It’s bad enough that a substantial percentage of our fellow Americans reject probative evidence that is inconsistent with their preferred realities. What is arguably worse is the administration’s effort to erase such evidence–its conduct of a war on data that might undercut Trump’s fantasy realities.
The New Republic recently focused on that war.
Trump has always made things up. Remember that he entered politics promoting the hoax that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. But what’s new about Trump’s second presidency is that not only have his lies escalated in dimension and scope, becoming increasingly brazen and weird—London is under sharia law!—but he’s also waging a concerted all-out war on facts that contradict his narrative, which is to say, all reliable sources of data.
As the article notes–and as most academics know–for many years, the government has been one of the best sources of data available; not only has it been an important source of probative, vetted information, it has made that information easily accessible to journalists and citizenry alike. That informational history is under attack by Trump, who–as the article notes– doesn’t want any facts to get in the way of his made-up stories.
To declare that Trump has been right and the scientists have been wrong about climate change is so counterfactual that it requires a massive suppression of available data. Good thing Trump has thought of that. Through a combination of layoffs and weird directives, his administration has dramatically reduced its ability to collect data on industrial pollution that causes climate change, extreme weather caused by climate change, greenhouse gases contributing to climate change—really any facts related to the climate crisis. To take just one example, an effort launched by the Biden administration to collect emissions data was canceled by Trump on his first day in office. The same could be said about his Tylenol claims; lucky for him he has made significant cuts to autism research.
What about the autism claims unsupported by any credible medical research? Or the wild and dangerous claims from Trump and RFK Jr. about vaccines? As the article points out, those vaccine claims will be insufficiently challenged since he has cut vaccine research by more than half a billion dollars.
It goes on. And on.
Trump’s commitment to falsehood—and to eradicating facts at their roots—is not limited to science and public health. This summer he claimed that his policies were leading America into “another golden age” and that economic growth under his presidency “shatters expectations.” The data said otherwise: Whether you’re talking about job growth, inflation, or just about any other measure, the numbers did not chart in a direction favorable to the president. Here again, Trump is not willing to tolerate the facts: When the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month reported numbers that contradicted his sunny narrative, he fired the head of the agency.
Trump constantly says bizarre and unsupportedd things about crime–at least, in cities run by Democrats. He claims violence is surging although it’s decreasing, actually, in some places, at historic rates, He constantly blames immigrants, although relatively little crime is committed by immigrants, and he and MAGA are now trying to blame mass murders on transgender Americans, despite the fact that only 0.1 percent of mass shootings are committed by transgender people—and very few murders of any kind.
Are these and multiple other assertions inconsistent with the data? Well, there’s an easy “fix” to that–stop gathering and reporting the data.
Trump’s Agriculture Department cut its annual food insecurity survey, so Americans won’t know how many people are going hungry as a result of Trump’s cuts to food stamps and his inflationary tariffs.
We also won’t know how children are doing in school after his massive cuts to K-12 education, since the administration gutted the Department of Education’s research offices and the National Center for Education Statistics.
States, universities, and other nonprofits are trying to make up for the loss of the data, but in many cases the information provided by the federal government was irreplaceable.
When every day brings a new assault on our constitution and the rule of law, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that data, research, and facts are dangers to authoritarian regimes. Trump doesn’t know much, but he does understand that “data provides the basis for arguments, and he does not want any arguments. He also understands that facts and knowledge can only be nourished and sustained by institutions and experts, so he is destroying those institutions and pink-slipping those experts.”
If and when we rid ourselves of Trump and the MAGA plague, rebuilding and restoration will take many years…..
I can’t remember which political E-mail this morning, prior to their regular asking for donations, questioned what is happening at home with the troops Trump has removed from their jobs and families to send on his bogus protection of cities able to protect themselves. I have questioned this a number of times; also, what is happening to the thousands of businesses which are losing employees to Trump’s protective fiasco? What is our real jobless rate and how deeply is it effected by Trump’s “war from within” troop movements? Isn’t this Data we should be knowing as it is happening?
“If and when we rid ourselves of Trump and the MAGA plague, rebuilding and restoration will take many years…..”
“Data? What Data?…” Trump don’t need no Data.
When will all of this crap stop???? The orange one is just one big ugly stupid piece of flesh!!!!!
I fear for my son who is in the military reserves. I fear for all of the people suffering from this delusional man.
Please stop and SOON !!!
While the Trump Administration has been doing away with collecting data that would fuel debate about the MAGA policies he is forcing down our throats, he has allowed our personal data to be collected by DOGE and Elon for god knows what. Wherever the country is heading, it ain’t good.
As stated so many times by so many people on this blog and so many others, Trump’s history with everything he touches is clear: IT FAILS. But this is different from mere incompetence. Destroying data produced by the various government offices is part of the Project 2025 playbook: Break everything. Point to Democrats as blame for the failures. Sell the infrastructure to private businesses. Easy, right?
The Milton Friedman/CIA efforts in South America and other places in the 70s and 80s illustrated how that works. Chile, for example, went from a thriving, social democratic society to impoverished third-world status virtually overnight after it mining and agricultural industries were sold to foreign “investors”. Public education was eliminated (Sound familiar? Reagan tried to do that here.). Labor unions were outlawed. Social welfare was eliminated. And it went on and on.
When Trump dies in office in the next several months, we’ll have J.D. Vance conducting the devil’s orchestra. Think about that. He’ll probably pick Stephen Miller to be his V.P. What if there is no election next year? What will the citizens do as their cities become militarized? Will the “normalization” of troops in the cities continue? Will it work? Or is this preparation to intimidate voters at voting centers?
Armed troops checking everybody’s papers as they wait to vote … Yes. American citizens participating in their most sacred democratic rights. This administration will simply not allow it to proceed normally. If the election does occur, watch for the howls of “fraud”, “rigging” come out of the administration the minute the polls close.
So, Janice, what scenario do you envision for this all to stop? Like you, I’m fearful to death for our republic. The rats are eating the seed corn.
As Vern points out, this has been a long-standing Republican strategy. Just remember, the oligarchs are the ones crippling our government because it’s the government that holds them accountable. The press has also been neutered because they are the people’s Fourth Branch of Government. The only accountability allowed in this country is over the people by our state and oligarchy – fascists.
I jumped on X last night and it’s raging. People from a driving distance of Chicago are heading there to help the people and fight Noem’s Gestapo tactics. In case you haven’t noticed, the federal government is making the Cities violent so Trump can bring in the military—another self-fulfilled prophecy.
Also, Israel is definitely losing the propaganda war. The connection between Israel, Epstein, Bibi, and Trump is coming together. Trump ordered Bibi to stop the bombing, but Bibi ignored him.
As for the data, I canceled all my subscriptions to governmental data sources, such as BLS, PPI, and CPI. As a journalist, I don’t trust any of it and will not share it with others.
In Indiana, the Republican Mitch Daniels followed a similar approach, which is why I stopped following the state department’s release of information. Upon examining the evidence, it appears to originate from the Koch-backed Heritage Foundation and the CATO Institute. Russell Vought’s name is all over it as well. Our biggest issue at the time was air and water quality, so they stopped measuring it across the state. When it came back online after being taken offline by third parties, all our waterways were polluted. The air quality went to shit, but is improving only because Duke is closing down old mercury-laden coal stacks.
p.s. There are many rumors in Indiana that many more data centers are heading our way. This will drastically drain our water and electricity supplies and drive up the prices of utilities. Hoosiers will get squeezed even more.
Do whatever you can to RESIST. You are not alone. We did not get here overnight. It took a long time to turn the ship of state and it will take time and effort to change course so be resilient and patient. Despair is not a strategy for success.
I don’t know about the rest you but, I’m eagerly awaiting my med bed card.😁
One strength in the structure of our country is that, despite the Red lies, corruption, and incompetence, the country continues to function. Why? Institutions are so interconnected that they prop each other up. We have become a single organism that will fight death as long as it can. Corporations need each other, and the people who populate them need government.
Regardless of the daily drama that our Entertainer in Chief uses to keep his name on every lip, bureaucracies continue to move forward on their own accord because we are all workers with jobs to do. We are rotting at the top, but our collective bodies will continue to go to work, no matter who our “bosses” are, and go to the stores to buy what we need, get married, have families, and support each other.
We have a new additional job, though, and that is to let the puppets and puppeteers know that we will not fail with or because of them. They will try to hurt us, but the Reds are like mosquitoes to us – annoying, but nobody dies from their bites, no matter how many there are. We have the numbers, and they only have words.
Actually, Pete, people WILL die from the destruction of institutions that were created to protect the most vulnerable. Listen to Kennedy, Secretary Smack, if you have any doubts about that.
Trump is clearly not well physically. He won’t last forever, given his lifestyle and eating habits. But, I don’t think MAGA is going anywhere. And Project 2025 is just the organised policy arm of MAGA, so it’s not going anywhere, either.
Honestly, I wish you guys the best of luck. It’s actually really sad, and truly disconcerting, watching the American experiment crumble.
We’re in the heat of a battle to save Democracy from the regime that’s determined to destroy it for selfish reasons. The trump regime is a house of cards exactly because they don’t base decision making and policy on facts. Their resentful, fearful, hateful grab for capital/power is corrupt and unsustainable. Most American’s are not condoning what they are doing and want it stopped. Many continue to collect the facts and data to bring to light and resist what’s going on.
I hear that “The hand that rocks the Gavel” The American Experience, is a good expose of the dismantling of the immigration system.
Trump has created what is, essentially, excuse my language, a shit storm, as the water-bearer for Project 25. He does not care, can not care, is congenitally unable to care…and when he is gone, I’m afraid, the hose will really open up.
Election, what election?