Wall Street Journal Gives Trump A Stern Warning

The WSJ points out that as the chief economist of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Antoni produced “highly partisan” commentary. By contrast, his new job “demands nonpartisan professionalism.”

“Few people trust China’s economic data because they know the government serves the interests of the ruling Communist Party,” the editorial concludes.

“Mr. Antoni will have to take off his MAGA hat if he wants to ensure that the public and markets can trust BLS data.”

Trump removed McEntarfer after a July jobs report was weaker than expected, and the BLS significantly revised down the gains from the two prior months.

BLS is in charge of producing monthly reports, which show the number of jobs that have been added or lost, and revisions are common as the agency receives more data from different employers.

In an interview with Fox News Digital conducted last week and published Tuesday, Antoni said that “until it is corrected,” the BLS should “suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data.”

However, Heritage Foundation economist and former Trump adviser Stephen Moore told CNN that Antoni has now cooled on the idea of a suspension of the monthly report.

In his announcement Monday that Antoni would be his nominee to replace McEntarfer, Trump said, “E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.”