In the ongoing American struggle over housing affordability, California Governor Gavin Newsom attempted to assign blame through data — only to find the data assigning it elsewhere. A chart he shared on social media, meant to indict the Trump administration for record home unaffordability, visibly showed the steepest price increases occurring during the Biden years. The episode, small in itself, opens a larger question about how those who seek power choose to read — or misread — the evidence they place before the public.