Economist Stephen Moore, who served as senior economic advisor during Donald Trump’s first term, appeared on CNN to support the president’s claim that the latest job report put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was “rigged” against him.
Trump fired BLS head Erika McEntarfer over the lackluster jobs report last week, and posted to Truth Social Monday claiming, “Last weeks [sic] Job’s [sic] Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats.”
Moore agreed that the numbers coming out are “just not accurate, and there are a lot of reasons for that, but they’re getting worse and worse in each passing month and each passing year.”
Moore added that he would have fired McEntarfer “not for political reasons, but just because I don’t think they’re doing a very good job.”
“These are probably the most closely watched numbers that come out each month as a barometer for how the economy is doing,” Moore continued. “We want accuracy, and right now, we’re not getting accuracy. These revisions are larger than they’ve ever been before, and that means we’re just not doing it very well.”
But host Breanna Keilar jumped in, saying, “So, we should note that actually downward revisions have been, on average, smaller since 2003. You’ve noted before that survey responses have decreased, but the initial jobs reports have actually been more accurate than 2003. And I just want to note that what the president is saying —”
Moore started to protest, but Keilar persisted.
“Stephen, let’s just be clear what the president is saying here. It’s something different. You know revisions — Stephen, can we just get to the heart of this matter? Because revisions are not unusual.”