{"id":1055586,"date":"2025-08-12T11:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T15:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055586"},"modified":"2025-08-12T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T15:23:17","slug":"trump-nominates-project-2025-lackey-as-bls-commissioner-to-cook-the-books-after-horrendous-jobs-report-as-core-inflation-rises-above-3-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-nominates-project-2025-lackey-as-bls-commissioner-to-cook-the-books-after-horrendous-jobs-report-as-core-inflation-rises-above-3-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Nominates Project 2025 Lackey as BLS Commissioner to Cook the Books After Horrendous Jobs Report as Core Inflation Rises Above 3% Again\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Donald Trump spent last week <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/snowflake-trump-does-poster-board-presentation-to-justify-firing-of-bls-commissioner-after-disastrous-job-numbers\/\">crashing out<\/a> over his horrible jobs report \u2014 even bringing in a Project 2025 author, Stephen Moore, to present special data that \u201cno one else\u201d has. Now he\u2019s installed a Project 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/static.heritage.org\/project2025\/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf\">contributor<\/a> and Heritage Foundation chief economist, EJ Antoni, who, by all accounts, is <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JustinWolfers\/status\/1955067164949447084\">unqualified<\/a> to cook the books at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/pdf\/cpi.pdf\">Consumer Price Index<\/a> report confirms what Americans have known all along \u2014 prices are up and working families are suffering. Instead of doing the real work to grow the job market and lower prices, Trump is spending his time trying to rig the game to get the numbers he wants while injecting uncertainty into key data that American businesses rely on.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In response, <\/em><strong><em>DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement<\/em><\/strong><em>:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump is reeling from disastrous economic report after disastrous economic report, and now, he\u2019s enlisted a lackey to pull the wool over the public\u2019s eyes. EJ Antoni is nothing more than another Trump loyalist who will do and say whatever Trump wants. No matter how hard they try, Americans know that Trump\u2019s economic agenda is failing everyone \u2014 except Trump and his billionaire friends.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this month, Antoni all but admitted his plans to try to cook the books once he\u2019s BLS chief, <a href=\"https:\/\/gettr.com\/post\/p3nwcfn8f8e\">claiming<\/a> that the reason Trump\u2019s jobs reports have \u201cdata problems\u201d showing a slowing labor market is because a Trump loyalist isn\u2019t in charge of BLS.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to being a Project 2025 contributor, Antoni has repeatedly tried to argue that Trump\u2019s failing economic agenda is a wild success \u2014 even though the facts say otherwise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Antoni has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/energy\/commentary\/inflation-down-january-and-should-keep-improving\">argued<\/a> inflation is cooling under Trump \u2014 despite core inflation actually ticking up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-08-12\/us-core-cpi-picks-up-to-fastest-pace-since-january-on-services\">above 3%<\/a> last month for the first time since <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/byHeatherLong\/status\/1955247169289720147\">February<\/a>, and durable goods PCE prices experiencing one of the biggest <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ernietedeschi\/status\/1950898167781666919\">six-month jumps<\/a> since 1987.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QuDw9nBdURk\">claimed<\/a> there was no cost to consumers from tariffs, when economists are warning U.S. consumers could shoulder up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-08-11\/us-consumers-to-bear-brunt-of-tariff-hit-goldman-economists-say\">67% of tariff-related costs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a stunning display, Antoni showcased his complete lack of understanding of how the government works, falsely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/markets-and-finance\/commentary\/powell-put-the-fed-and-taxpayers-the-red\">claiming<\/a> that the Federal Reserve is a for-profit institution funded by taxpayer dollars in an attempt to attack Fed Chair Jerome Powell.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antoni previously argued that labor report revisions are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/jobs-and-labor\/commentary\/december-jobs-reports-real-numbers-are-anemic-not-robust-heres-why\">\u201cnormal operating procedure\u201d<\/a> for the BLS \u2014 but only when it was convenient for him.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s not forget how we got here. Trump\u2019s most recent jobs report was anemic, with just <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mtkonczal\/status\/1951263351327076746\">73,000<\/a> jobs added. Revisions showed that May, June, and July were the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jamiedupree\/status\/1951261889935135153\">weakest<\/a> three months of job growth since the pandemic \u2014 and before that, since 2010 and the Great Recession. Since Trump took office, Manufacturing employment has fallen by <a href=\"https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/MANEMP#\">28,000<\/a> jobs. This year, layoffs have jumped 140% compared to last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make matters worse, Trump\u2019s disastrous, billionaire-first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/issue-briefs\/2025\/jun\/how-medicaid-snap-cutbacks-one-big-beautiful-bill-trigger-job-losses-states\">budget<\/a> will cost millions of jobs while his reckless <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-08-01\/highest-us-tariffs-since-wwii-set-to-cut-growth-boost-inflation?srnd=phx-trump-second-term\">trade war<\/a> skyrockets inflation. It\u2019s no surprise that only <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/poll-trump-approval-policies-economy-health-immigration-45681b8cd07782ba7a143d323efe9dd7\">one-quarter<\/a> of U.S. adults say that Trump\u2019s policies have helped them since he took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump spent last week crashing out over his horrible jobs report \u2014 even bringing in a Project 2025 author, Stephen Moore, to present special data that \u201cno one else\u201d has. Now he\u2019s installed a Project 2025 contributor and Heritage Foundation chief economist, EJ Antoni, who, by all accounts, is unqualified to cook the books [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump Nominates Project 2025 Lackey as BLS Commissioner to Cook the Books After Horrendous Jobs Report as Core Inflation Rises Above 3% Again\u00a0\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-nominates-project-2025-lackey-as-bls-commissioner-to-cook-the-books-after-horrendous-jobs-report-as-core-inflation-rises-above-3-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T15:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-nominates-project-2025-lackey-as-bls-commissioner-to-cook-the-books-after-horrendous-jobs-report-as-core-inflation-rises-above-3-again\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-nominates-project-2025-lackey-as-bls-commissioner-to-cook-the-books-after-horrendous-jobs-report-as-core-inflation-rises-above-3-again\/\",\"name\":\"Trump Nominates Project 2025 Lackey as BLS Commissioner to Cook the Books After Horrendous Jobs Report as Core Inflation Rises Above 3% Again\u00a0\u00a0 - 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