Overwhelming Force.
Shooting the messenger(s).
One of the features of the Trump administration is this: The president says something or does something outlandish. The news media goes crazy. The relevant advisors and Cabinet officials scramble to come up with an explanation, to the disbelief of nearly all concerned. MAGA “influencers” are dispatched to describe the latest brouhaha as yet more evidence of news media/Deep State malevolence.
So it was with the president’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Mr. Trump was annoyed by the jobs report because it contradicted his “narrative” of a great economy humming along under his great leadership. Shortly after the report was made public, Trump tossed the offending BLS commissioner overboard. Administration officials then scrambled to explain why the BLS commissioner’s dismissal wasn’t what it so obviously was. MAGA world banged the Deep State drums.
