President Donald Trump’s first term began with a laughable lie about inauguration crowd size and ended 30,573 falsehoods later with a violent insurrection fueled by his Big Lie about the stolen election.

Just six months into his second term, Trump has moved from daily whoppers to a full-on rewriting of reality.

He fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner following a poor jobs report. Content at historical sites in Philadelphia and across the country faces removal of inconvenient facts surrounding such topics as slavery, Trump’s impeachments, and climate change.

Nearly a decade later, Trump is still focused on airbrushing how Russia worked to influence the 2016 election in his favor. Trump’s new version of events blames former President Barack Obama for the “Russia hoax” — that was no hoax. He continues to shift blame away from his administration’s handling of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

While Trump’s lies are often easily debunked, his assault on the truth continues to widen the partisan divide and weaken public trust. His misinformation offensive poses an unprecedented threat to the credibility and stability of the United States.

Trump’s firing of a career bureaucrat who oversees the compiling of employment figures after a poor jobs report was perhaps his most authoritarian move since he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“This is the kind of thing you would only expect to see in a banana republic,” said Janet Yellen, the former Treasury secretary and chair of the Federal Reserve.

Yet, it is happening here.

The slowdown in the jobs report was no surprise. In fact, it reflected the massive uncertainty caused by Trump’s radical and erratic tariff policy — which economists warned would happen.

But Trump never takes responsibility. So instead, he baselessly claimed the job numbers were “RIGGED.” The evidence of chicanery came from Trump’s “ opinion.”

For the record, scores of U.S. Department of Labor employees follow strict procedures to assemble the jobs report. William Beach, who served as commissioner of the BLS during Trump’s first term, said it is virtually impossible to rig the jobs numbers.

Trump’s firing of Beach’s successor echoed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ouster of the head of his nation’s statistics agency in 2022, after data showed the inflation rate hit a 19-year high of 36.1%.

Trump is a “big fan” of Erdoğan, who shifted Turkey from a democracy toward an autocracy by attacking the courts, universities, law firms, and the media.

Trump’s assault on the same institutions has all the hallmarks of an authoritarian remaking of U.S. democracy before our eyes.

Don’t like court orders? Ignore them.

Disagree with a judge? Impeach him.

Fear a midterm election wipeout? Redraw the election map early to essentially decide winners before any votes are cast.

Don’t support the Constitution? Let the White House post a picture of Trump wearing a crown and declaring, “LONG LIVE THE KING.”

Don’t like press coverage? Sue news organizations, block reporters from the Oval Office, and stock the press pool with sycophants.

Bad jobs numbers? Off with her head.

Following Trump’s jobs report meltdown, can future government reports be trusted? Or will inflation, unemployment, and other data get polished to make Trump look and feel good?

If a recession hits, will Trump follow China’s lead? The world’s second-largest economy — under total control of the ruling communist party — stopped publishing hundreds of various financial measures to help mask its sagging real estate market and massive debt.

In the U.S., reliable data is needed to inform decisions about interest rates, which determine how much Americans pay for car loans and mortgages. Trusted information is a cornerstone of U.S. financial markets.

But like in George Orwell’s 1984, under Trump, ignorance is strength.

It’s much easier for Trump to declare the economy is booming while he continues to enrich himself.

Even more disturbing, most administration and Republican officials continue to go along with the charade.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer voiced support for Trump’s firing of the jobs official who reported to her: “I agree wholeheartedly with @POTUS that our jobs numbers must be fair, accurate, and never manipulated for political purposes.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R.-Okla., who voted last year to confirm the jobs official Trump fired, said, “I’m glad she’s out of a job.”

Have you no shame, Sen. Mullin and all the other lawmakers, chief executives, university presidents, law firm partners, media heads, and U.S. Supreme Court justices who continue to aid and abet in the dismantling of our democracy?

Day by day, Trump chips away at institutions, laws, freedoms, policies, and procedures that have long distinguished the United States and made it the envy of the free world.

Many are pushing back. More than 1,000 law scholars signed a letter stating that Trump’s actions have created a constitutional crisis. Protests have erupted across the country.

Angry voters voiced their outrage at a town hall on Monday held by Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood, one of the few Republicans brave enough to face the public.

One attendee pointed to the $450 million cost for the immigration detention center in Florida known as Alligator Alcatraz and asked: “How much does it cost for fascism? How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?”

Trump’s first six months have shown the price will be steep.

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