Brand new Epstein Island photos show dental chair surrounded by creepy masks - All In - MS NOW

[peppertree]

7. Absolutely

It's no wonder that Diaper Don ordered an economic data blackout.

Another idea he seems to have gotten from his pal Macri in Argentina (they still talk).

Even before Macri took office in December 2015, it was clear that his shock devaluation would cause a jump in unemployment - so what's an authoritarian to do?

He simply declared a "statistical emergency" - and quashed the IV 2015 and the I 2016 jobless numbers (jobs data are published monthly in Argentina - but unemployment data are published quarterly).

Once his honeymoon wore off, mid-year, Congress finally demanded that employment and GDP data be published - and sure enough: they showed that unemployment jumped from 5.9% in III 2015, to 9.3% in II 2016.

And the two missing quarters? His statistics director (a Trump-style misogynist cabrón, who later died of a massive heart attack) had them destroyed (a felony) - but officials from the previous administration noted that the IV 2015 data would've read 5.4%.

These days, of course, most Argentines earn so little that the point is almost moot (the minimum wage has lost 60% of its real value since then - and many of the "employed" now have but odd jobs and delivery gigs for a few hours a week).

That's Trump's economic model.