The only positive legacy of this sad history is that it drove home for future administrations the importance of avoiding even the perception of political interference in the collection and production of U.S. economic numbers. In fact, following the Nixon scandal, the Office of Management and Budget issued a number of directives more strictly mandating the separation between releases of technical economic news and statements about politics and policy. Put simply, it would have been considered unthinkable in any of the post-Nixon administrations for anyone in the White House to seek to impede or publicly question the production of economic numbers.

On the eve of the release of the first jobs report during Trump’s presidency, this leads to a pressing question: Will he revive the Nixonian tradition of interfering with federal economic agencies if they announce numbers that do not please him?

Perhaps President Trump, who inherits a strong and stable economy, will be greeted by only positive economic news going forward, and will have routine cause to boast about government economic releases. And perhaps, even if economic numbers come in that do not bolster his message, he will handle it maturely, without berating government officials or trying to subvert the collection and posting of economic data.

However, with regard to the latter possibility, recent events are not encouraging. First, Trump has shown an almost compulsive unwillingness to accept any number that does not align with a combination of his self-image and gut instinct. His insistence that the crowd at his inauguration (which was estimated to number 160,000 to 250,000) was larger than that at Barack Obama’s (1.8 million)—or even the 450,000 to 500,000 who showed up for the Women’s March the next day—is the latest and most disturbing example of this behavior. It is not hard to imagine Trump refusing to accept a weak manufacturing jobs report because it contradicts his gut view that his bully-pulpit efforts to encourage domestic car production are working. Similarly, if GDP doesn’t reach his promised 4 percent growth per year, will he simply dismiss the validity of such numbers?

Second, President Trump seems not to care much for the norms dictating that presidents shouldn’t berate everyday citizens or castigate career government officials. Recent events—including the president’s personal attack on the local union head for the air-conditioning company Carrier and his phone call to the National Park Service’s acting director pressuring him to find proof that the crowd at the inauguration was larger than their photos implied—suggest a president who is not beyond intimidating anyone who does not provide him with what he wants. Similarly, in 2013, he tweeted, with no proof, that “census workers cooked the job numbers for Obama right before the election.” ‪It is not encouraging that Trump has already imposed a ban that prevents career government officials and scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture from speaking to reporters or posting on social media about their work.