Whether it be the judicial system, universities, or health organisations, Donald Trump cannot abide by anything that does not confirm his world view. So it was not a shock when late last week he came for statistics – or, more pointedly, the person in charge of the economic statistics.
On Friday, the US’s Bureau of Labor Studies released the July US employment figures. They were not good. Just 73,000 non-farm jobs were added and annual employment growth was the worst it has been since the GFC years (excluding the pandemic):