It’s really the country’s loss.

EJ is one of the best young superstar economists in Washington. He is just what the increasingly unreliable and inaccurate Bureau of Labor Statistics needed after four Biden years of wildly off-target jobs estimates. The Biden number-counters overestimate the jobs created by more than 2 million, which is larger than the entire labor force of North and South Dakota combined.

The attacks from the left weren’t ever really about Antoni, but a way to sling arrows at Trump. EJ was caught in the political crossfire. Until now, no one ever paid attention to who headed the BLS.

The most detestable attacks came from so-called conservatives.  Daniel Bunn of the Tax Foundation and Kyle Pomerleau of the American Enterprise – two mediocre scholars to put it charitably – accused EJ of having a secret plan to raise taxes (sic) in the pages of the WSJ. This played right into the hands of his enemies on the left.

It was an especially outrageous libel because THEY were the ones who were caught red handed of lying. Even then, they refused to retract their story. Real class acts these two!

Jessica Riedl, a Manhattan Institute fellow, described Antoni’s publications as “probably the most error-filled of any think tank economist,” but couldn’t point to any “errors.” Shameful.

Jealousy makes people say and do stupid things. EJ is ubiquitous in the media while his sour critics at AEI, Tax Foundation and Manhattan Institute wallow in their ivory tower obscurity. Maybe their goal was to make friends with the left – and they may well have succeeded, for what sleeping with the enemy is worth.

The whole sordid episode reminds us of the old saying inside the Beltway: If You Want a Friend in Washington, Get a Dog.

The good news is EJ will be back in the saddle at Heritage as the chief economist and a senior fellow at UP contributing regularly to the HOTLINE.  The country’s loss is our gain.