The Day the Truth Got Fired

Trump purges reality, promotes a predator, enrages allies, and dismantles science all before tee time.

Good morning! Yesterday might have been the most revealing day of the Trump regime’s second term, one in which the façade of normalcy finally collapsed, and the outlines of authoritarianism became impossible to miss. The day began with the firing of a federal economist, ended with global scientists backing up our climate data like they were raiding a museum before a hurricane, and was held together by the grotesque throughline of Ghislaine Maxwell being quietly upgraded to what’s essentially a prison-themed country club.

Let’s start with the execution of the messenger. Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was fired after the government released a jobs report showing U.S. hiring has slowed dramatically. Job growth in June came in far below expectations, just 73,000 new positions, and prior months were revised down by over a quarter million. For any other administration, that would be a policy warning sign. For this one, it was heresy.

So Trump fired her, on the White House lawn, with cameras rolling. Then, in a moment that should echo through history like a cracked bell, he told reporters: “You’re right. Why should anybody trust the numbers?”

He said it again and again: the data were “phony,” “rigged,” a conspiracy to hurt him and the Republicans. He accused McEntarfer of faking numbers to help Kamala Harris win the election, then mixing up jobs and dollars, rambling about “800,000 or 900,000 dollar reductions,” as if the labor market were a game show prize.

McEntarfer didn’t even write the numbers herself. She runs an agency of 2,000 statisticians and economists whose job is to measure reality, not manipulate it. But Trump doesn’t want economists, he wants loyalists who understand that truth is what he says it is. And the numbers? They should never be believed, unless they make him look good.

Former BLS chief William Beach, Trump’s own appointee, condemned the move as “reprehensible.” Markets panicked. Economists warned that trust in government data was being dismantled in real time. But to Trump, that’s not a bug, it’s the system finally working as intended.

And if punishing truth-tellers is this regime’s favorite pastime, then rewarding abusers runs a close second.

On the same day McEntarfer was canned, the Bureau of Prisons, also under Trump’s control, transferred convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security federal camp in Bryan, Texas. This is a facility she was ineligible for under BOP policy, because she’s a convicted sex offender. But someone intervened. Someone waived the rules.

This happened days after two private meetings between Maxwell and Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General, and also, not coincidentally, Donald Trump’s personal defense attorney. And while the White House insists the move was “routine,” survivors of Epstein’s trafficking ring know exactly what it was: another sweetheart deal.

Virginia Giuffre’s family, still grieving her suicide, said it best: “Maxwell was even worse than Epstein.” And now she’s sipping coffee with Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and taking abs classes led by a Real Housewife. Instead of punishment, it’s preparatory clemency.

To make matters worse, the House Oversight Committee, led by MAGA loyalist James Comer, just granted Maxwell a delay in her scheduled congressional deposition. She now won’t testify until after the Supreme Court hears her appeal. She may never testify at all. A convicted sex trafficker has more procedural protection than a BLS statistician doing her job.

But that wasn’t even the low point. As all this unfolded, Trump unveiled the newly “renovated” Rose Garden, now paved with American flag drainage grates. The symbolism writes itself. The stars and stripes are literally channeling runoff in the garden of executive power. And just a few feet away, Trump prepares to bulldoze the East Wing to install a $200 million Versailles-style ballroom, half-funded by unnamed donors. Asked whether he would accept money from Qatar or Saudi Arabia, Trump shrugged: “It doesn’t matter.” And then got on a plane to go golfing.

The world noticed. Times Radio reported that Trump’s tariff chaos is already slowing economic growth. U.S. GDP, which grew 2.8% under Biden last year, has plummeted to barely 1.2%. Inflation is rising. Vegas tips are down 50%. Consumer spending is slumping. The labor market is shrinking, partly due to Trump’s war on immigrants, partly because no one knows what he’ll do next.

He slaps 50% tariffs on Brazil, except for orange juice. Syria gets sanctions lifted one week, and 41% tariffs the next. And Belgium? Trump’s team taxed the beer and the aluminum can. Less trade policy and more a bar brawl with Excel.

Economists aren’t impressed. “He’s not playing four-dimensional chess,” said one. “He’s playing darts with a javelin.”

And now, the final blow: the rest of the world is cutting America loose.

According to a bombshell report from Reuters , European governments are scrambling to build their own weather, ocean, climate, and health data networks because they can no longer trust the United States to keep the lights on in science.

Trump has gutted NOAA, the NIH, the EPA, and the CDC. He’s taken datasets offline. Canceled climate programs. Fired 800 NOAA scientists and plans to eliminate its research arm altogether. And in response? Europe is downloading our data like it’s a stolen treasure.

Norway’s archiving. Denmark’s backing up climate files. Germany’s commissioning entire agencies to wean off U.S. databases. The EU is expanding its ocean data networks, preparing to take over Argo, the ocean monitoring system NOAA once called its “crown jewel.” Even American researchers are begging European colleagues for help.

We are witnessing the collapse of American scientific leadership, not because we failed but because Trump is actively dismantling it. And the rest of the world? They’re backing up our servers before the empire finishes eating itself. It’s malevolent neglect.

So here we are: the truth is fired, the predator is upgraded, the economy is flailing, and the Rose Garden now drains through flags. The rest of the world is saving what it can before we disappear entirely into our own propaganda.

And the man orchestrating it all? He capped off the day with a grotesque Newsmax interview where he publicly leered at his press secretary’s lips, calling them “like a machine gun” while smirking about her brain and her face like a pageant judge at a meat raffle. And then, seamlessly, horrifyingly, he pivoted to ranting about how the Obama administration staged a coup. Yes, really. We’ve entered that stage of late-stage autocracy where the lines between lechery, delusion, and authoritarian impulse no longer exist. In one breath, he’s whispering creepily about someone’s mouth movements. In the next, he’s calling for the overthrow of the previous government.

And even from thousands of miles away, the smell is unmistakable because Canada just delivered a diplomatic slap across the face.

In response to Trump’s erratic tariff threats and political hostage-taking over Palestinian statehood recognition, Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled his trade delegation out of D.C. and told Trump to pound sand. “We will not be bullied, and we will not bow to artificial deadlines,” Carney said, as Trump unilaterally slapped a 35% tariff on Canadian goods not covered by USMCA. Carney’s response? Focus on building Canada strong with new trade ties across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

But this wasn’t just diplomatic theater. Carney pulled off something remarkable: he exposed the rot at the core of Trump’s economic bluff. Markets tanked. Tariff threats rattled U.S. auto makers. Tourism dollars vanished. Canada began re-shoring key manufacturing, slapping back with their own economic nationalism, and they’ve inspired Australia, the EU, and others to follow suit. Doug Ford, Ontario’s Conservative Premier and no fan of Trudeau-style politics, stood shoulder to shoulder with Carney. “We don’t roll over for Trump,” Ford said. “We hit back.”

And unlike Trump’s imaginary trade deals, zero have materialized, despite his “90 in 90 days” boasts, Canada holds receipts. They’ve been quietly leading an international boycott of American goods and tourism. Vegas, Florida, Arizona, Palm Springs, all hurting. Canadians are staying home or heading to Mexico. They’ve flipped the label, buying Canadian. Even conservative Canadian commentator Kevin O’Leary, formerly a MAGA apologist, now admits that Trump’s failure to strike a deal with Canada helped crash the markets.

And while Trump threatens trade over Canada’s support for Palestinian statehood, Carney is busy airlifting humanitarian aid into Gaza, working with Jordan, and pledging $340 million in civilian relief. That’s what real leadership looks like.

Trump, by contrast, is busy Photoshopping nonexistent deals, objectifying staffers on live TV, and blaming the economy’s nosedive on climate scientists, migrants, and Canada’s aluminum cans.

At this point, Canada isn’t just negotiating, they’re leading. They’re demonstrating what a functioning democracy with a spine looks like. And for the first time in decades, our closest ally isn’t waiting for us to get our act together. They’ve moved on.

And before we go, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reached out with kind words about Rhea, my daughter’s beloved cat and faithful companion for nearly two decades. She brought comfort, joy, and a sense of home through college, heartbreaks, and new beginnings. Rhea is at rest now beneath a rose bush in a quiet corner of the yard, a small, sacred place where love lingers. She was family, and she is deeply missed.