But does he? If the illegal and unconstitutional actions had been accomplished legally, would they still be considered as having contributed to the greater good?
One of the biggest reasons that I heard people give for voting for Trump in 2024 was that they believed that he would be better for the economy. In some cases I thought this was merely a cover for them liking his anti-immigration, and own-the-libs positions and being too embarrassed to admit it. Voting for him for pragmatic, economic reasons seemed reasonable and might have even been sincere. Of course this necessitated ignoring everything else about him, but it was plausible camouflage. Could Trumpers claim that he accomplished his economic promises? They've been pretty quiet about this category.
Politicians often latch on to an area where their opponent appears to be failing, focusing on the failure, but not always laying out a plan for how they would do things differently. Since inflation was high during Biden's middle two years in office, and the high prices stayed high, Trump could point out that inflation was low to nonexistent during his first term. But he didn't stop there, he made many specific claims about what he would do if reelected:
August 9, 2024:
“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America
affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.”
August 14, 2024
“Under my administration, we will be slashing energy and
electricity prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum 18 months” [We're only at 6 months, so we've got time yet]
“Prices will come down. You just watch: They’ll come down,
and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.”
August 17, 2024
“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly
drive prices down and we will make America affordable again. We’re going to
make it affordable again.”
“We’re going to get your energy prices down. We’re going to
get your energy prices down by 50%.”
September 5, 2024
“Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing costs.”
“We will eliminate regulations that drive up housing costs with the goal of cutting the cost of a new home in half. We think we can do that.”
September 18, 2024
“While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a
temporary cap on credit card interest rates. We can’t let them make 25 and
30%.”
September 29, 2024
“We're going to get the prices down. We have to get them
down. It's too much. Groceries, cars, everything. We're going to get the prices
down. While working Americans catch up, we are going to put a temporary cap on
credit card interest rates at 10%. People are being made to pay 25%. Temporary
ban.”
October 1, 2024
“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America
affordable again. We’ll do that. We’ve got to bring it down.”
November 4, 2025
|
“A vote
for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper” January 7, 2025 “We’re going to have prices down- I think you’re going to
see some pretty drastic price reductions.” Now those of us who have even a passing familiarity with macroeconomics know that a president has only limited influence on inflation and prices. While high inflation happened on Biden's watch, it wasn't reasonable to blame him for most of it. The shutting down of global supply chains in 2020 and 2021 meant that when demand increased in late 2021 and into 2022 the supply chains had trouble keeping up. Scarcity caused costs to go up on all points along the way. Low unemployment, coupled with a trend toward more independence on the part of employees resulted in higher wages, even when the minimum wage was not legislated. The stimulus checks at the end of Trump's and the beginning of Biden's terms contributed as well. Biden and Harris supporters pointed this out to no avail. To Trumpists it was as simple as No Inflation Under Trump/High Inflation Under Biden. Democrats knew that Trump was making empty promises. Did prices come down, on Day One or at any time in the last six months? To any honest observer the answer is an unequivocable "NO!". Egg prices might be the one exception. Due to the scarcity of egg laying chickens as a result of rampant bird flu, egg prices had soared even higher than the overall inflation rate. As the supply of eggs rebounded the prices went down a little, but not as low as before and certainly not on Day One. But, as predicted, inflation hasn't ended either. It's right around the level it was at during the final months of Biden's term. What caused Trump's plan to fail? The obvious answer is that there was no plan. At best, the no inflation, price rollback talk was just aspirations, they were hopes and dreams. There was never any planned action that would result in inflation coming to an end let alone prices returning to 2020 levels. Once in office though, Trump was quoted as saying that ending inflation and lowering prices "was hard" and that we were in a transition where things would be tough on consumers for a while. Of course he blamed Biden. Sure, even if it was all Biden's fault, you're in charge now Donnie, and you said you'd fix it. This is one area where I haven't heard many Trumpists claiming that anything has been accomplished, although Trump himself has started saying, without evidence, that there is no inflation and that prices are coming down. I'm concerned that, following in the wake of the firing of a Bureau of Labor Statistics official for providing accurate numbers, Trump will do the same for those tasked with tracking inflation, with that agency providing Trump-friendly numbers instead of real ones. Trump has also been making ridiculous claims about "directing" pharmaceutical companies to reduce their prices by mathematically impossible percentages. Who knows what imaginary statistics he will produce and his people will believe? |
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