Trump, the BLS, and Our Age of Choose-Your-Own-Reality Governance

When a government fires its own statistician for delivering bad news, it’s not just a personnel change—it’s a warning shot at reality itself. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is supposed to be the scoreboard, not a cheerleader. But with Donald Trump ousting its head over disappointing job numbers, the U.S. risks walking a path well-worn by regimes like Argentina’s—where facts were rewritten to protect political pride, not the public good. In an economy that’s already faltering, discarding truth won’t stop the fall—it just ensures we’ll crash blind. Derek Thompson has the story writing on his Substack.