Podcast Summary: Bulwark Takes — “Trump’s Government Is Purging Core Economic and Social Data”
Air date: November 22, 2025
Host: Andrew Egger
Guest: Katherine Rampell (Economics Reporter)

Overview

In this episode, host Andrew Egger and economics reporter Katherine Rampell discuss the growing disappearance and manipulation of core government economic and social data under the Trump administration. The conversation covers both the recent data blackouts caused by the government shutdown and broader, more deliberate efforts to undermine statistical agencies and critical datasets—moves that threaten economic decision-making, historical understanding, and policy transparency across the country.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Government Shutdown and Data Blackouts

• Impact of the Shutdown:
  • During the government shutdown, federal statistical agencies (e.g., BLS, BEA) ceased operations, which delayed or outright canceled major economic reports (jobs, GDP, inflation).
  • Some critical real-time data—like the October jobs and inflation reports—are permanently lost.
    • “Those are just going to forever be a black hole in any sort of economic history book or data series…” (B, 01:20)
• Consequences:
  • Blind spots are left for policymakers (like the Federal Reserve), businesses, and investors who rely on this data for decision-making.
    • “They want to have the most recent snapshot of the economy available so that they can make an informed decision and they're just going to have these blind spots.” (B, 01:55)
  • Even before this, data on the economy was already “a little bit fuzzy” due to uncertainty about tariffs and changing economic conditions (B, 02:34).

2. Systematic Attacks on Government Data

• Intentional Data Suppression:
  • Well before the shutdown, the Trump administration was actively censoring, defunding, or eliminating entire statistical reports for political reasons.
    • “This administration had been snuffing out data series, either censoring things, defunding them, or otherwise leaning on the civil servants who, who produce analyses of the data.” (B, 04:13)
• Examples of Suppressed Data:
  • Annual hunger report (ended after 30+ years), poverty guidelines essential to SNAP/Medicaid eligibility, data on adolescent mental illness, government workforce racial composition, weather data, etc.
    • “...the people at Health and Human Services who are responsible for determining what's called the poverty guidelines... are just gone.” (B, 05:01)
    • “You're not thinking about who's collecting data on adolescent mental illness, which is another thing that has been cut…” (B, 05:24)
• Depletion of Workforce:
  • Budget cuts, purges, retirements, and hiring freezes at agencies like the Bureau of Economic Analysis have reduced staff by about 20%. As a result, smaller but important data series—such as on foreign direct investment—are being dropped to maintain marquee reports.
    • “They have recently announced...that they were cutting some of the calculations that they normally do on foreign direct investment.” (B, 06:59)

3. Political Spin: The Case of Foreign Direct Investment

• Data Supporting Trump’s Economic Narrative:
  • Trump frequently cites foreign investment figures when dismissing negative economic polling and touting economic strength.
  • The administration is simultaneously eliminating key government data that would allow for verification of his claims.
    • “He can paint, he can curate his own portrait of reality, either through...boastful statements or kind of like BS data...” (B, 08:15)
• Comparison to Authoritarian Tactics:
  • Egger draws a parallel to Soviet- and Chinese-style data manipulation, where inconvenient statistics are suppressed to match the party line.
    • “You think about like the sorts of economic narratives that you associate with like Stalinist Russia...” (A, 09:26)

4. Broader Dangers of Data Degradation

• Historical and International Precedents:
  • Rampell recounts Stalin’s execution of a census chief for presenting "inconvenient" data and recent Chinese government moves to simply stop publishing data deemed embarrassing (eg. youth unemployment).
    • “...the guy who was in charge of the 1937 census in the Soviet Union...was executed by firing squad because the numbers he produced were inconvenient.” (B, 10:48)
• Unique American Context:
  • The U.S. has long been the “gold standard” for economic and social data, enabling sound business and policy decisions. Even mere doubt or unreliability in data can undermine capitalism and democracy.
    • “That's part of the reason why we have a good business environment...You can get that kind of information. As soon as you start to sow doubts...that degrades the whole business environment.” (B, 12:37)

5. The Limits of Private Data Collection

• Can the Market Fill the Gap?
  • Private and proprietary data is helpful and sometimes used by reporters, but cannot fully replace public statistics, especially for comprehensive efforts like the census.
    • “There's no private institution that is capable of...collecting survey information of every single human in this country. It just doesn't exist.” (B, 15:21)
  • Private sector data is often biased or tailored to the company's interest (“PR pitches”), making it unreliable for broad policy or public understanding.
    • “...there's a lot of like trying to get their name in the press by providing pseudo facts or at least not very reliable facts.” (B, 17:02)
  • Eg. Walmart’s claim of a cheaper Thanksgiving bundle using shifting metrics, White House citing DoorDash data as evidence of falling prices—misleading public narrative.
    • “...White House blasted out data from DoorDash's annual survey...” (B, 18:43)

6. Scope Beyond Economics

• Data Purges in Health, Environment, Immigration, and More:
  • Rampell underscores that the statistical purge targets a wide array of data: mental health, disease, climate change, disaster response, immigration, gender identity, etc.
    • “There are like thousands of data series at this point that have been deleted that have suddenly disappeared from government websites.” (B, 19:59)
  • Some archiving efforts by universities and libraries exist, but the loss of active data collection means the window into America’s realities is shrinking.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Loss of Data:
  • “The jobs report for October and the inflation data for October, those are just going to forever be a black hole in...economic history.” (B, 01:20)
• On Eliminating the Poverty Guidelines:
  • “Is no one going to be eligible for food stamps going forward? I guess that would be one convenient way to wash their hands of the expense of feeding Americans.” (B, 05:16)
• On Fact-Checking Foreign Investment Claims:
  • “Now it's going to be harder to actually fact check those numbers because the government just doesn't have the resources.” (B, 07:21)
• Chilling Historical Reference:
  • “The guy who was in charge of the 1937 census in the Soviet Union...was executed by firing squad because the numbers he produced were inconvenient.” (B, 10:48)
• On the Erosion’s Broad Impact:
  • “That affects normal people. It affects what they...how they shop. It affects like how physicians diagnose your illness...there are a lot of ways in which these Trump enforced holes...can affect our lives.” (B, 20:39)
• On Government vs. Private Data:
  • “What company in their, what publicly traded company in their right mind is going to send out a press release saying, guess what stuff is super expensive this year? Don't bother shopping, you know?” (B, 17:56)
• Closing Sarcasm on "Deep State" Data:
  • “I'm a little surprised that you are not entertaining the...hypothesis here, which is that all of these data collectors throughout our government were actually nefarious agents of the deep state...” (A, 20:57)

Key Timestamps

• [00:33] — Impact of the shutdown and permanent loss of data
• [04:03] — Start of discussion on intentional administration suppression of data
• [06:59] — Foreign direct investment data cuts and Trump’s reliance on unverifiable numbers
• [09:26] — Authoritarian analogies: Stalinist Russia and narrative control
• [10:48] — Chilling historical example: Soviet census chief executed
• [14:57] — Can private sector compensate for government data loss?
• [17:02] — Examples of corporate pseudo-facts and misleading data releases
• [19:59] — Scope of data loss stretches far beyond economics

Final Thoughts

This episode is a stark warning: the Trump administration’s ongoing and broad-based attack on federal data capacity is eroding the objectivity and comprehensiveness of U.S. economic and social measurement—potentially diminishing the country’s ability to govern itself transparently and manage its economy effectively. The loss isn’t abstract; as Rampell emphasizes, it “can affect our lives” in tangible ways, from social safety nets to health care and disaster response.

To read more, check out Katherine Rampell's detailed newsletter at The Bulwark’s website.