Out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg summed up the end result of Donald Trump’s latest move to conceal economic data in just two words: “third-rate country.”

Buttigieg took to social media to post about how Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer this past Friday after she reported employment data that showed a weaker U.S. economy than what was predicted.

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He also emphasized the need for compassion for all parties involved in the debate.

“The President sees a bad jobs report, and responds by getting rid of the person in charge of the statistics,” he wrote on X in a post that got nearly 100,000 likes. “This is how America becomes a third-rate country,” he added.

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The BLS is a fact-finding federal agency that operates within the Department of Labor and is part of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. Established in 1884, it reports data on the U.S. economy to the public, Congress, state and local governments, and other interested parties.

On Friday, the BLS released a report that showed that the U.S. added 73,000 jobs in July, which is less than the forecasted 109,000 new jobs for the month. The agency also revised down its jobs numbers for May and June by 250,000. It’s not unusual for the BLS to revise jobs numbers as reports come in from employers.

Trump disagreed with the numbers, writing on Truth Social on Friday: “The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP.'” He also said that the report was “RIGGED” by federal workers who want to sabotage his administration. He offered no evidence other than his assertion that the economy is doing better than what the data says.

Trump was criticized for firing McEntarfer because he didn’t like what the report had to say, and not just by Buttigieg.

“Firing the head of a key government agency because you don’t like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long-established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones,” said former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Republicans are already calling for McEntarfer to be replaced by a party loyalist instead of an expert. White House strategist Steve Bannon said on his podcast on Friday that Trump should pick “a MAGA Republican” to run the BLS.

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