Help wanted sign is displayed at a live music and blues club in Chicago, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
DATA SCAMALYTICS!
Donald Trump’s decision to fire the person in charge of America’s jobs data makes it harder to predict and avoid the next recession, the Biden administration’s top labor official told What A Day.
- Picture yourself as a sailor on the Titanic’s ill-fated voyage, sometime before it struck an iceberg and sank to the ocean floor. One bright morning, you spot something big and menacing in the waters ahead. You immediately tell the captain. But instead of changing course, the captain dresses you down, sends you to swab the deck, starts looking for someone else to replace you, and orders full steam ahead!
- That’s basically the move President Donald Trump pulled on Friday, if you think of that big ship as the U.S. economy. Trump summarily fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer shortly after weak jobs numbers signaled danger ahead for American economic growth. He’s planning to announce a replacement this week, and fears are now rife that Trump may insist the next guy pump out nonsensically happy economic data to please the boss — while the country cruises blindly toward peril.
- That’s basically the move President Donald Trump pulled on Friday, if you think of that big ship as the U.S. economy. Trump summarily fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer shortly after weak jobs numbers signaled danger ahead for American economic growth. He’s planning to announce a replacement this week, and fears are now rife that Trump may insist the next guy pump out nonsensically happy economic data to please the boss — while the country cruises blindly toward peril.
Are we headed toward a recession? Well, if you can’t trust the economic data… who knows?
- The dismal figures that prompted Trump’s tinpot tantrum suggest tough times lie ahead. But… if the future numbers are tainted, how will we know when a recession is coming? “I wish I had a comforting answer to that,” Su said. “I do not.”
- Accurate economic data allows responsible leadership to change course when there is danger ahead, Su pointed out. But Trump has shown no interest in backing away from his trade war, which economists warn could hurt growth and drive up prices, or other policies. “I think it’s shameful on the world stage that the things that made us the gold standard are being destroyed by this administration,” she said.
- Trump promised on the campaign trail to lower prices and bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He’s failing on both accounts. But instead of adjusting his plans, he’s hiding the evidence, Su said. Eventually, reality will win out, and phony numbers won’t be able to hide the economic truth. “He’s failing, and people are, and will continue, to feel it.”
- Critics of Trump’s firing have pointed out the parallel between this decision and similar moves by the strongmen leaders in Turkey and Hungary. It looks like a move to stifle dissent — or a nonpartisan official’s unflattering report — in an attempt to paint the U.S. economy as sunshine and rainbows, instead of a flaming dumpster fire, critics argue.
“He’s not just following the authoritarian playbook,” Su added. “He is rewriting it in the United States of America.”
TEXAS SCOLD ‘EM?
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) ordered the arrest today of dozens of Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to delay Republicans’ redistricting flagrant gerrymandering.
It’s the latest escalation of a political battle initiated by Donald Trump intended to allow him to keep control of the House in next year’s midterms.
There’s just one problem with Abbott’s move: The warrants only apply inside Texas, and the targeted Dems have fled the state to places like New York and Illinois. Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) vowed to “do everything we can to protect every single one of them.”
If Democratic state lawmakers happen to return to Texas, the cops have orders to haul them back to the capitol, where their absence has forced Republicans to halt the session aimed at redrawing the state’s political lines. No criminal or civil penalties will result.
So far, Texas Democrats show no sign of backing down.
“He’s trying to get sound bites,” Houston Rep. Jolanda Jones told reporters during a press conference in New York today. “He has no legal mechanism.”
“He’s trying to get sound bites,” Houston Rep. Jolanda Jones told reporters during a press conference in New York today. “He has no legal mechanism.”
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"Oh dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?”
— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), defending NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his progressive economic policies.
NEWS NEWS NEWS
More than a dozen House Democrats have signed onto a letter that would call for the U.S. to recognize Palestinian statehood, as even moderate Democrats begin to shift their stances on the country. It underscores a growing divide in American politics, as Democrats move away from Israel and Republicans largely continue to support the country. Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Some tourists to the U.S. may soon have to temporarily hand over $15,000. Visitors from countries with high rates of overstaying their visas will face the highest bond fees, which will be refunded until they leave, according to the State Department. The 12-month pilot program is expected to start this month. Frankly, I’m starting to feel like the Trump administration should start paying out $15,000 to those who choose to stay here despite this kind of bullshit.
Trump is breaking his campaign promise to make sure Americans can access in vitro fertilization. Throwback to when he called himself the “father of IVF,” which was gross and weird then, and remains gross and weird today.
You know those pesky Democratic fundraising texts? Only two cents for every dollar donated actually goes to politicians’ campaigns, according to a new analysis. The rest goes to consultants and operational costs. To paraphrase my bosses… fuck that!
Trump gushed over Sydney Sweeney and her controversial American Eagle ad after learning that she’s a registered Republican. “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there,” reads a real social media post from the president of the United States. “It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is running for governor in South Carolina. She was once a staunch Trump critic, before landing a 180-backflip-somersault to become an unpredictable, firebreathing MAGA transphobe. “She’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates,” one political consultant said. “You never know what Nancy Mace you’re going to get.”
Loyalty from Tesla buyers plummeted after Elon Musk endorsed Trump and took a chainsaw to the federal government, according to new data. But Tesla’s loyalty to its deranged chief executive hasn’t wavered, apparently: The car company’s board handed Musk 96 million shares of stock — equivalent to $30 billion.
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