Trump vs Warren: No Love Lost

A.J. Pike

Washington, D.C. - In a political battle that appears to have been going on for almost a decade and certainly has no end in sight, it’s clear that Senator Elizabeth Warren struck a nerve in a recent CNBC interview when she attacked President Trump’s record on the economy and offered some scathing critiques on his economic performance.  

“Remember: Donald Trump ran for office saying he would lower costs on day one. Costs of groceries are up, cost of housing is up. He’s passing a signature bill to throw people off their health care so he can do tax cuts for billionaires,” Senator Warren said referring to President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ “Democrats are the people who say ‘billionaires actually should pay their fair share,’ and that we need to focus on affordability for American families. And that’s what we’re fighting for.”

President Trump, who often keeps an eye on cable news, fired back immediately on Truth Social.

“In just 6 months, I cut costs, especially Energy and Taxes. Tremendously, Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren, on CNBC, said costs have gone up,” wrote the President, as he referred to Senator Warren’s controversial past comments where she described herself as Native American. “She is just angry that I blew up her terrible Presidential campaign. Call her out!!

“Elizabeth Warren is a LOSER! She lies about everything, including the fact she is an Indian. She’s NOT. She’s no Pocahontas!!” he went on. “Ask Pocahontas the real questions, why don’t you CNBC?”

The President does seem to be particularly sensitive to any negative talk about the economy at the moment. He recently fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer for simply reporting that his job numbers were poor. 

President Trump suggested, without offering any evidence, that the weaker-than-expected jobs report was “rigged” and that the lower monthly revisions by Ms. McEntarfer was “concocted.”

William Beach, former U.S. Commissioner of BLS under President Trump’s first Administration responded to the numbers being manipulated.

“Well, it’s just very implausible. And I’ll tell you why. The Commissioner of Labor Statistics - that was my job - has no access to the summation of the data when it comes out of the regions, goes to the national office, has no access, no hand, no possibility of having any involvement in the calculation of the numbers that are ultimately published.

“In fact, the Commissioner doesn’t see the numbers first…those numbers have been loaded into all the machines all over the data center, which will go out all over the world…Could the Commissioner have put pressure on people to bend the data in one way or another? That’s even more impossible knowing the hardheaded and loyal Americans who work at the Bureau, who would never yield to any sort of political pressure.”

White House economic advisors defended the firing stating the problem was with the unexplained downward revisions to the numbers by 258,000 fewer jobs that had been created in May and June than previously reported. 

But the BLS regularly adjusts its numbers to the jobs report for the previous two months as more complete data becomes available. Not all businesses respond immediately. Such revisions can be substantial, shifting the numbers significantly upwards and downwards.   

President Trump said he would name a new BLS Commissioner in the next few days, someone with ‘credibility and experience.’