Trump Nominates Partisan Heritage Foundation Economist to Lead Bureau of Labor Statistics
Trump nominated E.J. Antoni, Heritage Foundation chief economist and Project 2025 contributor, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after firing the previous commissioner over a disappointing jobs report. Antoni has publicly claimed BLS data is ‘rigged’ and lacks relevant expertise for the role.
Context: Trump fired the previous BLS commissioner without evidence, claiming the July jobs report was manipulated. Antoni earned his PhD in 2020 and has been a long-time skeptic of government economic data. Former Obama economic adviser Jason Furman stated Antoni is ‘completely unqualified’ and ‘an extreme partisan.’ Steve Bannon pushed hard for Antoni’s nomination.
Significance: Installing a partisan ideologue who distrusts the data he will oversee threatens the integrity of critical economic statistics relied upon by markets, policymakers, and the public. Politicizing the BLS enables data manipulation to support political narratives rather than objective measurement, undermining trust in U.S. economic indicators globally.
Key Actors
Sources (3)
- Trump taps conservative economist E.J. Antoni to head BLS - NPR (2025-08-11) [Tier 1]
- Trump names Heritage's E.J. Antoni to lead Bureau of Labor Statistics - Axios (2025-08-11) [Tier 2]
- Trump Tyranny Tracker: Day 204 - Trump Tyranny Tracker (2025-08-17) [Tier 2]
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