A social media account tied to President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to take over the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a history of posting various far-right conspiracy theories – the latest eyebrow-raising report to emerge about what is often a nonpartisan nominee.
Last week, Trump announced he would nominate Erwin John “EJ” Antoni III, the chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, the conservative group that created Project 2025, to replace former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
A surface-level review of Antoni, 37, shows that he is a loyal Trump supporter who has aligned himself with the current administration’s ideals – contributing to Project 2025, bashing former president Joe Biden’s record, and even being a “bystander” at the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
But a more in-depth look at Antoni’s history online indicates that a now-deleted X account, which once used Antoni’s name, posted theories about Jeffrey Epstein’s death, Covid-19’s origins, and the validity of the 2020 presidential election, according to WIRED.
A website archive of the account “PhDofbombsaway,” shows that it used the name “Dr. Erwin J. Antoni III,” “Dr. J.,” as well as “Dr. Curtis LeMay,” – an apparent reference to the Air Force general largely credited with planning and executing mass bombings on Japan during World War II, as well as advocating for nuclear weapon usage.
The account’s profile picture was of a fiery mushroom cloud, not unlike the one associated with nuclear weapon detonations.
“All or nothing. Do it die,” the account posted in late November 2020 in response to a tweet encouraging Republicans to stand up to “fraudulently mailed machines.”
The account consistently re-posted false claims about election fraud and theories about stolen ballots from prominent accounts.
On January 5, 2021, hours before the attack on the Capitol, the account posted a reference to violence in the Bible while responding to a tweet from Trump in which he encouraged Republicans to “fight.”
“Samson has his arms around the temple pillars, and although he may not survive, he will bring it all down on his enemies,” it posted, referring to the story of Samson receiving strength from God to rise up against his enemies.
Last week, photos of Antoni outside the Capitol on January 6 circulated online. The White House confirmed Antoni was present as a “bystander” who wandered over to see coverage of it on the news.
Other posts from the account indicate the person running it was ingrained in far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
In November 2019, the account responded to a person theorizing about Epstein’s death by suicide, claiming, “Epstein didn’t kill himself.” That theory was widely circulated among far-right communities online and continues to be a central part of concerns about government transparency around Epstein.
Later that month, the same account replied to a tweet that seemed to make a sexual innuendo about former vice president Kamala Harris with its own.
“She does her best work when life brings her to her knees,” the account wrote.
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
Antoni declined to comment to Wired.
While the account has since been deleted, Antoni remains present online with an X account that mostly posts Trump-aligned views of the economy or economic data.
But his nomination has been subject to criticism even before NBC News reported his presence at the Capitol, or Wired reported about his alleged former X account.
The president previously fired McEntarfer, a career civil servant, after expressing dissatisfaction with the BLS’s job numbers reports. Trump insinuated, without evidence, that McEntarfer had manipulated the numbers to make the president look bad because the figures did not line up with Trump’s rhetoric about the economy.
Some economists and lawmakers have expressed concern that Trump’s new nominee could be more inclined to alter BLS numbers to appease the president. While there is no rule about who may be the BLS commissioner, they are typically expected to be nonpartisan, given that the BLS is an independent fact-checking arm of the Department of Labor.
Upon announcing Antoni’s nomination, the president vowed that his nominee would “ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.”
Antoni previously tweeted, calling for a “better” way to collect and disseminate BLS data and criticizing the current method of doing so.
Antoni’s nomination will require Senate confirmation. So far, at least two Democratic senators have called for the Senate to reject Antoni’s nomination.
