I'm a federal government statistician. This is a constant worry for me. The adage "Numbers don't lie" really isn't true. You can present the exact same facts in two different ways that completely change how people view the data. You don't need to make up data, or even selectively choose data, to influence people. You can just take advantage of our monkey brains.

However, I'd like to state that dealing with these things is by far preferable to people who manipulate or selectively choose data. Sadly, the current administration has been making this harder and harder every year. We've had Soviet-style political officers added as "advisors" to upper management. We've had orders from the administration that I personally feel are unconstitutional, and are currently being litigated in court. We've had increased oversight from the Department of Commerce, and have had multiple research/analysis papers denied with no explanation (hint, they all had to do with immigration, citizenship, and Puerto Rico).

When people ask me flippantly, "C'mon, what has Trump done so bad that affected you directly?" I tell them how he turned my non-partisan agency that helps support the very foundations of our democracy into a fascist propaganda tool. I am so fucking excited for a new boss January 20th. But much of the damage is already done - the next Census won't be for another decade.

The next question I usually get asked is, "If you're not comfortable with that, why don't you quit?" It's a loaded question with a complicated answer.

First, I believe that the current state of our government is not it's ideal state. It's never been perfect, but it's been better in the past. And when it works properly it can do great good. Part of why I stay is because I want to see that happen.

Second, leaving is what the administration wants us to do. We've always been the punching bag of the executive branch, for both Democratic and Republican presidents (love you Obama, but why did you freeze my pay for so many years?!). But these last 4 years have been rough across large sections of the federal workforce. In short, the strategy is threefold:
1) Make the job more stressful and distasteful, to convince people to leave or retire early
2) Make the job less desirable, so new hires are harder to bring on board
3) Make hiring difficult or impossible, so even people who want to be hired can't
The end result of this strategy is a workforce reduced in size, where many of the most competent people have left for greener pastures. I repeat, this is what they want. They want a government that is inefficient and broken so they can say, "See? This is why we must privatize!" I refuse to give them that win.

The last paragraph reminds me of common practices with publicly supported companies trying to evade their responsibilty while gathering money as long as they can.

But the parts above were true of totalitarian states in the Eastern block. People living in constant fear of being persecuted at their public jobs realized later that these states were absurdly afraid of non-comforming citizens in these enviroments.

That's because their strategy is built on lies and deception. Lies fear nothing more than the truth. I will say, I am 100% proud of my agency's career leadership for consistently speaking out against the appointed leadership, both in public and in the courts. They lost in the short term, but they'll still be there after Trump goes.

mechavolt - great comments. Thanks for bothering to write that and for bothering to fight the fight.