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Trump’s not-so-secret weapon: the economy
President Trump is getting it done.
You’d never know it by watching and reading the “mainstream” media, which devotes endless cable news panels and column inches to ruminations on the possible grounds for his removal from office.
What the leftist media will not tell you is that Trump is delivering a stronger U.S. economy built on a revival of free-market economics, lower taxes, deregulation and smaller government. And he’s doing it while facing monolithic opposition from the ruling class, making his achievements even more remarkable.
{mosads}Not a single Democrat voted for the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut individual rates and slashed the corporate rate (for which Democrats from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama advocated once upon a time). The Democrats tried desperately to torpedo it, because they know that it’s going to power economic growth — and that, while good for the American people, is bad for them.
Prior to its passage, the economy was already expanding at a healthy three percent clip just with Trump’s sweeping deregulation efforts, deconstruction of ObamaCare, liberation of the energy sector, renegotiation or withdrawal from bad trade deals, enforcement of immigration law and the profound psychological shift of finally having a pro-business president in office.
Once the tax cuts are fully in play, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted stretches of four or five percent growth.
In fact, just in the few weeks since the law’s passage, the economic news has been overwhelmingly positive. The stock market smashed records. Job creation is up, and according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, job cut announcements last year were the fewest since 1990. Consumer confidence and investor optimism are at their highest levels in 17 years. Manufacturing is rebounding, with jobs and orders at their best levels since 2004. Companies such as Foxconn, Toyota, Merck, Pfizer, Infosys, Delta, Exxon Mobil, Bayer AG, Hyundai and Daimler have announced massive investment and hiring plans. Black and Hispanic unemployment are at record lows.
Key swing states are enjoying the fruits of the national trend. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida have gained hundreds of thousands of jobs and seen their state unemployment numbers fall significantly since last January.
Even the New York Times recently admitted that the “Trump effect” has generated a “wave of optimism” resulting in economic expansion. And Trump critic Warren Buffett now predicts “years of growth” ahead.
No wonder the Democrats are freaked out.
They know that a booming economy courtesy of Trump and the GOP spells political headwinds for them. It also absolves a lot of sins. Just ask Bill Clinton.
History shows that fairly or not, presidencies tend to rise or fall — sometimes quite literally — on the state of the economy. Presidents with strong economies survive, even thrive. Those with weak economies, not so much.
President Nixon had a shaky economy, driven in large part by the oil shocks of the early 1970s. Watergate hit, and his presidency was over. It’s impossible to know if a strong economy could have protected him, but a sluggish economy certainly helped put the nail in his political coffin.
President Reagan presided over a booming economy, thanks mostly to two waves of tax cuts, generational tax reform and expansive deregulation, so when the Iran-contra scandal broke, his presidency was buffered.
President George H.W. Bush broke his seemingly inviolable promise not to raise taxes, sending the economy into a tailspin and ending his re-election hopes.
President Clinton enjoyed a robust economy courtesy of the internet bubble (which later burst), so when the Monica Lewinsky scandal led to impeachment, he could point to his economic record and ride out the storm.
Which brings us to the current president: the long knives are out for Trump because the Democrats know these lessons of history too. A roaring economy creates a rallying effect around a president who is delivering greater prosperity.
With the tax cuts, the Democrats know that dynamic is likely to develop, making it much more difficult for them to continue their existential war against Trump and advance their leftist agenda.
Bill Clinton was right about one thing: it is the economy, stupid. And Trump, in delivering for the country, may very well also safeguard his presidency.
Monica Crowley is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, a former opinion editor for The Washington Times, and frequent guest on Fox News. She holds a Ph.D in international relations from Columbia University.
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