President Trump is increasingly dismissing or manipulating official data that contradicts his political narrative, from unemployment and crime statistics to the U.S. census.

He has moved to replace the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief with a partisan loyalist, sent troops to Washington, D.C. despite falling crime, and ordered a census that excludes undocumented immigrants. Experts warn these tactics mirror authoritarian regimes, undermining factual information to consolidate power and erode trust in government institutions.

“It’s part of what scholars would call the authoritarian playbook—undermining factual information and falsifying things that you know to be true,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

Koch says that when Trump does something like baselessly claiming the jobs numbers are “rigged,” the statement itself is a flex. “These kinds of really, really brazen lies...serve more of that sort of purpose of demonstrating power and the ability to just bend people,” she says.

Read more in the HuffPost article, “Trump Has Resorted To Making Numbers Up — And Experts Say It Should Worry All Of Us.”