🧮“Treasonous Math” Edition

After getting a jobs report that dared to tell the truth about the economy, President Trump did what any self-respecting autocrat-in-training would do: he fired the person in charge of counting things. Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer was shown the door for the offense of reporting fewer jobs than Trump had personally imagined into existence.

In an email clearly written with a fire extinguisher in one hand, acting BLS head William Wiatrowski told staff “our mission is unchanged,” which is a bold thing to say when your boss just nuked the agency’s credibility on a whim. He even forwarded a gracious farewell note from McEntarfer, who reminded everyone that BLS data is “timely and accurate,” which used to be a compliment, but now seems like the kiss of death.

Trump, meanwhile, fired off a Truth Social post accusing the jobs report of being “RIGGED” and full of “massive revisions” designed to make him look bad. Translation: The numbers were real, just not flattering—so obviously, they’re fake. It's the same logic he used to claim the 2020 election was stolen, the crowd at his inauguration was massive, and that he personally cured COVID by staring at the sun.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett dutifully played backup singer to this symphony of delusion, saying the administration would install “fresh eyes” at BLS—because clearly, the problem wasn’t job losses but uncooperative statisticians. Who needs economists when you can hire vibes-based numerologists from Mar-a-Lago?

Former BLS chiefs, including Trump’s own appointee, are politely trying to explain that the commissioner doesn’t create the numbers, doesn’t touch the data, and doesn’t even see the jobs report until a few days before release. But again, facts don’t matter when your entire platform runs on persecution cosplay and PowerPoint charts written in crayon.

Even GOP Rep. Don Bacon—no fan of liberals—admitted that firing someone for delivering bad news makes people stop telling the truth. But hey, why aim for economic clarity when you can install a human cheerleader who reports “10 million jobs created” based on a gut feeling and the Dow Jones Industrial Trump Index?

The real danger, experts warn, isn’t just internal. The BLS data feeds Wall Street, the Fed, and anyone trying to decide whether to invest in a factory or a food truck. Undermining its credibility means millions of people will start treating official reports the same way they treat Truth Social posts: with suspicion, disbelief, and maybe a stiff drink.

And sure, statistical manipulation takes effort. You’d have to override career staff, rewrite methodology, and dodge congressional oversight. But as experts point out, the bigger risk is the perception that it’s already happening. When people believe the numbers are fake, they stop responding to surveys—and when enough people do that, the data actually becomes useless. Mission accomplished?

So here we are: the Bureau of Labor Statistics is still trying to do its job, but now under a cloud of political intimidation. If the president keeps rewriting reality one firing at a time, we may soon learn the hard way that democracy doesn’t just die in darkness—it can also choke on doctored spreadsheets.

Michael Ramirez - Creators

Nick Anderson - Tribune Content Agency

Dana Summers - Tribune Content Agency

Marshall Ramsey - Creators

Jeff Danziger - Tribune Content Agency

Matt Davies - Andrews McMeel

Mike Smith - King Features

Drew Sheneman - Tribune Content Agency

Rob Rogers - Andrews McMeel

President Trump has once again turned a pop culture blip into a MAGA mating call, this time swooning over Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney—not for her acting, but for reportedly registering as a Republican. Upon hearing the news, Trump’s eyes reportedly lit up like a Fox News chyron, exclaiming, “She’s a Republican?! Oh. Now I love her ad!” Which, for context, is an American Eagle jeans commercial featuring Sweeney looking photogenic and vaguely patriotic—apparently all it takes to be dubbed the GOP's new pinup.

By Monday, the president had taken to Truth Social to make it official: “Sydney Sweeney has the HOTTEST ad out there.” He then promptly launched into a geriatric tirade against Taylor Swift, calling her “NO LONGER HOT” (capitalization his) and blaming her for something, something Super Bowl boos and the decline of Western civilization. Jaguar, too, was condemned for making a “seriously WOKE” car, because nothing makes an electric vehicle less cool than insufficient nationalism.

Trump’s commentary injected a fresh dose of culture-war kerosene into what had been a fading PR spat over whether Sweeney’s ad—featuring the tagline “Great Jeans/Genes”—was innocent fashion fluff or an Aryan-coded dog whistle. American Eagle tried to douse the flames with a corporate statement that basically said, “Relax, it’s about pants.”

Meanwhile, Sweeney herself has remained blissfully silent, presumably choosing to stay far away from the MAGA thirst trap her alleged voter registration has become. But that hasn’t stopped the right-wing swoon machine. Trump’s veep-in-waiting J.D. Vance weighed in to accuse Democrats of calling everyone who finds Sweeney attractive “a Nazi,” which is quite the leap from jeans ad to genocide.

In summary: a jeans commercial aired, people got weird about it, Trump made it weirder, and now Sydney Sweeney is the unwitting face of Republican chic—because in the MAGA fever swamps, she’s hot and maybe voted red.