RECOMMENDED READING
President Trump and his top advisers appear to be singing a different tune as they march to their latest trade war. It goes like this: markets-are-made-for-America, not America-for-markets. Trump and several cabinet members said as much, even as the White House delayed some tariffs on Canada and Mexico amidst economic fears.
Asked in the Oval Office Thursday if the pause was the result of Wall Street jitters, Trump replied, “no – nothing to do with the market,” adding that “I’m not even looking at the market, because long term, the United States will be very strong with what’s happening.”
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“This is a meaningful rhetorical shift from many decades of seeing the stock market and GDP as the sole measures of our nation’s economic prosperity,” Abigail Ball, the executive director of the conservative American Compass, told RealClearPolitics. “I don’t think we’re going to see a total disregard for the market in the long term, but it is notable that Republicans are no longer willing to worship Wall Street at the expense of American families and workers.”
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Recommended Reading
The Free-Market-Fundamentalist Menace
The Senate is finally back in Washington and negotiations over the next coronavirus recovery package are underway. The White House’s initial salvo was reported Monday and includes a capital gains tax cut, a measure to increase entertainment tax deductions, and a payroll tax cut.
The GOP After Trump
An exposé on the future of the Republican Party features American Compass’s efforts to lead a return to traditional, family-first values.
What a Post-Trump Republican Party Might Look Like
Ezra Klein interviews American Compass’s Oren Cass about challenging the right-wing economic orthodoxy and its quasi-religious veneration of markets, and focusing instead on clear social goals that put families first, eschew economic growth as the be-all-end-all of policymaking, and recognize the inescapability of government intervention in the economy.
