Tag: public opinion
Treasury Chief Scott Bessent And The Stages Of Trumpist Economic Grief

Treasury Chief Scott Bessent And The Stages Of Trumpist Economic Grief

While much of MAGA is motivated by hatred of an open society — by racism, misogyny and the desire to end all things woke — the swing voters who put Donald Trump over the top thought they were supporting a great manager who would fix the economy, reducing grocery prices and restoring good jobs. It was inevitable that they would eventually feel buyers’ remorse, because Trump never had plans to deliver on his economic promises; on the contrary, almost everything he’s trying to do will make the economy worse.

Even so, it’s stunning just how quickly consumer confidence has fallen off a cliff:

Data via University of MIchiganwww.nationalmemo.com


What’s truly remarkable from my perspective, however, is that Trump’s economic team seems to be even more despairing than the general public.

Bear in mind that “hard” economic data ­— things like unemployment, job growth, and consumer prices — are still looking fairly benign. So you might expect Trump officials to be going on television and assuring everyone that public concerns about tariffs, DOGE layoffs and all that are overblown, that prosperity like you’ve never seen is just around the corner. Instead they’re talking about pain and why Americans should accept it.

I find myself thinking about changing rhetoric about the economy as the stages of Trumpist economic grief. So far they look like this:

1. Prices will come down right away

2. Actually, reducing prices is hard and will take a while

3. Sorry, but we need a painful economic detox

4. Hey, there’s more to life than consumer goods

5. ????

As everyone knows, during the campaign Trump repeatedly promised to bring grocery prices down on Day One of his presidency. As soon as the election was over, however, he declared that “it’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.” He didn’t quite say “Nyah, nyah, fooled you!” but he might as well have. And this reversal was completely predictable.

What has happened since then has been much more surprising. I would have expected Trump officials to wait a while, to start offering excuses for a bad economy only after the economy actually, you know, turned bad. But no, they’re already telling us to expect hard times as the economy goes through a “detox period.”

Detox from what? The semi-official line is that job growth under Biden was somehow fake, that it was all low-value government employment, and that it will be painful as we move workers back to productive work in the private sector. And some in the news media are actually buying that line. The Washington Post just ran a story with the utterly credulous headline “Trump has a plan to remake the economy. But he’s not explaining it very well.”

So, first of all, why does the economy need remaking? The claim that job growth under Biden was mainly government employment is completely false:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

I don’t know whether people like Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, are deliberately lying, although they probably are — these aren’t hard numbers to check. One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that Republican descriptions of Democratic governance often reflect right-wing fantasies about what liberals would do rather than reality. Big cities must be crime-ridden hellscapes even though New York is one of the safest places in America; Biden must have presided over massive growth in government jobs, even though he didn’t.

The other problem with the headline is, “what plan?” DOGE has wreaked havoc on federal operations, but its claims to have saved large amounts of money appear to be vaporware. And in any case, most government employees work for state and local governments, not the federal government. So how, exactly, is the economy being “remade”?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think Trump’s problem is that he’s doing a poor job of explaining his plan. I think his problem is that he’s offering fake answers to fake problems, and the public — unlike, apparently, the Washington Post — isn’t buying it.

In any case, the real surprise is that Trump officials are making excuses for a bad economy even though the economy isn’t actually bad — yet. Maybe they believe that their boss’s policies will do a lot of damage, realize that they have no influence over those policies, and are trying to get ahead of the curve.

But item #4 on the stages of Trumpist economic grief is even more surprising. A few days ago Bessent declared that “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.” When asked to explain his comment on Meet the Press he sort of doubled down: “The American dream is not contingent on cheap baubles they get from China.”

OK, he didn’t exactly go all spiritual and call on Americans to reject materialism. He seemed to be saying that the American dream is really about upward mobility and affordable housing, although it’s hard to see what aspects of Trump’s policies will help on either of those fronts. But still, the evolution from promises to reduce prices on Day One to “who cares about consumer prices?” is giving me whiplash.

And does anyone expect consumers to accept this new nonchalance about inflation? I don’t. So what’s the next stage in Trumpist economic grief?

I’d say that we’re entering uncharted territory, but really we aren’t. Trump is clearly a wannabe authoritarian ruler; the only question is how successful he’ll be at turning that dream into reality. And we know how authoritarian regimes deal with economic adversity.

First, they try to hide the bad news. Trump officials have already been talking about redefining GDP in ways they imagine (wrongly) will make Biden’s economy look worse and their economy better. It seems highly likely to me that once Trump’s policies start causing inflation and possibly recession, there will be a major push to cook the economic data.

Second, they punish the bringers of bad news. As the New York Times has reported, that’s China’s approach:

Beijing has censored and tried to intimidate renowned economists, financial analysts, investment banks and social media influencers for bearish assessments of the economy and the government’s policies. In addition, news articles about people experiencing financial struggles or the poor living standards for migrant workers are being removed.

If you say that such a crackdown couldn’t happen here, you’re being naïve. In fact, it’s already happening to some extent, largely through self-censorship by media organizations. (Hello, Jeff Bezos.) If the economy worsens, expect the pressure to stay positive to become much more intense.

And bear in mind that we’re only two months into the second Trump presidency. What will things look like a year from now?

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and former professor at MIT and Princeton who now teaches at the City University of New York's Graduate Center. From 2000 to 2024, he wrote a column for The New York Times. Please consider subscribing to his Substack, where he now posts almost every day.

Reprinted with permission from Paul Krugman.

White House Says Musk Won't File Public Financial Disclosure

White House Says Musk Won't File Public Financial Disclosure

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists President Donald Trump’s Director of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, is complying with all federal laws. The Trump administration is under growing pressure to release Musk’s financial disclosure form and any conflict of interest waiver the President may have signed, if there is one.

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who wrote the best-selling book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, made a rare appearance inside the White House press briefing room on Wednesday to challenge Musk’s actions.

“You talked about the transparency with DOGE and Elon Musk,” Haberman reminded Leavitt. “There is a conflict of interest law in place that says that people who have personal interests can’t interact with government entities that could touch on those. Has President Trump signed a waiver for Elon Musk, does such a thing and exist, if it does, will you guys release it in the interest of transparency that he’s committed to?”

“I have not seen the law that you are referring to,” Leavitt was quick to respond. “What I can tell you is that Elon Musk is, I’ve confirmed before, is a special government employee. He is filing the proper financial disclosure. And he is complying with all applicable federal laws.”

“As you also heard, Elon addressed this directly yesterday in the alleged conflict of interest, and he said everything he’s doing is very public, and if you all perceive a conflict of interest, you’re welcome to bring that up.”

“And as the president said, if he feels like Elon is engaging in something that’s a conflict of interest, he will tell Elon not to do that,” she claimed. “Elon also said yesterday that before he moves forward with anything, he consults with the president of the United States. So, um, we’re very confident with the ethics and the guardrails that have been put in place here.”

On Tuesday during his Oval Office press conference, Elon Musk told reporters that there is no conflict of interest.

Musk’s SpaceX reportedly received a $38.8 million contract from NASA this week.

CNN on Tuesday reported that Musk has not filed and will not file a public financial disclosure form.

“Musk, speaking in the Oval Office, sought to underscore his belief that ‘transparency is what builds trust,’ and insisted that all of his team’s efforts were being made public on DOGE’s social media accounts and website,” CNN reported. “But he also seemed to chafe at some of the scrutiny he was receiving, likening it to a ‘daily proctology exam.'”

“Earlier in the day, a White House official said Musk would not need to file a public financial disclosure, allowing the world’s richest man to skirt public scrutiny of his potential conflicts. Musk’s various companies have billions of dollars in government contracts.”

“As an unpaid special government employee who is not a commission officer, he will file a confidential financial disclosure report per the norm,” a White House official told CNN, the news outlet reported.

“We wouldn’t let him” have a conflict of interest or a lack of transparency, President Trump assured reporters Tuesday.

But the New York Times on Tuesday reported that the White House had not responded to its request “for a copy of the waiver, a document that is required under federal law to be released. Ethics waivers are typically drafted based on conflicts identified through a financial disclosure filing, so it is possible that no waiver has been prepared yet.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Trump's New 'Public Diplomacy' Appointee Spread Online Racism

Trump's New 'Public Diplomacy' Appointee Spread Online Racism

Racist social media posts from Darren Beattie, President Donald Trump’s acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy, are resurfacing—underlining the U.S. government’s infiltration by white nationalist online trolls.

“Higher quality humans are subsidizing the fertility of lower quality humans. Foundational reality of social and political life in the post war west,” Beattie wrote on X in May 2024.

The former Trump speechwriter subsequently responded to his own wretched thought, writing, “Population control? If only!”

This is just one of many hideous posts of Beattie’s promoting the racist science of eugenics, dug up and first reported on by NOTUS.org.

“The horrific practice of 2nd trimester abortion is legal in some places and well within Overton window of public discourse,” he wrote on X in January 2023. “But idea of offering feral populations financial incentives for voluntary sterilization is completely taboo.”

That same year, Beattie responded to a right-wing shitpost about Black communities not wanting white cops in their neighborhoods.

“When a population gets feral, a little snip snip keeps things in control Could offer incentives (Air Jordans, etc.),” he wrote.

Beattie is no stranger to swimming in the sump of white supremacist ideology. In 2018, Beattie was let go by the first Trump administration for attending an H.L. Mencken Club conference in 2016.

Beattie’s ascension during Trump’s second term is symptomatic of the racist pseudosciences that are front and center in the tech broligarchical capture of the U.S. government. His racism mirrors that of Vice President JD Vance and (seemingly actual president) Elon Musk.

Whereas Trump at least attempted to obfuscate some of the glaring racism in his first term, this time he’s emboldened by Musk’s white supremacist powergrab using young simps with histories of espousing the same archaic bigotries who now have access to U.S. financial infrastructure.

“Low birthrate is under-appreciated as causal in the fall of civilizations. Rome was having birth rate issues even during the reign of Caesar,” Musk tweeted in April 2023.

“Birth quality matters too, arguably more than rare,” Beattie responded.

With those sort of “ideas,” Beattie is sure to fit in among the Musk/Trump administration.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mike Johnson

Angry Republicans Already Considering Whether To Oust Their New Speaker

Just two and a half months into his job, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is leading a caucus of increasingly angered and frustrated Republicans, with some GOP lawmakers privately and even publicly attacking their new leader – after ousting their previous one.

Despite two possible federal government shutdowns looming – January 19 is the first deadline, followed by one on February 2 – House Republicans are furious that Speaker Johnson appears to be abiding by the law and a verbal agreement, one forged by his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, and President Joe Biden.

“Significant concerns growing about Mike’s ability to jump to this level and deliver conservative wins,” one “well-plugged-in” House Republican congressman told Punchbowl News. “Growing feeling that he’s in way, way over his head. As much as there was valid criticism and frustration with Kevin, Mike is struggling to grow into the job and is just getting rolled even more than McCarthy did.”

Punchbowl is calling this “Johnson’s Hell Week,” as the House will returns today “and Speaker Mike Johnson is set to get a very rough reception.”

“There has been a lot — and we mean truly a lot — of private griping among House Republicans about Johnson’s deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to lock in the Fiscal Responsibility Act for FY2024 spending.”

Count far-right Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) among those who are publicly griping about spending and about Johnson.

“The speaker’s office and everyone in town are trying to sell everybody a bill of goods. It’s not true,” Roy told the Washington Examiner, which notes, “When asked if he was referring to conversations about a motion to vacate and remove Johnson as speaker, Roy wouldn’t say.”

But he did say, “We’re just having the conversations we need to have about this continued failure theater.”

Monday night on CNN Rep. Roy was more forthcoming.

Asked if Republicans are going to try to oust Speaker Johnson, Roy denounced the spending bill then said, “I think there’s going to be some real conversations this week about what we need to do going forward.”

When pressed again about possibly ousting Johnson, Roy didn’t say yes but he didn’t say no.

“That’s not the road I prefer,” Roy replied. “I didn’t prefer to go down that road with Speaker McCarthy. We need to figure out how to get this all done together. But it isn’t good, and there’s a lot of my colleagues who are pretty frustrated about it, so we’ll see what happens this week.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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