defending the agency’s honesty. Her calm response was very different from the President’s angry accusations.
